Pair, Alibi Room

The hits kept going during Celebration Week as Country Girl and I checked out nearby Pair for happy hour then ambled over to the Alibi Room in Pike's Place with hopes of dancing.

Pair is relatively nearby where we live (most everything is kinda far away out here in the country =D) and also close to a place where Country Girl lived previously though neither of us had been there before.  It strikes me as quintessential neighborhood restaurant in size, decor and layout.   It's relatively small with an entirely open layout.  The seating runs pretty cozy though didn't seem crowded.  The decoration is minimal but long on warm and inviting.  Sitting at the bar, we were at the mercy of the lone bartender working at the time.  She was decidedly not friendly, unfortunately, but was prompt enough in taking our order and making the food and drink show up. Even this wasn't without its hitches as she messed up Country Girl's drink order first time through.  We tried the brisket sliders, mac and cheese, herb and cheese gougères, a green salad and smoked salmon on toast.  Everything was tasty with both the mac and cheese and gougères really standing out.  Despite the chilly reception, we may well check out Pair again for their tasty bites.

Afterwards we made our way down to the Alibi Room to get our boogie on.  En route, we stopped so Country Girl could get a pic with the new Great Wheel. 

Albi Room was another first to us both.  After making our way down into the Market and walking through the doors, we learned it's a restaurant with a a club sorta thing in the basement.  When we arrived, there was a private party in the club for the next 30 odd minutes so we decided to wait it out in the bar area.  I don't recall much about the decor other than the decor, furniture and lighting were all quite dark.  Once the club opened, we headed down with high hopes.  These were quickly dashed as the club is quite the bleak affair.  It's a single, not terribly large concrete walled room with a combo bar/dj station taking up the far end of the room.  The music turned out to be similarly bleak.  DJ Mullet was on the ones and twos putting on a poor display of playing terrible tunes (top-40, perhaps?) coupled with very awkward, ill timed breaks between songs.  It's difficult to say how impressed the crowd was as it was relatively early in the evening and the weren't many people there.  One very redeeming quality Albi Room had was that playing on one of the large screens was some sort of Soul Train compilation.  Seeing the moves, the outfits and a young and especially dapper Don Cornelius was very impressive.  Sadly, this was about the only thing the place had going for it while we were there.  We put on a brave face for a while and had some smiles but it was a relatively short stay for us.  Unlikely the Alibi Room will see a repeat visit. 

Fumaca, Can Can, Montlake Ale House

Celebration week rolled on with Country Girl and myself hitting up a few spots in one night last week.  We started at Fumaca Brazilian Steakhouse for din din.  A brazillian steakhouse ("churrascarias") is basically a charcoal grilled meat buffet and is every bit as wonderful as it sounds.  Servers come around with a wide selection of perfectly grilled meats on metal spits and carve it off for you table side.  We tried prime rib, sirloin, lamb, bacon wrapped turkey, garlic steak and shrimp, among others.  Grilled pineapple, filet mignon and pork loin were also available.  Country Girl and I both heartily agree that it's unbelievable how incredibly seasoned and perfectly grilled every item arrives.  While some things tasted better than others, we're talking degrees of excellent.  In addition to the table side grilled goodies, a cold buffet including fresh sliced fruits, cold cuts and gourmet cheeses.  Veggies and pasta salads were also available. 

After pulling ourselves away from the grilled meat temple, we headed to the Can Can at Pike's Place Market for a burlesque show.  Neither of us had previously been to the Can Can though we had seen a burlesque show once prior while in Vancouver.  Can Can was decidedly cozy as they packed in quite a number of tables along with a stage in a fairly narrow but long space.  The dancers for the night's show were all  impressive with a belly dance act that we both found particularly noteworthy.

After the Can Can, we stopped by the Montlake Ale House while heading home for pint to cap the evening.  It was my first visit there while Country Girl had been there previously to eat.  I tried the Nectar Ales Humboldt Brown and Country Girl had the Stone Smoked Porter.  We both liked the brown and she enjoyed the porter as well.  I found it bitter while Country Girl loved the full flavor.   

Want to again say what a wonderful time we had at Fumaca.  Highly recommend that anyone who enjoys grilled meat to give a Brazilian steakhouse a go.  Every place we visited delivered the goods.  No surprise really, as Country Girl makes any place a destination.  Another wonderful evening of food and entertainment with my fav partner in crime. 

Capitol Club - Capitol Hill

To kick off celebration week, Country Girl was kind enough to surprise me with a trip to the Capitol Club on Capitol Hill (how fitting, no?).  She'd been several years ago, shortly after moving to Seattle, and enjoyed an evening of appetizers and flamenco dancing.  A fine way to kick off celebration week and a wonderful surprise indeed. 

It was my first time to the Capitol Club and I really enjoyed the experience.  The layout of the space was rather interesting.  It's two floors and we were ushered upstairs as soon as we got in, so I'm not sure what the first floor is used for.  There appeared to be tables set, so perhaps it overflow seating.  Upstairs was quite cozy.  There's a full bar on one side of room with a handful of small two person tables on the other.  On the table side, there's also bench seating along the wall.  I recall only minimal decorations with lots of lighting.  Above the bench seating several candle holders with small, lit candles covered the wall.  It was very cozy.  Additionally, they were playing some fantastic 70's era funk and soul cuts over their speakers at just the right volume.

Despite the online schedule showing as much, unfortunately there was no dancing that evening.  Our very warm and helpful waitress informed us later on that the guitarist is battling a hand or wrist injury and it's currently TBD whether he and his performance partner will return.  

A very pleasant surprise is that we arrived in time for happy hour.  It generously runs til 8 during the week and it turned out to be a fabulous coincidence.  We tried the calamari, mussels and a green salad, all of which were delicious.  The mussels were prepared in spicy broth and were absolutely excellent.  All these tasty bits were washed down with some equally delicious sangria.  To finish off the meal, we enjoyed their molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream which was an excellent show closer.

Country Girl delivered yet again on another fabulous surprise, spoiling City Boy much more than he deserves.   The evening was a smashing success and I highly recommend the Capitol Club.