Rinse and Repeat - Paragon Seattle

Whilst Sandor looks for places to lunch, I look for places to happy hour (herein after referred to as "rinse and repeat").



After a fairly long day at work, we decide to go have a glass somewhere to relax, rinse and repeat (like how I used that? ) - mostly to rediscover our own city after being away for a handful of years each. Our home base is Zig Zag at Pike Place Market, but yesterday we hit Paragon at Queen Anne for the aptly themed 'Tini Time happy hour.


This place - upon entry - is much like any other bar in the Fremont/Wallingford/Queen Anne triumvirate of bar hopping. It's dark, hardwood everything, large fireplace, dark curtains, brightly lit extended bar and marginally cheerful waitstaff. The menu was expansive and truthfully made me much more hungry than the "snack, but let me drink like a fish" appetite I walked in with.


I ordered the pulled pork sliders. Although there are only three sliders served with each order, they are more than enough to share. This coming from the girl that will eat 5 bites of something and make her boyfriend eat the rest of it - I could eat a Tic Tac and be full. They certainly do not skimp on the helpings in general (lunch, happy hour, or otherwise) and most patrons will ask for a shovel upon meal service to be clever. What I enjoy most about them is that the pulled pork is flavorful on its own, without the three condiments of housemade Sweet Dijon relish, BBQ sauce and a curious little cream based Cajun fry sauce, all served on the side. The only drawback was the excess oils. It somewhat saturated the bottom bun, therefore making it a fork and knife sandwich.


One MUST order a (50/50 mix of) vodka and gin 'tini - with three olives. My fault was not asking the to dirty it up a bit with a touch of the olive juice, but as luck would have it, I had enough olives in there to do good measure in absence of that. I was disappointed to find out that they simply had the standard bar garnishes of pimiento olives, cocktail onions, and the uber-traditional fruits of orange/lemon/lime/cherry. What was also my fault? No paying attention to what measure they were using to make my 50/50 'tini. You know the old wives tale about getting buzzier slower when sitting down? Bullshit! I had ONE and when I got up, I swooned like I had just found my very own Shoe Nirvana (my "problem" with shoes and "limited skirmishes" I start at Nordstrom are stories for another day). Needless to say, the bartenders do not skimp on pouring either.


I suppose that would make up for rather un-joyous reception we had from the hostess/waitperson upon walking in - because I was giggling my ass off when I left.

Tip your waitstaff - they are there all week.


3 out of 4 stars.