Restaurant Roundup: Brunch With a Side of History, Cardamom Lattes, and Chiew Chiew

Hope you’re hungry for a history lesson. Oliver’s, the cocktail lounge inside downtown’s Mayflower Park Hotel, was a Bartell Drugs store during Prohibition before becoming the city’s first hotel bar in the late 1940s—the Carousel Room, named for the carousel horses hung from the ceiling. When Washington repealed the rule forbidding the service of hard alcohol in the public view, the establishment was renovated and Oliver’s opened in 1976 as the first “daylight bar” in the state. Fifty years later, you can still enjoy a cocktail, and even brunch—the vanilla bourbon French toast is to-die-for—while gazing out those beautiful, floor-to-ceiling windows. 

Shuck it up with a chef

If terroir is the taste of the land, Hotel 1000 and Executive Chef Alejandro Ayala want to introduce you to the taste of the sea—the “merroir,” if you will. At the new PNW Oyster Shucking Class + Bubbles happening Thursday, Sept. 24, you’ll learn how to properly pry open the briny PNW bivalves and prepare your own mignonette sauce (plus a recipe card you can take home). All Water Seafood & Oyster Bar will host the event every third Thursday of the month through March.

Sports bar snags a sidekick

As most will know, surviving in the hospitality industry is a team sport. Pitch the Baby, Capitol Hill’s “sports bar for everybody,” worried some fans recently with unexpected closures, but it appears things have taken a positive swing (can’t say the same for the Mariners) with the planned addition of 206 Burger Company in the adjoining space. 

Seasonal drink shakeup

Have the PSLs already gone stale? Well, it’s not even October yet, so we may need to have a tough conversation, but for now, perhaps a different coffee flavor that still hits all the fall cravings could be in order. Give the house cardamom latte at Hamsa a try. The Arabic street food restaurant also has a Dubai chocolate mocha that hits the spot, warming you up alongside breakfast favorites like shakshouka.

Community built on food

You might visit Black & Tan Hall for the music, or maybe you’re there to dance, but what ties all of the venues’ experiences together is the food. The kitchen, led by Chef Tay Proctor-Mills Jr., defies definition, swaying between Southern and Cajun influences, incorporating modern techniques and vegan cuisine with soul. The menu’s all about making people feel welcome, as is his monthly “Flavors of the Northwest” five-course dinner, which invites local bartenders, chefs, and farmers to share their perspective on diversity and sustainability in food.

Hispanic Heritage Month is here

The annual celebration (September 15-October 15) is a great opportunity to show extra support to Latinx-owned businesses in your own backyard and the region as a whole. You could enjoy Venezuelan arepas and empanadas at Paparepas, dine on Peruvian-inspired cuisine at Pink Salt, or sip on a Bidi Bidi Brew Brew (horchata, lavender syrup, ube foam, and a purple sugar rim) at Café Calaveras. Browse Intentionalist’s map to find more restaurants near you. 

A Pike and Pine pairing

Two businesses in the Capitol Hill neighborhood are teaming up. Natural wine bar La Dive now offers patrons the chance to order food from Sugar Hill by scanning a QR code in its tasting room. Dubbed Chiew Chiew, the partnership delivers Thai street food and Asian bar snacks from the kitchen located just a few blocks away. You can order dumplings, noodles, fries, and more to go with your pinot noir or frozen cocktail every day except Monday, when La Dive hosts separate guest chef pop-ups.