Sauced

Vessel Closes at Fifth Avenue Location….Plans For a New Bar Are Under Way

The Downtown cocktail lounge will serve its last drink on Thursday, December 23.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Dec 19, 2010 at 10:20PM 1 Comments

Vessel closes.

Downtown cocktail lounge Vessel, the Fifth Avenue bar often admired and discussed on this blog, will serve its last cocktail on Thursday, December 23.

“Long story short: lease issues,” wrote Jim Romdall, bar manager, on his Facebook page. Romdall gathered friends and colleagues of the bar together on Sunday, December 19th to share the news. “We are very close to securing a new space to reopen with, and the new concept is very exciting.”

Over the past few years, Vessel has been the training site for some of the city’s best and brightest bartenders.

I am very excited to learn what’s on the horizon. I’ll speak to Romdall as soon as possible and update with details.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Downtown, Closings, Vessel, Bar Openings

Vessel Turns Four, Throws a Party

Bartending alums return to the downtown lounge this Monday to make you drinks.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Oct 19, 2010 at 08:24AM 2 Comments

Vessel bartending alums reconvene at the downtown lounge this Monday.

Vessel is only four years old, but its significance to recent Seattle cocktail history cannot be overstated.

Vessel lured Jamie Boudreau down from Canada—he soon became our city’s most recognized bartender, not counting Murray. (We may not always appreciate, here in town, how famous Boudreau is. I’ve seen his name and recipes on cocktail blogs from all over the country, but I think I really got it when I was at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans and two young bartenders spotted him walking by. “Is that Jamie Boudreau?” one whispered, awestruck. And then they, like, gawked at him. It was pretty ridiculous, but also impressive.)

Other Vessel alums include Zane Harris and Anu Apte, who moved on to open Rob Roy in Belltown, giving cocktails lovers a new spot to sip good drinks. Andrew Bohrer, who makes much written-about drinks at Mistralkitchen, brought the Japanese ice-carving techniques he learned in Japan to Vessel before moving to Naga Lounge in Bellevue and putting that bar on the crafty concoctions map. Keith Waldbauer, who now co-owns Liberty Bar on Capitol Hill, also did time at the downtown lounge.

On Monday, October 25, all of these bartenders will reunite at Vessel with manager Jim Romdall to mix drinks in celebration of the lounge’s fourth anniversary. And you are invited.

The party begins at 6pm.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Downtown, Cocktails, Seattle Bartenders, Drinking Events, Vessel

It’s Bastille Day, You Might Want a Cocktail with a French Name

I suggest you go to Toulouse Petit or Vessel.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jul 14, 2010 at 03:25PM 1 Comments

Cocktails with French names are available at Toulouse Petit and at Vessel.

If you’re not up for the shenanigans at these party-throwing restaurants, I should think Toulouse Petit would be a good place to celebrate Bastille Day.

Toulouse has French food and cocktails with French names, after all.

Or you could stop by Vessel, where the tenders are also fluent in cocktails Français and the chef has created a special French-themed snack menu: Frisee aux Lardons (salad with ham and a poached egg on top), Portuguese-style mussels—that usually means cooked with onion and chorizo—fingerling potatoes with olives, and that classic French snack: radish with butter and salt.

Vive La Republique, and so forth.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Cocktails, Vessel, Bastille Day

Five Questions for the A Cocktail Chef: Cameo McRoberts

Cameo McRoberts is not a bartender, but that doesn’t mean she can’t make you a very good drink. Just don’t be snapping your fingers in her general direction.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jul 07, 2010 at 11:11AM 3 Comments

Cameo McRoberts, not a bartender.

Working for Kathy Casey Studios, Alaska-native Cameo McRoberts (who—prepare to be impressed—was once sous chef to Rick TopChefMaster Bayless at Chicago’s Frontera Grill) creates plenty of cocktails, as well as bitters and syrups. But she’s careful not to call herself a bartender.

“Only because I know most of the bartenders in this series and they will make fun of me!” explains McRoberts.

“Coming from the kitchen I have a pretty strong knowledge of flavors and what pairs well,” she says. “As Kathy’s Executive Chef I work on tons of cocktail development with her and I put together all of our seminars. So in the past year I’ve had a crash course in cocktail culture, spirits, classic cocktails, cocktail history, and the whatnot.”

All I know is, she can make me a drink anytime—preferably using the amazing cherry bounce she keeps jarred up at the funtime cocktail lab she and Mrs. Casey call an office.

Here, five questions for cocktail chef Cameo McRoberts.

What is the most underrated spirit?

There is no bottle left uncorked in the cocktail world right now, it’s like a massive flavor unearthing. It’s really fun. Among the non spirit-geek crowd: definitely gin. It’s not the gin that hurts the next morning, it’s all the sugar in that tonic water! Good gin is like Dusty Springfield, sweet and gritty at the same time.

What’s your favorite Seattle bar?

The usual suspects: Rob Roy, Vessel, Zig Zag, Liberty, but the Ballard crawl is quite nice too: Moshi Moshi, Hazlewood, Oliver’s Twist (not Ballard, I know), and, as always, Sambar to finish.

What drink do you order at that bar?

Cocktail bars: anything the bartender wants to give me. Usually whiskey or gin-based. Everywhere else: shot of whiskey and glass of bitters and soda, with extra bitters.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen someone do in a bar?

My mom bartended in Alaska when I was younger so let’s just say I’ve seen some crazy stuff. Service-wide, I am not a fan of the snapping of the fingers.

Name three reasons you live in Seattle.

Proximity to the motherland (Alaska).

The water, the trees, the views—it really is breathtaking a lot of the time.

Seattle’s delicate balance of big pond/small pond, especially in the service industry.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Cocktails, Hazlewood, Kathy Casey, Rob Roy, Zig Zag Cafe, Vessel, Gin, Whiskey, Seattle Bartenders, Five Questions for the Bartender, Sambar

Are Craft Cocktails Too Expensive?

If you think $12 (or even $10) is too much to pay for a drink, try this experiment.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jun 30, 2010 at 10:48AM 1 Comments

The specialty cocktails at Zig Zag pack a considerable punch.
Photo: Lindsay Borden

I don’t think every new bar needs to be a highend cocktail lounge. I like a simple bar where I can order a beer for $3 and call it an evening. What I don’t like is when such a bar calls itself a cocktail lounge and charges cocktail-lounge prices for hastily/amateurishly crafted cocktails. And the reason I don’t like this is that it furthers the notion that any drink with a price tag of $10 or up is overpriced.

Because at a good cocktail lounge, a two-digit drink price reflects the cost of the ingredients that go into that drink, ingredients that include fresh-squeezed juices and aged spirits and top-shelf liqueurs and homemade bitters, cachaca, and falernum and sometimes even a Kold-Draft ice machine. In short, many things that are expensive to buy, maintain, and create. Customers may not be aware that at such an establishment, the bartender likely came in hours before his or her shift to prep ingredients and make sure every little detail is in place so that their imbibing experience will be an optimal one.

Value added: these cocktails tend to pack a serious punch. Drink more than two and Lawd help you. Also, they’ll keep tasting good even if you nurse them because they are made with ice that’s designed to melt slowly over time. I’d also say this: if you do get a crappy drink at a cocktail lounge, you should always, always tell the bartender that you’re not a fan. You’re paying premium for that beverage and you should use it as an opportunity to learn more about what you like, don’t like, and why.

If you’re still not convinced these drinks are worth the price, do this: Attend happy hour at Vessel or ZigZag or Mistralkitchen and try the drinks at their lowered prices. (Vessel’s $6 HH cocktail applies only to two drinks—a revolving duo of options off the menu. At Mistral, house cocktails are $3 off (so $9) and classic cocktails are $6. And last time I checked, Zig Zag’s specialty cocktails were $4.75 during HH.)

I encourage you to talk to the bartenders about what’s in your drink, why it’s made that way, etc. If you do this and find that you wouldn’t be willing to pay twice as much for your cocktail experience, come tell me about it.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Happy Hour, Cocktails, Seattle Bartenders, Vessel, Mistralkitchen, Zig Zag Cafe

Bitters Expert Bartends at Vessel Tonight

The renowned Stephan Berg starts serving at 4pm.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Mar 15, 2010 at 02:12PM 0 Comments

German bitters guru Stephan Berg guest bartends at Vessel tonight.

As I write this, the city’s best bartenders are about one third of the way through a three-hour “masters seminar” on bitters at Liberty bar.

Their teacher is Stephan Borg, one of the founders of The Bitter Truth, a line of bitters based in Germany. Berg is a career bartender and a leading bitters expert who travels the world spreading the bitter gospel.

What’s it to you? Well today (March 15) beginning at 4pm, Berg will be serving up drinks behind the bar at Vessel downtown. And it’s not like you want to miss the chance to drink cocktails created by one of the world’s leading bitters experts. That’s silly.

Photo Source

Add a Comment »

Tags: Downtown, Cocktails, Behind the bar, Bitters, Vessel