Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Seattle Weekly Critic Jonathan Kaufman "Savors the Highlights of a Million-calorie Year"

The best of 2009 is out. Kaufman's picked his top ten "dishes" of 2009 and included is Tavern Law's Gun Club cocktail by David Nelson. Kaufman writes, "I've drunk too many of these (damn that six-block walk!) to omit the Gun Club at Tavern Law, Dana Tough and Brian McCracken's new cocktail bar. Of course, you can make a reservation upstairs and get a customized cocktail designed to your tastes, but I've preferred to pick through the arcana listed on master bartender David Nelson's menu downstairs. Made with gin, Lillet, Maraschino, and a few drops of Scotch for smoke, the Gun Club tastes like a downed electric wire, crackling and throwing sparks. It's a dangerous and compelling drink, as several mornings-after have proven."

Thanks Jonathan: http://www.seattleweekly.com/2009-12-30/food/the-top-10-dishes-of-2009/

Friday, December 11, 2009

Critic Maureen Clancy Writes Up Tavern Law


Clancy stopped by the bar a few week's back and sipped some of David Nelson's creations. Today she writes, "Seattle’s Tavern Law successfully invokes the glory days of American bartending while also offering the best food, drink, talent and know-how of the new millennium."

In addition to diving into the allure of Becherovka (which she describes as "a prized alcoholic drink, made in Karlovy Vary (aka Karlsbad) in the Czech Republic, from anise seed, cinnamon and a secret mash of 32 herbs") Clancy also sips Nelson's Eastern Waterfront. Of it she says: "a fragrant mingling of gin, Peychaud’s Bitters, Martini & Rossi white vermouth and Becherovka. It’s one of the many fascinating cocktails dreamed up by the eatery’s talented bartender/mixologist David Nelson (pictured here, photo by Clancy). On the same night that he splashed Becherovka into my son Nicholas’ cocktail, Nelson swirled together for me two types of rum (Rhum Agricole and blackstrap), allspice liqueur, lime juice, Chartreuse and Demerara sugar. Though it didn’t have a name yet, the “work-in-progress” was an aromatic and warmly satisfying cocktail, perfect for sipping while the rain drummed the sidewalks in front of the atmospheric new saloon. (Since that night, Nelson has christened the drink The Indecent Monk, a reference to the French monastery where the liqueur was originally produced and the green-brown color of the monks’ robes.)"

To read the entire review, please visit her blog Matters of Taste: http://www.maureenclancy.com/2009/12/seattle-celebrates-the-golden-age-of-cocktails.html

Thank you for coming by Tavern Law, Maureen.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Tavern Law in the Seattle Times


Thursday's Seattle Times takes a look at our neighbors along 12th Avenue, everything from this street's great restaurants, to shops and martial arts schools. Tan Vinh described us as "The city's premier speakeasy-style cocktail lounge and worst-kept secret. It's located upstairs through the bank-vault door. Pick up the rotary phone to get buzzed in."

Thanks for including Tavern Law, Tan.

Photo by Kristin Zwiers for Tavern Law.