Two for One. by violet

After a long day at the office, an adult beverage is often necessary. During the past week I’ve found myself at two great spots with two great people.

The first was URBANE with Casey. I met J.’s coworker Casey at the holiday party. We hit it off immediately. She is the type of person that within five minutes of meeting her, you are somehow telling her all your secrets.

URBANE was Casey’s most excellent suggestion. It’s basically sophisticated bar food but the happy hour offers some great deals. A few wines are even just $4 a glass which is probably what lead to the multiple glasses.

We sampled the skinny fries, Wagyu sliders and carmelized onion grilled flatbread. The skinny fries, while very tasty proved difficult to eat – sort of like try to eat spaghetti with your hands.

The sliders were good – I mean who doesn’t love a good mini burger right? I would have loved if they would have given us the option to add some Beecher’s cheese to them.

The flatbread was my favorite, the combo with blue cheese and walnuts all drizzled with olive oil and balsamic it was a devour-able combination and didn’t stick around long.

Also, this past weekend I had my monthly dinner with Cathy. This time we went to Cactus on Alki. Cactus is one of my favorite Mexican places in Seattle, so it was pretty shocking to me that I had never tried their queso, even though I’m very familiar with the guacamole and margaritas.

Cathy and I jumped in on the goat cheese queso. It’s very different than your standard Que Bueno style cheese – there was an almost crème brulee type crust on the top that crackled when we broke through it. Using goat cheese rather than Velveeta gave it a nice tang. While delicious, my heart still belongs to Z-Tejas.

To round out the meal, bacon wrapped scallops and a Mexican chop salad. The scallops were a special and I would order them again should they be added to the menu. The salad was just kind of meh, avacado would have really made it better. 

I love the bar at Cactus – the blue tile and indoor fire pit make for a chic but not stuffy vibe. And in the summer the garage door style windows open up and let the sunshine in.

So if you are looking for a happy hour spot in Seattle, be sure to put Cactus and URBANE on the list.

Violet in Born Norelle - flat, black, knee-high boots