A Tangletown (wtf?!?) Gem

this post is a long time coming, but i have no shame in publishing two-month-old pictures! my visit was in the heart of the summer and in the middle of a sweaty, 20 mile bike ride, but this dive is just as great on a rainy sunday evening as a hot summer day.

leny's tavern is just about the nicest dive bar i've ever had the pleasure of spending 6 hours at. the bartender, willow, was super friendly, sarcastic, and even changed the channel for us while (olympic) rhythmic gymnastics were being televised. we went there with a couple friends who swear by this spot (it sponsored M2.'s flag football team) and it's leny's larges, aka 33.8 ounce, four dollar beers.

i've found that a good guage of a bar's well-roundedness is the bloody mary. any bar can throw together a whiskey soda or pull a beer. not every bar(tender) can create a stellar bloody mary. lenys' is the shit. seriously. they make their own mix, dress it with pepperoncini, a pickle, olives, and lemon and spice it up to your liking. it was perfect...dill-y, tangy, spicy; i can't laud willow enough.

the menu is, as one would expect, mostly burgers-and-fries type stuff, but they also offer chili cheese tots, blackened cod, fish and chips, and all manner of fried accoutrements. all of my compatriots ordered the dock street burger (standard burger w bacon and "dock" sauce). M. accompanied his with salt and vinegar fries (bomb).

M2. got the onion straws, which are basically onion rings but, you got it, not rings. those were the shit, and after a few hours of swilling leny's larges and rounds of jaeger, we ended up ordering a basket of onion straws, which was a homerun.

lastly ms. pesca ordered the blackened cod sandwich which was the shit. the fish was great, salty, and "cajun-spiced" with paprika, chili, etc. i subbed in fried zucchini instead of regular fries, which were cornmeal battered, hotter than a motherfucker, and awesome.

since this initial visit, i think we've gone out of our way to tangletown (stupid name) at least 3 times. we even went on a rainy sunday night, had a few larges and shots and somehow made it to work feeling "decent." hit up leny's tavern, even if you're not in the neighborhood. it's a great place for pool, e-jukeboxing, buck hunter, burgers, and bloody mary's.


Leny's Tavern
2219 N 56st St
Seattle, WA 98103
206.632.9175

bro-town

unfortunately, some friends and i were hungry before a show in fremont several weeks ago. the worst part about heading to a show around 9 is that if you forget to eat or don't have time to before you leave, you have to eat some crappy bar food right before the performance. we were all pissed to have to order something, but dammit, we were hungry.

the nearest food haven happened to be norm's, and since we had eaten here loooooong ago, we figured it would be our best bet. we arrived a little bit after 9, and the place was nearly empty. we chose a table in the rear of the restaurant next to an area with couches surrounding a low table.

at first we just ordered drinks from the bar, but then we decided to eat. big mistake. there was one waitress running around serving both everyone and no one, since she looked assiduously busy, yet she never acknowledged our presence. in fact, we had to walk to the bar to ask for menus.

after about 20 minutes of sitting with our menus, we finally flagged down the waitress who took our order as if we slapped her in the face and then asked her to polish our shoes. needless to say, she was not a happy camper.

L ordered the meatloaf prior to our arrival, and below is what he received:


the meatloaf was an intriguing choice for a pre-performance meal, but hey, to each his own. L said the loaf was tasty, the asparagus was well-cooked, but the mashed potatoes were more like a wet, gooey mess than actual food.


by the time we got our order in and received our food, the couch area next to us was quickly filled with a gang of douche-/ho-bags; very loud, obnoxious, tequila-and-then-jaeger-shooting a-holes. at least the fries were so bomb that i could focus on how hot and delicious they were rather than the loud idiots next to us.

the fries were super hot, perfectly golden, and served with substantial salt and freshly-cracked pepper. there's just something about potatoes with fresh pepper. wow. i'm getting hungry.


S ordered the veggie burger. little did she know that she would receive an overly-toasted, dry-ass bun with a lone, tasteless, crusty, freezer-burned veggie patty on top. a slice of tomato, pickle, and lettuce were served on the side, which is a nice touch, but there wasn't a damn element that added any moisture or richness to the sandwich!!! THERE WAS NO CHEESE NOR MAYONNAISE, WHAT THE HELLL?!?! her fries were bomb, as were mine, but shoot, what a sorry excuse for a veggie burger!

thank god we quickly finished our meal, then departed for the show; away from the traveling band of D.B. gypsies taking random shots and clinking bottles of bud light together. thanks for the fremont friday night experience, norm's.

460 N 36th St
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 547-1417

I never knew about Cascadia...

So I had an event downtown and then a meeting, I found myself right in the middle of 4pm downtown business class happy hour. I called up Carbo who works downtown and asked what was up with some happy hour. We were tempted to roll up to our stomping ground aka capitol hill but we decided we would strike down 1st ave and see what downtown had to offer. We immediately found parking right in front of Del Rey. We stopped in a few glasses of overpriced wine and some less than helpful service. I use to love this place because their happy hour is on point and included some tasty fish and chips. It appears as if they have embraced a mexican theme and the $4 happy hour menu now included items ranging from chimicangas to queso fundido. I wasnt quite hungry so I had to pass...maybe next time. Since the service was strange and the place smelled like bleach we decided to go next door because Carbo was telling me about Cascadia's signature Alpine Martini.

I was intrigued by the Alpine Martini because Carbo said it contained a light sorbet doug fir handmade snowball. Typically $11 at happy hour this interesting drink is only $5.50. If you are down with citron vodka this is perfect for you! I rather enjoyed it myself and I dont really like vodka.



It slipped my mind to take some photos but also on happy hour are their signature miniburgers. I had two veggie Cascadia miniburgers and per the bartenders suggestion I added pancetta. Yeah, might seem pointless but I do not eat beef and he said this was a good way to go. The other miniburger options are either beef or salmon. They come standard with lettuce, tomato and pickle. You can add things like bacon for a few dollars more. Other add ons inlcude vermont cheddar, blue cheese, grilled onions, truffle butter, portabellos. Funny thing is, the burgers came out with beef and so the bartender said he would get my burgers and they would be on the house.

Perhaps it was the fact that we had two drinks and they were all alcohol but by the time we paid and left I was adding up the tab in my head and realized that we paid for the burgers and on top of it we paid for burgers we didnt order. B.S. Oh well, it was fun pretending to be downtown business class. I highly doubt I will be inspired to go back for dinner but you never know if the feeling kicks in for a craving for free range chicken with black truffle shroud.

2328 1st Avenue
Happy Hour 5-7pm M-Sat

Rocksport

Oh yeah, before I forget about this.

Just a warning not to eat the Boneless Wings at Rocksport in West Seattle. The dragon sauce was not hot but more importantly these boneless wings were sliced and minced pieces of chicken rolled in sauce and served up with some carrots and celery.It was literally like they shaved the meat off the chicken wings and served them on a plate. Perhaps I should have asked for clarification but 99% of the time I have ordered boneless wings they were basically chicken strips in some tasty wing sauce.

It was also taco tuesday which means you get two tacos for $2....make sure you hit the condiment bar or you are gonna find yourself eating some dry meat and tortillas.

.Hot Mess.

Rocksport has a long list of sandwiches, burgers, steaks and other bar eats all of which seem pretty standard which leads me to believe I made a bad choice. Better luck next time!

We did end up having fun that night regardless of the shitty pre-funk food. Shout out to West Seattle you are the perfect place to celebrate a birthday and host a midweek pub crawl.

!151!

Sometimes Satellite Lounge

The Satellite Lounge is so hit or miss. Seriously. Sometimes the service is great and the bar food is totally on point. Other times, the service lacks and the food is not awesome. But I dont think people go to the Satellite because of the things listed above. This place is the perfect spot to meet people before you head to a show at Chop Suey or stop by for happy hour. Another thing that is great about this place is that it is big. Big enough for you to always get a table with a group of 5 or more. A week or so ago we all met up and I grabbed some quick food before heading out.

My brother started with a slider...which he claimed to be quite tasty.

I went for the chicken strips and fries. The fries were so hot, salty and perfectly cooked. The chicken was also very hot and tasty. Really, you have to be a total moron to fuck up fried food. At first I thought it was undercooked but after examination I found it was just my eyesight. The spicy sauce on the side was also a nice touch. The heat in this sauce was kickin. I can tell you I have ordered this before and the sauce never came with it. Consistency is definitely lacking.

The last thing which is very important to some...is the heavy pours that are always happening here at the Satellite. If anything, you know this place is down to get you messed up.

word.

1118 E Pike St
Seattle, WA 98122-3916