When I first moved to the neighborhood twelve years ago, we were a long way from most anything interesting on Capitol Hill. Back then the heart of the neighborhood was on Pine west of Broadway and further north along Broadway itself. But in the last couple of years, some of the best additions on the hill have in the Pike/Pine area around 12th Ave. That puts a variety of new things within walking distance for us in the Central District – in fact, it’s only a 20 minute walk from 23rd & Cherry.
Here’s two new places to check out that have been covered by our friends at Capitol Hill Seattle:
Tavern Law – The highly anticipated new “speakeasy-style” bar and restaurant opened this past Saturday in the new Trace Lofts building just north of 12th & Madison. Twitter user kevinseattle said that the food and drinks were amazing, in spite of some opening-night issues with the service.
Plum Bistro – Opened in July on the opposite side of 12th, in the spot formerly occupied by Cafe Stellina. It’s a vegan restaurant operated by Makini Howell of Hillside Quickie fame. They’re currently averaging 4-stars in ratings at Yelp.
And after dinner, don’t forget to check out the burgeoning collection of sweet treats in the area, such as Old School Frozen Custard, Molly Moon’s, Bluebird Homemade Ice Cream, and Cupcake Royale.
To begin with, I should probably say that I’m a bit of a cocktail geek, I’m a regular at the Zig Zag and travel for me usually involves tracking down at least one good place to grab a drink. Tavern Law follows the latest classic cocktail trend very effectively. Among other things, our group had a Sazerac, an Absinthe Frappe and a Gun Club Cocktail, all of which were excellent. I wasn’t too keen on my first drink (a sour) but that had more to do with miscommunication more than anything.
The space itself is quite nice too. We sat upstairs in the “speakeasy” portion of the bar. I believe that both the drink and food menus are a little limited upstairs as some items were not available, but it was much quieter than downstairs and especially nice if you actually want to have a conversation while drinking. I’m not a huge fan of the speakeasy concept, as it can get a little gimicky, but what they have going is still pretty nice.
All and all, we liked this place a lot. Seattle is a great drinking town and bars like Tavern Law only strengthen this fact. I wish them the best of luck and wanted to let the readers here know that it’s well worth the short walk, especially during our last few weeks of summer!
I heard nice things about Barrio
http://www.barriorestaurant.com/
Barrio is a nice space, drinks are very good, the food is a bit on the expensive side (though I can’t speak to the quality yet, as I’ve yet to order any).
We tried Meza last week on 14th between Pike and Pine and were pretty impressed. It is fairly cheap at $4-$8/item and so yummy. It is also only a 15 min walk from 23rd and Union. I’m looking forward to trying out these other new places too!
i’m generally against a business that opens a $4 per taco restaurant in the middle of a big recession.
Yes, barrios tacos run around the $4 mark. But then you can get a side of rice and beans with your taco for just $2.50. So that’s basically a full, light meal for $6.50. I thought that was a pretty recession-friendly deal!
For happy hour, I think their tacos are reasonable, but after that, no way.
Go during happy hour (I think 10pm to close everyday) – its pretty cheap
It’s a bit off-thread, but it seems an opportune time to chime in for Rancho Bravo, the folks who took over the KFC at Pine and 10th. Food is cheap ($2 mole chicken tacos, giant tortas) and damned tasty. Only cerveza is missing.
Al-aruba needs some work.
Painfully average medi food priced about 4 bucks too high.
Lamb was dry and tough and one skewer was not adequate for 14 bucks.
My falafal was not great, bland hummus as well.
Some off the menu goat dish came out when we were paying and that looked great. Why not on the menu?
I think the drinks at Tavern Law were great, and I am sure the food is good – but the menu is pretty limited, really. I wouldn’t go there expecting to eat a lot if you’re hungry – but the drinks were fabulous and the staff nice as could be. Would definitely go back – just not for dinner :)