On Sunday, one of the Seattle sights we visited was the Pike Place Market. At one end of it is the Pike Brewing Company, and they have a pub... So Gerry and I stopped in for lunch.
The place is nicely appointed with lots of Pike Brewing paraphernalia, and reminded me favourably of other brewpubs I've been to, such as Swan's and Spinnaker's in Victoria, and Wild River in Richmond.
The menu was replete with the usual pub fare one might expect, with a Pacific Northwest emphasis on local cuisine.
I ordered a bowl of the dungeness crab chowder and the "half" Rueben (the full Rueben has double the meat!), Gerry had the chowder as well and halibut & chips. I couldn't decide between the wheat ale and the Belgian style tripel so the waitress brought me tasters of both. Gerry had the stout. I settled on the tripel, though the wheat was one of the better ones I've tried.
The soup came fast, and it was hot! The mains were both ample and delicious. In short, it was nice simple fare, well prepared.
Recommended.
Ratings:
Service: 4/5
Ambiance: 3/5
Food: 7/10
Price: $$
Score: 14/20
01 October 2007
Taphouse Grill (Seattle) Review
During my weekend with Gerry in Seattle, as part of the experience was to go to Bottleworks and buy and taste beer, we decided to check out the Taphouse Grill. We visited the location in downtown Seattle. Taphouse Grill's claim to fame is that they have 160 different beers on tap.
Writing a good restaurant review is easy, but writing a negative one is one fraught with a little more peril; it is not sufficient to just say bad things about a place, one has to be specific about what made the experience bad.
The easy rating is ambiance. The place has a nice atmosphere to eat and drink in, and there was nothing wrong with the decor. The pictures on the website paint an accurate picture.
However, everything went downhill from there.
Gerry and I arrived around 3pm, which is definitely the dead zone in the restaurant world. Our waitress was very friendly and nice enough, but service goes beyond ones individual server. My first mistake was to ignore Gerry's sage advice to not order the sampler. I'm used to samplers from places like Swan's, Wild River, Spinnaker's, etc - brew pubs where the samples are beers they brew. The sampler at the Taphouse was a mistake.
It was a mistake because of the four beers in the flight, one was off, one was flat, and one I didn't like. The one that was off had the classic wet cardboard aroma I've experienced with wine, but never with beer. Of course, Gerry's the beer expert, whereas I'm more of a wine guy. Also, none of the four beers in the flight was on the list of regular beers (they do say that some 10 or so taps are for whatever seasonal or special ales they have going).
I told the waitress to please take the flight away and bring me a glass of porter instead. She brought it back to the bar and Gerry and I saw the manager and she discuss my "concerns" and the manager even took a sniff of the off beer and make "that face" and put it down.
So when he came over and told me that all the beers "poured like they should" (i.e. that they were all ok), I knew he was lying. I didn't bother arguing - I just wanted my porter and my lunch.
And that was the other part. It took over an hour for Gerry and I to get out food. What did we order that took so long? I ordered the potato cakes and lentil soup from the daily specials menu, and Gerry ordered a beef dip sandwich. In other words, nothing that should take an hour.
When the food finally arrived, I was disappointed. The potato cakes were a little spongy, and the soup (very good) was only warm.
After the beer complaint, we were basically avoided by our waitress and she looked apologetic when she presented our bill. The faulty flight of beer was still on the bill, and I just gave her my credit card. When she came back she'd taken the flight off.
Too little, too late.
Ratings:
Service: 1/5
Ambiance: 3/5
Food: 5/10
Price: $$
Score: 9/20
A note: Having 160 taps is certainly impressive, but with that many, you're simply statistically going to have some bad ones there - especially since some of them won't be very popular. In contradistinction, as we went from the Taphouse to Elysian Fields, a brewpub right by Safeco Field, they have about 20 taps, but half of them are their beers, and the others are "guest beers", and they were all busily poured.
Writing a good restaurant review is easy, but writing a negative one is one fraught with a little more peril; it is not sufficient to just say bad things about a place, one has to be specific about what made the experience bad.
The easy rating is ambiance. The place has a nice atmosphere to eat and drink in, and there was nothing wrong with the decor. The pictures on the website paint an accurate picture.
However, everything went downhill from there.
Gerry and I arrived around 3pm, which is definitely the dead zone in the restaurant world. Our waitress was very friendly and nice enough, but service goes beyond ones individual server. My first mistake was to ignore Gerry's sage advice to not order the sampler. I'm used to samplers from places like Swan's, Wild River, Spinnaker's, etc - brew pubs where the samples are beers they brew. The sampler at the Taphouse was a mistake.
It was a mistake because of the four beers in the flight, one was off, one was flat, and one I didn't like. The one that was off had the classic wet cardboard aroma I've experienced with wine, but never with beer. Of course, Gerry's the beer expert, whereas I'm more of a wine guy. Also, none of the four beers in the flight was on the list of regular beers (they do say that some 10 or so taps are for whatever seasonal or special ales they have going).
I told the waitress to please take the flight away and bring me a glass of porter instead. She brought it back to the bar and Gerry and I saw the manager and she discuss my "concerns" and the manager even took a sniff of the off beer and make "that face" and put it down.
So when he came over and told me that all the beers "poured like they should" (i.e. that they were all ok), I knew he was lying. I didn't bother arguing - I just wanted my porter and my lunch.
And that was the other part. It took over an hour for Gerry and I to get out food. What did we order that took so long? I ordered the potato cakes and lentil soup from the daily specials menu, and Gerry ordered a beef dip sandwich. In other words, nothing that should take an hour.
When the food finally arrived, I was disappointed. The potato cakes were a little spongy, and the soup (very good) was only warm.
After the beer complaint, we were basically avoided by our waitress and she looked apologetic when she presented our bill. The faulty flight of beer was still on the bill, and I just gave her my credit card. When she came back she'd taken the flight off.
Too little, too late.
Ratings:
Service: 1/5
Ambiance: 3/5
Food: 5/10
Price: $$
Score: 9/20
A note: Having 160 taps is certainly impressive, but with that many, you're simply statistically going to have some bad ones there - especially since some of them won't be very popular. In contradistinction, as we went from the Taphouse to Elysian Fields, a brewpub right by Safeco Field, they have about 20 taps, but half of them are their beers, and the others are "guest beers", and they were all busily poured.
Seattle
Some six weeks ago, my friend Gerry and I made plans to go see the Mariners play a game and spend the weekend in Seattle. Little did we know at the time that the Mariners, who had a clear 4 game lead in the wild card race, would go on an extended losing streak and be out of the playoffs or that the Canadian dollar would reach parity with the US dollar.
In any event, we had the tickets and the hotel booked, and off we went. It took a little over an hour to get through the south bound customs lineup, and it was probably much longer by the time we finally got through at 9am!
We stopped and shopped a the "Seattle's Best" outlet mall and found some bargains. One of the nice things about "guy shopping" is we know what we want and if they don't have it, we move on. I found some shoes (long overdue to get replacements) for cheap at Eddie Bauer, and a new lasagna pan (Le Creuset, at an outrageously good price) which will last me forever, complete with roasting rack to go with it.
The game was good and featured everything I want to see at a baseball game - the home team winning, and a home run. (Mariners 5-1 over the Texas Rangers). I also didn't know that Sammy Sosa played for the Rangers (as their DH) so I actually got to see him at bat.
Safeco Field is a great baseball venue, and the thing that impressed me the most was that the concessions were a mix of stadium facilities and local franchises (e.g. the Ivar's fish and chip place, and the barbecue place whose name escapes me but had a fabulous pulled pork sandwich). There were also other options available, like sushi.
The most surprising though was that while Bud and Coors were the "default" beers, one in three taps featured a local microbrewery's craft beer. Very shrewd marketing!
The hotel we stayed at was close to the Space Needle so we were able to walk everywhere, including a late lunch at the Taphouse Grill (reviewed separately) and Safeco Field.
On Sunday we had lunch at the Pike Place Pub (reviewed separately) and checked out the market and the Science Fiction Museum.
The Science Fiction Museum was a lot of fun, and most of the collection is from Paul Allen, whose brainchild it is (as well as the Experience Music Project). Notably absent from the collection was anything British (Dr. Who, Space 1999, Blake's Seven, etc), and with the exception of a couple of minor items, nothing Babylon 5. Lots of Star Trek (old and new) and Star Wars, and the queen alien from Aliens. Well worth the admission ticket.
Coming home, the border lineup was a mere 30 minutes, and the customs guy, after checking the trunk to see all the beer we bought, waved us through. Lots of people being pulled over to go pay sales tax at the customs office though.
I really like Seattle, and it had been 14 years since I'd last visited. It won't be that long before I go again!
In any event, we had the tickets and the hotel booked, and off we went. It took a little over an hour to get through the south bound customs lineup, and it was probably much longer by the time we finally got through at 9am!
We stopped and shopped a the "Seattle's Best" outlet mall and found some bargains. One of the nice things about "guy shopping" is we know what we want and if they don't have it, we move on. I found some shoes (long overdue to get replacements) for cheap at Eddie Bauer, and a new lasagna pan (Le Creuset, at an outrageously good price) which will last me forever, complete with roasting rack to go with it.
The game was good and featured everything I want to see at a baseball game - the home team winning, and a home run. (Mariners 5-1 over the Texas Rangers). I also didn't know that Sammy Sosa played for the Rangers (as their DH) so I actually got to see him at bat.
Safeco Field is a great baseball venue, and the thing that impressed me the most was that the concessions were a mix of stadium facilities and local franchises (e.g. the Ivar's fish and chip place, and the barbecue place whose name escapes me but had a fabulous pulled pork sandwich). There were also other options available, like sushi.
The most surprising though was that while Bud and Coors were the "default" beers, one in three taps featured a local microbrewery's craft beer. Very shrewd marketing!
The hotel we stayed at was close to the Space Needle so we were able to walk everywhere, including a late lunch at the Taphouse Grill (reviewed separately) and Safeco Field.
On Sunday we had lunch at the Pike Place Pub (reviewed separately) and checked out the market and the Science Fiction Museum.
The Science Fiction Museum was a lot of fun, and most of the collection is from Paul Allen, whose brainchild it is (as well as the Experience Music Project). Notably absent from the collection was anything British (Dr. Who, Space 1999, Blake's Seven, etc), and with the exception of a couple of minor items, nothing Babylon 5. Lots of Star Trek (old and new) and Star Wars, and the queen alien from Aliens. Well worth the admission ticket.
Coming home, the border lineup was a mere 30 minutes, and the customs guy, after checking the trunk to see all the beer we bought, waved us through. Lots of people being pulled over to go pay sales tax at the customs office though.
I really like Seattle, and it had been 14 years since I'd last visited. It won't be that long before I go again!
Jethro Tull at the River Rock
Last Friday (the 28th of September), I went to see Jethro Tull at the River Rock Casino.
The concert venue at the River Rock is fabulous - it's very intimate, and I can't say that there's a bad seat in the place, although I had a truly premium seat in row three.
The seating is part of an elaborate $10 million system (so said the promo guy who came out to tell us about the lineup of artists coming soon) that lets the room be configured pretty much any way they liked - from music, to boxing, to a cabaret, it's all possible through automation. On my way out after the show I got to see the inner workings as the crowd filtered out through the exit corridors.
The last time I saw Jethro Tull was during their 1991 tour (at the Orpheum). I was pleased to be able to see them live again, and I expect that it will be the last time I get to see them in concert.
Ian Anderson was in fine form, cracking many jokes, and poking fun at their age. They opened their show with "Some Day the Sun Won't Shine for You" from their first album (This Was, 1968) and then joked their next one would be from "their more recent album from 1969".
I wrote recently about Al Stewart's musical talent, and I need to make the same comment here. Everyone in the band can play multiple instruments, and play them well. I know that Tull's music isn't everyone's cuppa tea, but there's not denying their musicianship.
Ian Anderson's voice isn't what it used to be, but he's adjusted his singing style and his passion for his music is still apparent. Their playlist did feature more instrumental pieces than one might normally expect at a rock concert, but for the better part of two hours, they provided great entertainment.
Here is the set list from the show...
Someday The Sun Won't Shine For You (Ian & Martin only)
Living In The Past
The Donkey And The Drum - from their new album, "to be released some time in 2012" [joking]
Thick As A Brick - from the eponymous album, a rather lengthy excerpt and very well done
Pastime With Good Company (King Henry's Madrigal)
Mother Goose
My Sunday Feeling
Bourée
Sweet Dream
After You After Me - from one of Martin Barre's solo albums
Aqualung - a new arrangement with lots of flute (Ian noted that this song, probably Tull's most famous work, features no flute in its original incarnation)
America - From "West Side Story", an arrangement by Emerson (of Emerson, Lake, & "the other lawyer in the firm")
My God
Budapest
Locomotive Breath (the obligatory encore finale)
The concert venue at the River Rock is fabulous - it's very intimate, and I can't say that there's a bad seat in the place, although I had a truly premium seat in row three.
The seating is part of an elaborate $10 million system (so said the promo guy who came out to tell us about the lineup of artists coming soon) that lets the room be configured pretty much any way they liked - from music, to boxing, to a cabaret, it's all possible through automation. On my way out after the show I got to see the inner workings as the crowd filtered out through the exit corridors.
The last time I saw Jethro Tull was during their 1991 tour (at the Orpheum). I was pleased to be able to see them live again, and I expect that it will be the last time I get to see them in concert.
Ian Anderson was in fine form, cracking many jokes, and poking fun at their age. They opened their show with "Some Day the Sun Won't Shine for You" from their first album (This Was, 1968) and then joked their next one would be from "their more recent album from 1969".
I wrote recently about Al Stewart's musical talent, and I need to make the same comment here. Everyone in the band can play multiple instruments, and play them well. I know that Tull's music isn't everyone's cuppa tea, but there's not denying their musicianship.
Ian Anderson's voice isn't what it used to be, but he's adjusted his singing style and his passion for his music is still apparent. Their playlist did feature more instrumental pieces than one might normally expect at a rock concert, but for the better part of two hours, they provided great entertainment.
Here is the set list from the show...
Someday The Sun Won't Shine For You (Ian & Martin only)
Living In The Past
The Donkey And The Drum - from their new album, "to be released some time in 2012" [joking]
Thick As A Brick - from the eponymous album, a rather lengthy excerpt and very well done
Pastime With Good Company (King Henry's Madrigal)
Mother Goose
My Sunday Feeling
Bourée
Sweet Dream
After You After Me - from one of Martin Barre's solo albums
Aqualung - a new arrangement with lots of flute (Ian noted that this song, probably Tull's most famous work, features no flute in its original incarnation)
America - From "West Side Story", an arrangement by Emerson (of Emerson, Lake, & "the other lawyer in the firm")
My God
Budapest
Locomotive Breath (the obligatory encore finale)
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