West Seattle, Washington
20 Monday
It’s Our First Marquee Mention Ever, courtesy of the salubrious Java Bean! Spotted it while riding the Water Taxi Shuttle down Avalon yesterday; tried to take a photo last night; our cranky old camera ate it. Before we could try again today, a kind reader snapped it and sent it. We are most honored because as we’ve written before, Java Bean is a true West Seattle classic – we got morning lattes from Tony and family at their cart in front of the pre-fire Thriftway back in the ’90s, and have rooted for their success ever since. Thanks, guys!
Checked out the WS Farmers’ Market a few minutes into opening day, and we are thrilled to see that our personal faves are back, including Eats Market Cafe, Herban Feast with its strawberry-lavender lemonade, and best of all, Langley Fine Gardens, which brings over beautiful plants from its Vashon nursery, including exotic solanums like the one at left (3 for $8!). The market’s open today till 2.
While up around 35th/Holden on Gas Price Watch (for the 1st time in 3 mornings, no increase), we stopped at Carosello for our morning coffee, first time in a while. We were more than pleasantly surprised by some improvements there: They’re serving some local brands you don’t see many other places: coffee from Caffe Umbria, organic treats from Boulangerie Nantaise and Mighty O Donuts. (If you’re a public-service worker, drop by on Thursdays in uniform and drinks are 2-for-1.)
3 months after going public, WS-based Schooner Exact says business is hopping. They e-mailed us to make sure you know they’re the “featured cask” tomorrow night @ 6 @ Beveridge Place Pub, with what Schooner Exact partner Marcus calls “a seriously over-the-top Imperial 3 Grid IPA, on cask, naturally fermented, dry-hopped.” (We are beer idiots but we’re guessing that means it’s fairly swell stuff.) Marcus also tells us they’re up to three kegs/week, with new equipment and more on the way. He says you can find their creations “on a rotating basis” at West 5 too; follow their adventures on the Schooner Exact blog.
From the “triangle” where Delridge cuts between 16th/17th before Roxbury, a former auto shop is transforming into what city records describe as “West Seattle Bible Church”:
Further north on Delridge, the neon sign for the sister shop to Bubbles is up and running (our camera disc decided not to capture it, sorry); not far away, in the 5600 block of Delridge, a former roofing business also appears to be morphing into a “coffee shop”:
Tonight, a rare sighting of squadcarfuls of West Seattle’s Finest taking a break someplace besides Caffe Ladro: at the Westwood Village Barnes ‘n’ Noble.
Local public school athletic programs get 15% of whatever you spend at Tully’s today.
P-I “Internet reporter” Monica Guzman has posted about her Sunday morning stop @ Hotwire.
Flyers on the window at Bikes & Brew, west of Easy Street in The Junction, are advertising its liquidation sale, saying that B & B is going out of business. SUNDAY UPDATE: Bikes & Brew replied to the e-mail we sent seeking further details; here’s what they wrote:
We will be open for the next several Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm selling everything in the shop. Lots of people showed up yesterday so it looks like the last Saturday that we are open will probably be in early May. Please tell your readership that we thank them for their support over the past few years.
Vente Caffeinato took the Alki Point (and beyond) aerial view we recently linked to and overlaid it with coffeehouse locations, mostly in WS.
So it’s Sunday morning, you’re not in such a rush, thinking about wandering out for coffee. Do you always go to the same place, or do you get adventurous every now and then? We’ve been trying to branch out, try the places we haven’t been to in a while (if ever), and we have to say, we’re really impressed with Cafe Rozella, on the southwestern edge (the “cutting edge,” their site says) of WS. Excellent coffee & ambience. See you there.
Businesses in the repaving zone are hopeful we won’t all abandon them during this time of inconvenience. We’ve been to Hotwire, where a handwritten sign on the door says, THANKS FOR BRAVING THE CONSTRUCTION/YOU MAY PARK IN THE COURTYARD FOR 5 MINUTES. If you’ve got any artistic inclination, you’ve got a week and a half more to get in on their “First Annual Coffee Cup Design Contest.” Submit a design by 3/31; customers will vote on the entries in early April. (Entry form & guidelines here.)
Let’s call it “try to knock Howard Schultz a couple spots back down the Forbes Billionaire List.” How, you ask? Drink as much as you can during the big 10 am-noon free coffee blitz today. You can make it to every Starbucks in West Seattle during that window — north to south, it’s Alki to Admiral to Admiral Safeway to Jefferson Square Safeway to 35th/Fauntleroy to Morgan Junction to Westwood to Westwood QFC to Roxbury Safeway — that would be 108 ounces of coffee, all on Howie’s dime!
Just got details on the restaurant in the works for the ex-Neilsen Flowers space at the north edge of The Junction. Its proprietor says it’s been a long slog to get some necessary city approvals (note permit just issued, six months after application!), but they’re finally making progress. It’ll be a 21-and-up restaurant and bar, called “Shadowland” (a change from the original plan, and a reference to a biography of West Seattle’s troubled movie legend Frances Farmer). They’re hoping to be open by summer.
The SOA coffee shop Freshy’s gets a couple paragraphs at the end of a Washington Post article about the Starbucks malaise.
We’ve been slacking lately on our previously reliable Friday roundups of weekend events. Luckily, today, Alki’s contributor to Metroblogging Seattle, C Ro, did it for us — although with a lot more drinking opportunities!
Every time we see folks tapping away on their laptops at local coffee places, we wonder … student? blogger? or perhaps, author? You might have more reason to suspect the latter at Uptown Espresso in The Junction these days. First, WS radio host/author/blogger John Moe revealed he wrote a lot of “Conservatize Me” there. Now Maritime History Network blogger (and journalist/author) Joe Follansbee is planning a reading/signing there in a few weeks for his new book about the Wawona. (Personally, if we had to choose an out-of-the-house spot to write that surefire bestseller someday, we like the view at Alki Tully’s …)
If you tend to hang around the homefront in the evenings, as we do, you may not be aware that West Seattle’s nightlife goes far beyond, oh, say, “which band’s playing Poggie’s tonight.” For example — after discovering that C and P Coffee, south of The Junction, has just applied for a beer/wine license, we went to the C and P website and realized that makes sense, since the coffeehouse offers live music several nights a week (here’s the calendar).
A tv news report tonight (video link here) revealed that Beveridge Place Pub lets people bring in their dogs. Certainly they’re not alone; we were startled when we dropped into C & P Coffee for the first time, back during our Post-Windstorm Wi-Fi Fest, and discovered dogs wandering around from patron to patron. Now, we love all God’s creatures and all that, but not enough to have them sniffing our toes (or worse) while we’re out just trying to enjoy a beverage. (People in the tv story were quoted as saying, “Well, it’s better than leaving the dogs out in the cold.” To which we say, “Why not leave them back in your warm cozy home, then? They’re not like kids — they don’t require a babysitter in order for you to go out without them.”) What do you think?
A month after Beato Food & Wine opened in the ex-O2 space on Cali between the Admiral and Alaska Junctions, its website is finally up, including links to its food and wine menus. (And the home page tells you twice how to pronounce Beato. Hint — it’s not “beet-oh.”)
Reminder that tonight’s the night for the new microbrewers in town, Schooner Exact, to debut their brew with a party (7 pm) @ Beveridge Place Pub in Morgan Junction.
-Back in September, we discovered that the former Cat’s Eye Cafe north of Lincoln Park would be transformed into the Four Aims Center. One of its owners — who mentions having been an original Cat’s Eye owner — just wrote us to say they’re finally in the home stretch with city signoff and so forth, and planning the grand opening Feb. 4.
-Several people have written to make sure we know about a milestone for something else we caught wind of last year, the new West Seattle microbrewery Schooner Exact (named after the Denny Party’s ship). Its licensing process is just wrapping up and its creations will debut Jan. 20 (a week from this Saturday) at Beveridge Place Pub in Morgan Junction — its founders say everyone’s invited.
–Bubbly: We mentioned the other day that while state liquor stores aren’t open New Year’s Eve, West Seattle Cellars is. Also just found out they’re having a sale (big sign outside), so you can get a decent deal on your champagne/wine/champagnish-type sparkling wine.
–Giggly: After the latest major West Seattle power outage, we decided you’ve gotta laugh or else you’ll cry. So, having been through three of them this month here at WSB World HQ, we decided they might be well-named after the Star Wars trilogies. So far — we’ve got A New Problem, The Substation Strikes Back, and Return of the Blackout. Next 3 might work well with The Powerless Menace, Attack of the Trees, and Revenge of the Laterals.
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