An LGBTQ+ night club lands in Fremont, and a sports bar that focuses on women’s sports debuts in Ballard. Those headline this month’s roll call of new bars that have opened in the Seattle area.
Rough & Tumble Pub
5309 22nd Ave. N.W. (Ballard), Seattle; 206-737-7687; roughandtumblepub.com
If you peeked into this sports bar recently, you would have seen the University of Washington women’s basketball game blasting on the big screen, while the UCLA’s men’s and the Oregon men’s basketball games were relegated to the smaller televisions off to the side and on mute. As posted on the bar’s website: “Women’s sports as second string? Not here.” Owner Jen Barnes reserves most of the 18 televisions around the bar to showcase women’s sports, including pro hockey, roller derby, Alpine skiing, white-water kayaking, rock climbing and UFC. Barnes told The Seattle Times that she has an all-ages section so that young girl athletes can see the hanging jerseys of Lauren Jackson, Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe, and watch female athletes on TVs and know there’s a place for them in sports.
Pike Taproom
5205 Ballard Ave. N.W. (Ballard), Seattle; 206-906-9158; pikebrewingseattle.com
Ballard, the hotbed for craft beer, gets another taproom as The Pike Brewing Co. joins the block party, with chef Ethan Stowell consulting on its food menu. Lots of wings and an eclectic burger lineup that includes a Hawaiian version that features a patty topped with SPAM and pineapple. Or get a sandwich stuffed with fried fish, shrimp or fried chicken. The bar serves all of Pike Brewing’s greatest hits, along with wines and cocktails. The 53-seat taproom with leather banquettes has shuffleboard and dart boards along with four flat screens tuned to local games.
Dragster
456 N. 36th St. (Fremont), Seattle; 206-634-2575; dragsterseattle.com
In recent years, the LGBTQ+ night life scene has evolved beyond Capitol Hill. The latest LGBTQ+ bar opens in Fremont in the former Talarico’s Pizza space. (Those giant New York-style slices are still served, but it’s not the same Talarico recipe, said Jeremy Walcott, one of the three owners.) The ballroom space, which can hold nearly 450 people, hosts drag brunch, and on Friday and Saturday nights aims to be the biggest dance party with DJs playing Top 40, hip-hop and ’90s club music.
Camp West
4539 California Ave. S.W. (the Junction), Seattle; 425-224-6944; thecampwest.com
This Tacoma dive opens a second location on the Junction in West Seattle. It’s the same kitschy, camp motif with the space outfitted like a Northwest campground. The server brings your water in a thermal bottle and your cheese-and-charcuterie starter in a tackle box. Lots of rum and rye drinks on the cocktail menu. Unlike the Tacoma watering hole (called Camp Bar), its West Seattle sibling has a full kitchen to put out a fancy pub lineup with mushroom cassoulet, chicken and dumplings and smoked steelhead fillet. The 66-seat bar has been so busy around 5:30-8 p.m. that management has started a waitlist. Go off hours or give it a few more weeks until the buzz dies down.
Hoot Beerdega
115 S. Jackson St. (Pioneer Square); Seattle; 206-467-3032; hootbeerdega.com
This bottle shop opens in a Pioneer Square alley, with about 100 different local craft beers and Old World wines, and hot dogs and hot pretzels to fortify you between drinks. The “Beerdega” has seating in the retail shop as well as in the back where Heard Coffee resides. Both are run by Work + Shop Hospitality.
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