(From left, Scott Goerig, Mike Bauer, Joshua Huckabay)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The new family-friendly sports bar/restaurant Redline WS is days away from opening.
While it’s just across 35th SW from the site that until three years ago housed the Redline, whose then-proprietor Scott Goerig is now a consultant for Redline WS, this is not a re-creation or relocation. This is something new.
Mike Bauer, retired from the telecom industry, is Redline WS’s owner; he and Goerig talked with us on Monday as finishing touches were well under way.
We found out they’re intending the establishment on the street level of The Residences at 3295 to be not “just” a sports bar and restaurant, but also a coffee shop geared toward the numerous commuters who catch and/or change buses steps away at the busy 35th/Avalon intersection.
“Our biggest hope is that people will understand we are trying to take this to the next level,” Goerig enthuses.
First, if you recall hearing about a “new” Redline in 2011 – then our first Redline WS report in March, when they were hoping to open in June – you might wonder what took so long.
Keep in mind – the building itself has gone through ownership changes on the long road to completion. Goerig says work on the Redline WS space – which will seat 105, more than half in the “family-friendly space” – really only began in mid-June.
Inside, its decor is modern/industrial – stainless steel, chrome, silver/gray/black except for the “red line” theme across the walls.
Sixteen TVs/screens so far, most of them 50″, with up to 30 possible at this point – but they are not only for sports; four are Internet-connected screens that will be showing Metro times thanks to One Bus Away.
Whether you’re waiting or hanging out, the bar itself just might be the biggest in West Seattle, the Redline WS team – which also includes consultant Kris Quigley – suggests.
It has 14 taps, and while they’re not ready to release the full list, they promise “a lot of local craft beers,” including one that will be branded “Redline Red.”
Now, as for the food. “We wanted to bring to the market something different than ‘just a sports bar’,” Goerig explains.
While the food won’t be served family style, much of it is meant to be “sharable,” with platters of “gourmet sliders” – totaling half a pound of Angus beef, plus toppings and custom-baked buns (including “cheesy garlic”). Wings will come with a “big sauce menu.” Pizza will be hand-tossed New York style. Goerig says it’ll be big for “one place to get these three things right.”
Also on the menu, which we got a brief peek at – other offerings from salads to sandwiches to fried pickle chips to hot dogs – Hebrew National, Bauer points out, and nicely prepared for patrons of any age, not just a side note on the kids’ menu (yes, Redline has one of those, too).
They’re proud of the local ingredients and condiments they will offer. Bauer mentions West Seattle-based Shipwreck Honey, for example, with customers getting the chance to buy and take home a Shipwreck-filled honey bear.
The hours will evolve, with lunch/dinner/etc. the first focus, then opening earlier – eventually 6 am – after a month or so, with coffee, pastries, bagels, etc.
It’ll be all-ages until 10 pm.
And all ages will be welcome in the game corner – arcade games are on the way, the Redline WS team says, from pinball to skee ball.
“This is really and truly supposed to be for everyone,” the Redline WS team wants you to know. As for when they’ll open – as of our visit, they had four inspections to pass, but they remained hopeful of at least a soft open by week’s end, with a “grand opening” following about a week later. We’ll have an update when we get the word.
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