Our Favorite Seattle Bars (Part 2)

Here’s Our Favorite Seattle Bars (Part 1)

In our post, Seattle Bars For All Occasions, we discussed what we objectively believed were the best Seattle bars based on the occasion. Now we discuss our subjective picks. There are certain bars that you like, not because it’s a great bar with great atmosphere and great drinks. You may like certain bars, because it was the bar you went to to celebrate taking your last exam in college, where you met your wife/husband, where you witnessed the ultimate Seahawk comeback win, where you drowned your sorrows getting over being dumped.  We also mentioned in Our Seattle Bar Thoughts post that our bar of choice is the neighborhood bar, Our Bartender Thoughts, How We Treat Bartenders, Best Seattle Bars to Impress Out of Towners and Seattle Bars for Each Stage of Dating.

 Favorite Bars Based Purely on Memories 

• J & M Café-I moved to Seattle for work from LA in the mid-90’s, not knowing a soul. My co-workers knew this, so as a way to introduce me to everybody, they organized an after-work happy hour. We worked in downtown, so J & M Café was in walking distance. As a new Seattleite, I was really shocked that they’d go out of their way to make me feel welcome. Though it was over 20 years ago, many of these people remain my friends to this day even though we’ve all moved on to different jobs. The J & M actually closed for a number of years and opened back up I belileve in 2010.

• Owl’N Thistle-This was deemed my work’s “satellite office” because we hung out there so much. We were all young and single(and dumb) at the time, so this was our defacto spur of the moment after work gathering spot. This is the place we bitched and moaned about our morons bosses, low pay and lack of respect.  I recall whenever a fire alarm at work went off, the Owl & Thistle was our meet up spot. Many memories in the place. Oh, to be young again.

• “The Zoo” Eastlake Zoo Tavern-I had to take a grueling government administered test if I wanted to further my career. I studied months for this test, since the government only offers it twice a year. The pass rate for this exam is 11% and in one particular year it was actually 1.2%. I met up with a bunch of co-workers after the test at The Zoo as a celebration on getting it over with. Luckily I passed. 

• Fado-There was a time in my life where I wanted to meet new people. I joined a Meet Up group that played pub trivia here every Thursday.  The group lasted about 2+ years before it disbanded, but I met a lot of interesting people and it represents a time where I put myself out there and did something that was out of my comfort zone and helped me grow as a person and for this I’m grateful.  

• Steelhead Diner-This is a diner, but it does have a nice view at their bar of Pike Place Market and the Puget Sound. The reason they are on this list? We held our wedding reception in the small room in the back. The bar worked with us to create a signature drink that incorporated the color theme of our wedding-purple and gold. It was in the summer, so it was a refreshing gin/mint drink and a big hit with our guests. 

• Lucky Envelope Brewing-This is the first place serving alcohol that we took our daughter to at 2 months old. Once our daughter was born, we thought our bar hopping days were over.  Not only because we had a new life to take care of, but as you know, babies ain’t allowed in bars.  The one exception to the rule-breweries. I don’t know if I would consider it a loophole but the license to operate a brewery in Washington State is considered a non-retail license. And there is no age restriction for non-retail premises. Bam! To prove to ourselves that having a baby would not preclude us from getting out of the house and continue meeting up with friends and having a cold one, we made it a goal to visit 24 breweries with baby in tow within a year. Did we make it?  Hellz to the Yeah!!!

Lucky Envelope was the first and holds a special place in our hearts for that reason, but shout out to the other 23 breweries that we visited that allow families to enjoy very tasty beers- Counterbalance Brewing Company, Figurehead Brewing, Floating Bridge Brewing, Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery, Fremont Brewing Company, Ghostfish Brewing Company, Lantern Brewing, Lowercase Brewing, Machine House Brewery, Naked City Brewery & Taphouse, NW Peaks Brewery, Old Stove Brewing, Optimism Brewing Company, Peddler Brewing Company, Perihelion Brewery, Populuxe Brewing, Ravenna Brewing Co, Reuben’s Brews, Rooftop Brewing Company, Schooner Exact Brewing Company, Seapine Brewing Company, Stoup Brewing, Urban Family Brewing Co. 

Note: We’ll soon have posts on Seattle Breweries shortly  

Next: Our Favorite Seattle Bars (Part 3)

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