Eat, drink and be merry: Queen Anne

Last Friday night I had the chance to do a bit of a pub crawl in my own ‘hood, the perfect proximity to home for an end-of-a-long-week outing. Here are a few tidbits about that evening and the neighborhood in general, in the spirit of my occasional series on interesting neighborhoods to check out.

First stop was Flow Lounge, in the former Opal Bistro space at the corner of Queen Anne Ave and Boston. I hadn’t yet checked it out, something to do with my own private rebellion at the fact that there was no menu posted outside and thus nothing that beckoned me inside. Good thing to have been brought there, though, because it’s a neighborhood spot I could see returning to. I wouldn’t call the food exceptional, but the interior is upscale comfortable and the service is fantastic. We were there just under the wire for happy hour, and had the house salad (perfectly good, though unremarkable), garlic fries (utterly lacking in garlic), panko prawns (breaded goodness) and the mini cheeseburger (the one pictured here). It was delicious, without a doubt, and the best nibble I tried at Flow. My only gripe is that this petite slider-sized cheeseburger was $6, which seemed out of sync with the rest of the happy hour menu. I mean, c’mon!

From there, it was a short trip around the corner to How to Cook a Wolf. Although I love the food there and have raved about both menu and interior, on this particular visit we were there just to soak up some of the latter and enjoy a beverage. Glasses of Syrah and Montepulciano, and a Hendricks martini, and we were on our way to the next location.

The evening ended at Betty, sibling to Queen Anne neighbor, Crow, and somewhere I’ve not been for a while. We headed straight to the back bar and had the most delicious Manhattans and a to-die-for spring risotto. Jill, bartender extraordinaire, surprised us with this lovely salted caramel and almond tart, graced with a sour cherry compote and a dollop of mascarpone. Salty, sweet and utterly delicious.

Last but not least, remember the empty space on the corner of Queen Anne Ave and Blaine I wrote about in a recent post? On Friday night we walked past and discovered that it’s going to be a ’Zaw location, the bake-at-home pizza chain that has been springing up around town. Is it just me, or does Seattle feel like it’s pizza crazy all of the sudden? For a roundup of the best check out the March issue of Seattle Metropolitan and their Pizza Smackdown, where they do a good job of breaking down the different styles and coming up with a best-in-show for each.