Sassy Food: 44 Degrees North and BlueWater Bistro

BluWater Bistro (South Lake Union)
http://www.bluwaterbistro.com/loc_lu.php
1001 Fairview N
Seattle WA 98109
(206) 447.0769

....and 44 degrees North Vodka
http://rockymountainvodka.com/index.cfm

This place, the BluWater Bistro (note the spelling of "Blu") is good for one thing, and one thing only: a quick dri

nk on a sunny day to satisfy the need for a little sun on a crowded frat-partyesque patio, and if you like watching seaplanes land, that too. But this is not a final destination. This is where you stop on your way to someplace else. I happened to be there for happy hour the other day. Waitresses were as sweet and accommodating as can be, but also as skanky as they come - hair freshly dyed, with plenty of spray-on-tanned skin showing. Bartenders seemed freshly California, half high, or just stooopid, but, you know, super-friendly. The plastic removable leg on the outdoor plastic table spontaneously fell off as we sat there sipping away. Table even tipped over. Drinks spilled. The place is a mess. However, I discovered a new-to-me potato vodka in the process, and so, despite the BluWater, this discovery blissed me out.

Normally I don't go in for flavored or infused vodkas, but the surfy-dude bartender pointed out a potato vodka grown and raised in Idaho – a choice of either wild huckleberry or Rainier cherry infused. He pointed out this special little cocktail item on the menu: Cherry-Chocolate Press, described as Idaho potato-vodka infused with carob and Rainier Cherries, mixed with soda and sprite. OK. A yummy cherry chocolate soda! A perfect drink for this bubble gu

m Tiki paradise. I tried it. It was fine – and rather luscious to look at, with fresh cherries bobbing around in the glass with the ice - but it was watered down by all that sprite, and I really just wanted a straight shot of that vodka stuff. So I marched over to a different wingy bartender and asked for a taste straight up. Without hesitation, he poured me a mini shot. Zingy. Cherry. But not over the top. Not exactly smooth as silk, but with a nice zip and flavor, especially in contrast to the watered down sprite-filled “cocktail” I had out sitting out on the patio.

Steve Body of the Seattle Examiner gives 44 degrees North infused vodkas a thumbs-up in his recent review of potato vodkas. Sadly, he neglects my own personal potoato favorites, Koenig (also an Idaho potato vodka…with lovely vanilla underlay http://www.idahopotatovodka.com/vodka/) and Chopin, the best Polish potato vodka money can buy. If you want to check out Body’s incomplete and rather generous potato vodka review: http://www.examiner.com/x-14279-Seattle-Spirits-Examiner~y2009m6d22-QPR-drinks-for-summer-Consider-the-humble-potato

The half-hour BluWater jaunt was worth the table spills and light classic hits.

Now, I’m on a mini mission to try 44 Degree North's Huckleberry extravaganza.