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/

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.

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.

The Seattle Times Reviews Tavern Law Today

What a way to start the weekend! Restaurant Critic Providence Cicero reviewed us in today's paper, peppering her article with words like "phenomenal" and "perfect" to describe our food and calling us "the thinking drinker's watering hole". She wrote, "Drinks include a thoughtful selection of cider and beer, plus a wine list commendably long on half-bottles, but the cocktail is king and the chief courtier is David Nelson, also Spur's talented bar manager.
Libations are crafted in the wood-paneled, book-lined downstairs as well as in the secret lounge above by a cadre of professionals in silk vests and ties whose passion for and knowledge of spirits equals their prowess at blending them.
They are conjurers bent on surprise; virtuosos who mix and stir with precision, shake with vigor, then pour the results into just the right vintage vessel. The most high-tech tool at their disposal is a hand-operated juicer.
Come here to learn the difference between a rickey and a buck, a daisy and a smash. Can't decide? Let the bartender take your measure, and tailor a drink to your preferences."

To read Ms. Cicero's entire review, please visit the Seattle Times website at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/restaurants/2010163657_cicero30.html. Photo of Tavern Law's Death Before Sunrise for the Times by Cliff Despeaux.

Imbibe Magazine Says Tavern Law is "Where to Go Now"

In the magazine's Scene Scout section, Imbibe magazine has featured Tavern Law in their November/December issue. "Behind the tall, frosted glass windows at the intersection of Madison and 12th Avenue streets in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, bar manager David Nelson is re-creating long-forgotten cocktails at Tavern Law, the bar recently opened by Spur Gastropub owners Brian McCracken and Dana Tough. Inspired by Nelson's affinity for vintage bar manuals, the cocktail menu is cleverly built like a book divided into chapters of Sours, Flips, Slings and Punches, while the bar's interior is equally vintage in style."

It's a terrific piece and we're honored Imbibe covered our opening.

RESTAURANTS NOW: TAVERN LAW in GOURMET

Matthew Amster-Burton writes about Tavern Law for Gourmet saying, "At Tavern Law, the new Capitol Hill bar from the creators of Spur gastropub in Belltown, you’ll want to go upstairs, and not just because of the rigmarole involving a locked door, an antique telephone, and a dark staircase. No, you’ll want to go upstairs because the speakeasy-style mezzanine is where bartender Miles Thomas is waiting to design a special drink to please you. Into ginger? Thomas might pull out a cloudy vial of house-made gingercello and combine it with rum, simple syrup, and orange juice for a spicy, invigorating, one-of-a-kind cocktail. Then again, downstairs you have full access to Tavern Law’s encyclopedic drink menu, equipped with a glossary in case you don’t know your fizzes from your flips. The food—poached salmon, fried oysters, sautéed pimientos de Padrón—is expertly cooked and appropriately modest, as if devised to keep your mind on beverages.
Tavern Law 1406 12th Avenue, Seattle (206-322-9734; tavernlaw.com)".

a recent menu

Pan seared butterfish. $15
fregola sardi, kale, herb couslis

Cod fritters. $9
sauce remoulade, lemon, Chervil

Foie gras terrine. $15
angostura bitters gelee, warm toast

Pork belly. $14
cranberry beans, autumn plums, mustard

Braised shortribs. $15
spaetzle, fondue, red onion jam

Lolla Rossa lettuce. $7
fennel, picholines, parmesan

Baby beets. $9
chicory, Alioli, pecorino Romano

Truffle risotto. $14
celery, Parmesan, olive oil