With the arrival of Ted and Anu in Los Angeles to celebrate the release of Ted’s book Left Coast Libations, I wanted to take a moment to give an extended thank you to the city of Seattle and its bartending community.
Following my knee injury and subsequent rehab, the bars and bartenders of Seattle and Redmond allowed me to feel normal and embraced me as one of their own even as they knew that my stay was temporary. I told Rocky during his visit last month that, moreso than Portland or Los Angeles, the industry people in Seattle rally around each other and while the bars may be widespread and very different, it’s definitely a tight-knit group. While I cannot ever truly repay the kindness that Seattle showed, the very least that I can do is tell the people of Los Angeles about the amazing scene.
Naga
The Eastside of Seattle is similar to the Eastside of LA — Westsiders hate the travel distance so the locals have developed an awesomely kooky personality, and the bars are de facto locals only. Michael Kostin and Mike McSorley work at a bar named Naga inside of a Thai restaurant (Chantanee) in downtown Bellevue that is so hidden, you’ll miss it even if you’re looking for it. (It’s almost like Seattle’s answer to Crif Dogs and PDT, except they would be in Hoboken!) The cocktail menu features classic drinks as well as modern drinks from all across the country. The bar is also home to the famous “cocktail dice” (pictured above) which turns dealer’s choice into an on-the-spot display of creativity. The bars also features lots of interesting spirits from Turkish raki to Japanese whiskey.
Liberty
When I think of Japanese whiskey, the bar that most comes to mind is Andrew Friedman’s bar Liberty. Tucked away in a more residential part of Capitol Hill, the bar is a comfortable space to hang out in at all hours of the day and into the night, providing coffee, cocktails and lots of comfortable seats. Andrew also has the distinction in my mind of helping me bust out of a brown-bitter-stirred rut that I was in at the time, turning me onto a well made sour. (It still continues today; my drink of choice at the moment is a fizz or a sour.)
Barrio
Casey Robison manages Barrio’s two locations, and brings Nuevo Latino cuisine to both sides of the lake in Seattle. As you might expect, tequila plays a primary role in the bar menu here, but as with any great program, the bartenders excel across the board. In addition to quirky touches like a crusta served in a hollowed out orange half, the bar also features one of the most stunning design elements I’ve ever seen at any bar: a wall of candles. The soft, flickering light really has to be seen live to be fully appreciated, but here’s a video I took of it, along with a scan of the rest of the room. (This barstool view comes from Barrio’s Bellevue location.)
At this point I’d like to give a shout out to Tavern Law and its adjoining reservation-only speakeasy Needle & Thread. This along with its sister restaurant Spur offers some spectacular New American food, the kind at which the Pacific Northwest seems to really excel. And of course one of my favorite restaurants of all is Quinn’s Pub, which is the bar that got me hooked on Duchesse du Bourgogne as well as bone marrow as an accompaniment for fries.
Rob Roy
If the Seattle bartending community is a club, then Rob Roy would be its clubhouse. Anu Apte has created an environment that works well as a neighborhood joint as well as a destination for partying weekenders as well as an essential stop on the cocktail tour. It was at this bar that I noticed that Seattle excelled at the cocktail lounge, complete with couches and coffee tables. Truly, the first word I would use to describe Rob Roy would be “comfortable”. I keep hearing about their Analog Tuesday events where customers bring in vinyl to play on the record player, which only solidifies my image of the bar as a source for lo-fi warmth.
That’s not to say that it doesn’t get boisterous there. As you might expect from an industry hangout, yes you’ll find some amazing craft cocktails; you’ll also find a lot of shots.
Vessel
Speaking of shots, how about fourteen of them? Though I honestly don’t remember what Jim Romdall was pouring at the time. That’s probably by design. Rob Roy is the clubhouse; Vessel is the stage. It’s often my first stop when I arrive in Seattle, and there are few better at welcoming visitors and regulars alike. The booze program here is top notch, particularly in the rye department, but of course one of my favorite features of the bar is their carbonator. Vessel is a bar that encourages the mad scientist mindset for both the customer and barman alike.
Of course, with Jim, the lingua franca will be Ardbeg. And if Rocky Yeh isn’t out traveling the world, rum will be common language as well.
Zig Zag
I ordered a Last Word from Murray Stenson. In your face, Life’s To-Do List!. One of the things I appreciate most about Murray and Zig Zag in general is that they’ve done an amazing job democratizing cocktails and making it accessible and available for everybody. A well-crafted cocktail exhibits poise and polish, but should also reflect the blue collar aesthetic that went into making it. Every point of the process, from distilling a spirit and pouring it, none of it is glamorous work. And yet the true alchemy of cocktails arises in the glamorous, finished product. Murray personifies that magic and he does it effortlessly.
Mistral Kitchen
I’m going to close out this post in the same way I closed out my stay in Seattle, with a trip to Mistral Kitchen. Truly, though, it all comes full circle, as Mistral Kitchen’s bar manager is Andrew Bohrer, formerly of Naga. The restaurant is fantastic, reminiscent of The Tasting Kitchen on Abbot Kinney in Venice, exhibiting that Pacific Northwest buzz in a restaurant that so few in Los Angeles manage to replicate. There’s a playful side to the cocktail menu, e.g. a Mai Tai made entirely out of Italian amari.
And yes, Andrew will keep it real.
I would like to raise a glass to the Emerald City and the service industry people who work there. My stay in Seattle inadvertently ended up being a little longer than I anticipated. You made me feel that it wasn’t long enough.
