A random, sunny, day drive (sunny but let's not kid ourselves, cold as balls 'cause it's October in Washington folks) led me down to Olympia for the day. Not only was the good ole Jetta pointed south anyways, but MGD & I had an inkling there were some ale related places we wanted to visit in Oly. So until our inklings became full blown ideas, we started at a familiar location, the Fishbowl (also known as Fish Tale) Brew Pub. I have a similar opinion of the Fishbowl to that of the review I linked for y'all but can sum it up pretty shortly that the place just doesn't do it for me. Nothing strong sticks out to justify this opinion, just not a huge fan of the pub or their beers. I did try an interesting Ginger Beer there though, which tasted like liquefied honey.
<----- FishTale Brew Pub sandwich board. Hot damn MGD, you make a picture be what it should. Full blown idea hit us at some point, and we decided to seek out the Gravity Beer Market. There was a decent selection and friendly, knowledgeable staff. Bought a few bottles to try at home (good thing I carry a cooler in my trunk) and got some suggestions for other cool places to hit up in Olympia, namely the Eastside Club Tavern. After the Tracy energy vacuum that was the FishBowl (you've never seen a girl of my hyper activity level go downhill so fast, trust me), I needed a definite perk me up.
It has to be said that I was very skeptical of the ECT when we first walked in. The interior ambiance of Eastside leaves a bit to be desired, but after chilling at the bar for about 10m, we mutually realized that we had struck gold. ECT offers up extremely knowledgeable (and nice) bartenders, loads of entertainment value (Foosball, pool, ping pong & pinball) and check out the beer selection below!! 3 huge white boards full of awesome ales pouring that you would rarely find all in one place. As we kept reading the board, our excitement kept ramping up. I think some mini bar stool booty shaking of happiness was definitely going on.
 |
| Trip VI @ Cicada |
I think the over stimulation truly set in when I thought to myself (and probably voiced out loud) "Oh man we're never going to make it out of here and I'm hungry!" So we tried a few of their options while figuring out a place to get some nomz. The bar minions at ECT were talking about how bomb Cicada Restaurant is and suggested it to us as a dinner option. The restaurant's sweet potato gratin was recently featured in The Tacoma Weekly Volcano's 50 Favorite Dishes, so down the street we headed. Just a few blocks away and of COURSE they were out of sweet potatoes. Silly me. So instead we dined on some mushrooms and scallops while washing it down with my favorite Unoaked Chardonnay by Airfield Vineyards and a New Belgium-Elysian Trip VI Fresh Hop IPA. The meal and feel of the place were both truly enjoyable; I highly recommend adding it to any sojourn down to Olympia.
Headed back to Eastside Club Tavern for a nightcap and some bar games. Imagine my astonishment when they had the Lord of the Rings pinball machine I played (and loved) years ago!!! After having a mini emotional breakdown of excitement, we got some quarters and proceeded to dominate this thing for at least an hour. Guess what? I still rock at it! Even if the moving Balrog in the middle would capture half our balls (thus being renamed the Ball-hog) and make us spend more money, we had a stinkin' blast.
I am a person who is easily amused, often over stimulated and finds the majority of my happiness in taking pleasure in the small things. I won't say it's rare that I am truly impressed, but I was beyond impressed that my opinion rose so highly after my initial take. Eastside Club Tavern... you totally rocked my world. I had a very fun night and can't wait to see what else you will be offering on tap in the near future. I give you lotsa stars out of lotsa stars and will be back very soon.
Even when it's below 50'... we don't let sunny days here in WA stop us!
the pissed liBEERian
Photography by MGD & the pissed liBEErian.
ReplyDeleteEditing by Basil.