Heading back to The Metropolitan Grill
One of my favorite restaurants in Seattle is The Metropolitan Grill. The location is cool (downtown on Second, not all that close to everything but not too far from anything). The decor is cool (dark wood and leather booths, a big bar area, secret rooms, and an underground wine cellar behind a slightly hidden door). The servers are cool (the deep-throated man who looks like Britt Daniel, the slight fellow who knows more about wine than I ever will).
The Met, as I call it, holds a lot of wonderful memories for me. The Met is the site of my wine appreciation birth ritual (an amazing bottle of Harlan Estate). The Met is where I went to celebrate two separate bachelor parties plus two anniversaries of bachelor parties. The Met is the first restaurant I think of whenever I do someone a favor and, as a reward, I am offered a trip to any restaurant in town. The Met is where I went with a friend for lunch when I pretended that his company could give my company some business leads: $85 and two Smoky Met martinis later, and I had no leads but one hell of a good time.
Yeah, I love The Met. It can be stodgy, slow, and full of grumpy stuffed shirts eating $60 steaks. But I love it anyway. And tonight I’m heading back for a fun night on the town. I sold some old stuff I had sitting around my apartment and managed to pull together $200 from out of thin air, essentially. I love doing that. I wish I could do it every hour, actually.
But in terms of wine, I won’t need to spend anything beyond the corkage fee. I’m bringing out one of my big guns: the 2004 Sea Smoke Ten. It’s time to drink my only bottle of this wine! My friend is bringing something to the party as well, something along the lines of a 1999 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Fay or a 1997 Ridge Monte Bello. We’ll see.
So, this time tomorrow, expect to see some new tasting notes for some incredible wines! And, of course, I’ll share what I had to eat at The Met. I usually go for the Chateaubriand if I have an eating compatriot. Hopefully my friend is up to the challenge tonight….