Our latest roll call of Emerald City bar openings includes two new taprooms (this is Seattle, after all, haven for hops) and three cocktail dens for late-night revelers in Ballard and on Capitol Hill. Details below, starting with a bar on Ballard’s main drag with a notable happy hour.
The Garrison
2319 N.W. Market St.; exploretock.com/the-garrison-seattle
The owners behind the French bistro Le Coin in Fremont opened this Champagne and Chartreuse bar in the old Hotel Albatross a few weeks ago. There are only 20 seats now, but an additional 100 seats in the back dining room will be ready by spring after construction is done, said Jordan Melnikoff, who runs The Garrison with Joshua Delgado.
Until then, reservation through Tock is recommended due to limited seating. Or come early (3-5 p.m.) for happy hour, when many seafood noshes are half-off, from scallop crudo with caviar ($11) to a smoked salmon toast with a runny scrambled egg, creme fraiche and roe ($7).
Happy hour cocktails run $10 each, but the better deal is the Champagne by the glass (five to seven options) with a 25% discount. Although licensed as a bar, The Garrison aims to be an oyster house with shellfish and seafood shared plates. There’s also a takeout window with a separate rotating menu of tacos, fried chicken and other comfort foods.
The Greater Good
5316 Ballard Ave. N.W., Seattle; instagram.com/greatergoodseattle
Just southeast of The Garrison on Ballard Avenue sits The Greater Good, from the owner behind the Underbelly bar in Pioneer Square. That bar near Seattle’s big stadiums caters to the office workers, art walk crowd and sports fans, while its younger sibling Ballard bar aims to be a neighborhood hangout due to its proximity to countless apartment and condo units. The menu focuses on craft cocktails ($14) and natural and biodynamic wines ($12-$14 by the glass).
Paper Fan Cocktail Bar
601 E. Pike St., Unit 100, Seattle; instagram.com/paper_fan_cocktail/
This hush-hush, speakeasy-inspired bar is tucked inside Biang Biang Noodles; it’s an 18-seat upstairs den with a Hong Kong-themed menu focused on bespoke cocktails with tea or baijiu, a popular Chinese spirit often made with sorghum, a grain. Japanese and Taiwanese whiskeys are also showcased. Reservations are recommended due to limited seating.
The Good Society Brewery and Barrel House
535 W. McGraw St., Seattle; goodsocietybeer.com/brewery-barrel-house
This West Seattle brewery, anointed the best small brewpub and brewer of the year at the prestigious Great American Beer Festival in 2020, expands to Upper Queen Anne. The 55-seat tasting room runs 15 taps of pilsners, sours, farmhouse ales and several IPAs. Coming soon will be a Baltic porter, a black IPA and other seasonal dark brews. Charcuterie, fresh-baked pretzels and other beer snacks are available, but for something more substantial, patrons can bring takeout to the tasting room. The brewery plans to add more food options later this year.
Pike Taproom Summit
1008 Pine St., Seattle; piketaproomsummit.com
Pike Brewing moved its production facility out of the Pike Place Market area last year and started brewing in Sodo but maintained that management remained bullish on downtown. The brewery backed that talk up by opening another tasting room downtown at the Seattle Convention Center (while also keeping its taphouse near Pike Place open). The new taproom, with 11 beers on tap and in cans, can seat 13 indoors and another two dozen outdoor. Bar bites riff on the ballpark frank, with an andouille sausage, a spicy hot link, a Tokyo dog with Kewpie mayo and katsu sauce, and a Seattle Dog. You can also sub out the meats for a Field Roast veggie link.
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