Best Seattle Restaurants 2011: Happy Hour Bites

Behold: Seattle's happy hour bargain bites that taste like a million.

By Allison Scheff, Lorna Yee, Sara Dickerman, Cynthia Nims March 18, 2011

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Get piggy with it
The grilled, house-made pork sausage at Matt Janke and Jill Buchanan’s new
LECOSHO on the Harbor Steps downtown comes whole, resting on a bed of savory lentils. Halves of a creamy soft-boiled egg round out this tasty $7 plate. 3–6 p.m. daily; 10 p.m.–1 a.m. Sun.–Thu.; 11 p.m.–1 a.m. Fri.–Sat.

Art of the TableCheese-o-rific
Calling the cheese buffet at ART RESTAURANT AND LOUNGE extensive doesn’t do it justice. Served daily in the lounge from 4:30 to 10 p.m., it presents as many as two dozen local and international cheeses, with fruit and nut accompaniments, for $18. That may not seem like such a bargain—until you see the presentation. Happy hour 4–7 p.m. Sun.–Thu.

Norse legend
It’s shocking that there aren’t more trendy Scandinavian restaurants in Seattle. The COPPER GATE, tucked away in Ballard, fills the void well, anchored with tacky-chic vintage pinup pictures and a bar in the shape of a Viking ship’s hull. Everything on the food and cocktails menu is $2 off during happy hour. Must-have dishes—Swedish meatballs with celeriac-potato purée and lingonberry preserve ($6) and the dilled pommes frites with curried ketchup ($4)—taste best washed down with a cucumber cocktail ($5). 5–7 p.m. daily

UrbaneUrbane renewal
At downtown’s swank, stylish URBANE RESTAURANT & BAR (pictured left), happy hour draws a crowd of put-together professionals who recover from a hard day at the office by noshing spears of grilled eggplant in aromatic truffle honey ($4), and chunky rabbit pâté with mustard dipping sauce ($4). 4–6 p.m. and 10 p.m.–midnight daily

Second to naan
The meat ingredient changes nightly, so it may be wise to check in advance, because the duck naanwich at POPPY ($6) is a carnivore’s delight: Tender, rosy-pink slices of seared duck are folded into chef Jerry Traunfeld’s airy South Asian–style flatbread, which artfully straddles the line between startling crispness and soothing chewiness. 5–7 p.m. and 9 p.m.–close Sun.–Thu., bar only

Pie whole
Nothing caps off an evening better than a crispy single-serving Neapolitan-style pizza at VIA TRIBUNALI–your choice of margherita, marinara or salame–for only $5. 4–6 p.m. and 10 p.m.–close daily (Fremont and Georgetown); 10 p.m.–close daily (Queen Anne)

Mmmmm! Bacon!
Look around the room at JOHN HOWIE STEAK in Bellevue. We’ll bet that at least 50 percent of the diners have opted for the USDA Prime beef bacon cheeseburger. And can you blame them? Piled with Beecher’s Flagship cheese, Kurobuta bacon and all the fixin’s on a house-baked bun, this half-pound ground USDA Prime sirloin baby runs only $8. 3–6 p.m. Mon.–Sat.; 9–11 p.m. Mon.–Thu.; 9 p.m.–midnight Fri.–Sat.; 3–10 p.m. Sun.

Bivalve Bonanza
Craving succulent, juicy oysters, but reluctant to shell out your entire allowance? The progressive oyster happy hour (chef’s choice, 3–6 p.m.) at ELLIOTT’S OYSTER HOUSE on the waterfront kicks off with briny bivalves priced at 50 cents apiece and increasing by 25 cents every half-hour until 5:30 (pictured
on page 84). ANCHOVIES & OLIVES on Capitol Hill hosts early and late “power hours” (5–6 p.m. and 10 p.m.–closing Sun.–Thu.) when oysters are $1 each. METROPOLITAN GRILL, one of the toniest spots downtown, serves up three oyster shooters for $3 (3–6 p.m. Mon.–Fri.).

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