Sauced

The Market Arms’ Opening Is Imminent

Owner of the new Ballard pub hopes to start serving by this weekend or early next week.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jun 01, 2010 at 03:23PM 1 Comments

John Bayliss, owner of the George and Dragon in Fremont, hopes to christen the taps at his new Ballard bar, the Market Arms, before the end of this weekend. Bayliss said he always loved the space at the corner of Market and 24th—but until January of 2009 it was the home of Mandrakes Antiques. (Ballardites may recall a banner reading “uncle” in the window of Mandrake’s last year. Never a good sign, so to speak.)

Bayliss, who had already asked a few agents to scout spots around town for a new pub, heard the store was going out of business from a friend, and went over immediately to talk to the owner. “I said ‘I don’t want to step in your grave or anything but I love this space,’” recalls Bayliss.

More upscale in decor than his Fremont soccer bar, the Market Arms will nonetheless show all sorts of sports both American and European—if you’re looking for a World Cup-watching venue, it might just be your place. Classic British pub grub—fish and chips, shepherd’s pie—will be served. Bayliss said he based the menu on that at George and Dragon, but added a few new salads and such since, he figures, Ballard is more of a dining-out destination than Fremont. There will be early evening and late night happy hours, including a special food menu.

All in all, Bayliss sounds rather thrilled with the place. “We used brick and oak and brass,” he told me. “It’s a classy pub.” With Hazlewood and Ocho just up the block and La Isla across the street, the Market Arms is certainly in good bar-crawl company.

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Tags: Pub Grub, Seattle Restaurant Openings, Sports, Ballard, Bar Openings

Rat and Raven Owners Buy Goldie’s on 45th

Expect a more upscale version of the Wallingford sports bar by June 1.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Apr 23, 2010 at 01:48PM 2 Comments

Iron Bull returns to Wallingford

Goldie’s Sports Bar, on the corner of 45th Street and Bagley Avenue North in Wallingford, has been purchased by Gerald Simonsen and Bernie McGuire, the duo behind The Rat and Raven in the U District. (Simonsen also owns the building that houses Redwood on Capitol Hill. McGuire counts Capitol Hill’s Clever Dunnes, a place where I regularly try to force my coworkers to do Irish car bombs, among his assets.)

Simonsen told me they plan to keep the pool tables but restore the sports bar’s original, much cooler name: Iron Bull.

When the bar reopens, says Simonsen, it will be an upscale version of the Goldie’s we know and love, with a lot of “cosmetic changes,” including a kickass TV system with “the full NFL package.” Simonsen says the menu will resemble that at The Rat and Raven, where pub fare like burgers, fish and chips, and shrimp poppers are what’s for dinner—Just the things for luring football-illiterate little piglets like me to the sports bar.

Simonsen and McGuire hope to open Iron Bull by June 1.

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Tags: Pub Grub, Sports, Wallingford, Bar Openings

The Latest on Auto Battery

Capitol Hill’s first “true” sports bar set to open mid-March.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Feb 12, 2010 at 02:19PM 2 Comments

Owner Laura Olson (seen here at Po Dog) says the bar will have 16 televisions and “two or three” shuffleboard tables.

I first read about Auto Battery on the Capitol Hill Seattle blog. The new East Union sports bar is next door to—and brought to us by the owner of—Po Dog haute hot dog emporium.

But I know of some sports fans who dwell incongruously among the hill’s many tapas boites and yoga studios, and who are rather desperate for some more information on Auto Battery. So I called up Po Dog’s Laura Olson and inquired as to what the deal was. She said Auto Battery is set to open in mid-March, but a lot of decisions have yet to be made.

For instance, Olson knows there will be a happy hour with food and drink specials, but doesn’t yet know the HH hours. She knows the menu will have hot dogs, natch, but there will be other food items too—she’s just not sure what those will be.

She did say that there will be 16 televisions and two or three shuffleboard tables. As reported on CHS, the bar will open each morning at 6am as a coffee shop, offering customers pastries, free Wi-Fi, and news on the many tellies. If you’re wondering what sort of coffee Auto Battery will serve, sorry. Olson doesn’t know yet.

Why a sports bar? Because, says Olson, Capitol Hill doesn’t really have a “true” sports bar. Why Auto Battery? Because the building where you’ll find it used to house an auto battery shop.

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Tags: Seattle Restaurant Openings, Capitol Hill, Sports, Junk Food

Super Bowl Sunday in Seattle

Where to go to watch the game.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Feb 02, 2010 at 10:15AM 2 Comments

The Ballard Loft

View Slideshow » Illustration:

The Ballard Loft

To those bars who attempted to host Super bowl parties last week (you know who you are): that’s funny and cute.

Game Day is in fact this Sunday, February 7 and the Colts will play the Saints. These are good places to watch it.

ARTY
A football game at an art gallery bar—how often does this happen? Beginning at 2:30pm, Vermillion will offer free food with the purchase of a beverage. The menu includes “chicken wings, sloppy Joes, nachos, meatballs, and salads.” There is also a sweet tea drink special for $3.50.

DOWN AND DIRTY
If you want to go for the pure sports bar experience, you could go to Fuel. I wandered in there the other day with the misguided notion of lunch. (I had a hankering for some chicken fingers, what?) As soon as I walked in I received a menacing jeer from a grizzled old someone sunk over his Budweiser. Then I noticed I was the lone representative of my gender, not to mention generation, and no one was eating. So not for lunch. But for Superbowl: hell yeah. This is where the energy and the screaming and the deep-fried snacks will be in full effect. But I have to say that Sluggers (call first, they open only when the spirit moves them) is my favorite P-Square sports bars. It endears with its mezzanine level that offers a tantalizing vista of the beer-induced hysteria on the main floor.

FUN FOR NONFANS
Over in Bellevue, Lucky Strike Lanes has food and drink specials from 11am through 12am and will raffle off prizes like free bowling and opening day tickets to the Seahawks. There are twelve flat-screen TVs at the great Ballard Loft, and if the game bores you you can play pool or shuffleboard or order a delicious sausage sandwich. (That’s not a euphamism). Alternatively, take in the views and slurp up above-average pub grub at Six Seven Lounge in the Edgewater Hotel. The bar will air the game on its massive flat-screen and offer happy hour prices on food and drink from 3-6pm.

KID-FRIENDLY
The Magnolia Village Pub is a popular spot for watching the big game with the little ones as is the Madrona Eatery and Ale House (1138 34th Avenue, Madrona).

Wherever you go, have fun. And may the best team win. I think that team is the Saints, but only because I love New Orleans, birthplace of the world’s best cocktails.

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Tags: Pub grub, Sports