Swannie's - Seattle, WA

Swannie’s
222 S Main Street
Seattle, WA
(206) 622-9353

Say what you will, and I’m sure many of our Canadian readers could if given the chance, about the believed shortcomings of our neighbours to the south, but you have to admit they really know how to go all out when it comes to combining two of the classic male pastimes – eating/drinking plus sports…

Where else can you start from the early morning, drinking beer and gobble down a hearty, greasy breakfast in a pub while watching sports on giant tv screens amid the company of many others who are there for same purpose as you?

After making the short drive down from Vancouver, a group of us made our way down to Pioneer Square, just a few blocks away from Qwest Field, the home grounds of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks.  With Opening Day kickoff hours away, we thought we could easily find a free (as in not having to pay money to park) spot to watch the early games playing in the eastern time zone, before we made the short walk to the stadium.  Oh how wrong we were.

To begin, parking anywhere near the park was already at a premium.  Even closer to Qwest, there were already full fledged tailgate parties going on.  If you’ve never seen or experienced this phenomena, I assure you, its quite unique and a great tradition for sports on Sundays in America.

Despite the clock showing just past 10 am, we had to wander into at least four other establishments before we managed to find one with available seating.  Swannie’s, which is tied to a comedy club apparently, had just the right number of stools open at one of their communal tables and right in front of some large tv screens hanging on the wall.  Perfect.

After calling out some orders for some beers (the guy behind the counter reminded me of an Ozzie Osbourne-lookalike), for some reason I decided to go with the mild Amstel Light, a tame pale lager pumped out by the better known Heineken brand, some folks nearby started chatting us up.  One of them had just returned to his seat with a plate of food.  Curious, we asked…

For $11, Swannie’s offered up an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet.  Strangely though, it was located in the basement level of the building.  And with the main menu at the bar not available until 11am, we figured why not, as the guy’s plate didn’t look all that bad.  And with a few hours to kill, the AYCE component would probably keep us occupied and full enough before game time.

With pre-made items set up in heating pans and stations, you could pick and choose your meal, from various standard breakfast fare such as bacon, sausages, potato hash, scrambled eggs, eggs benedict, toast, biscuits, bread pudding, etc.  While not the best quality food, it sufficed and helped to ease the beer going down at this early hour of the day.  The bacon was probably the best of the lot, really nice and crispy and seemingly cooked in some good amount of fat which added to its tastiness.   

A few more beers, seconds of the buffet, and then it was off to the game!!!

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