General Information
The Frontier Room is located in the stylish Belltown neighborhood of downtown Seattle and serves up authentic Southern barbecue, fresh seafood and Northwest specialties including vegetarian choices. Indoor and patio dining with a full bar featuring Northwest microbrews, wines and specialty cocktails are showcased in an upscale and lively setting.The Frontier Room
2203 First Avenue
(First Avenue and Blanchard in Belltown)
Seattle, Washington 98121
(206) 956-RIBS (7427)
Fax: (206) 956-9455
Food types:
Southern style barbecue with Northwest,
seafood and vegetarian
Bar, Take-Out and Dine-In:
Inside Seating: 120
Patio Seating: 20
Private Function Capacity: 225
Walk-In Seating and Reservations
Hours:
Lunch: 11:30-4:30 Tuesday-Friday
Dinner: 4:30-11:00 Tuesday-Thursday
4:30-Midnight Friday & Saturday
Bar: Open until 2:00 am Tuesday-Saturday
Available Sunday and Monday for private parties
All major credit cards accepted: Visa, Master Card, American Express, Diners Club and Discover.
Parking: 3 pay lots within a one block radius, on street metered.
Management
Managing Partner: Robert Eickhof
Bar Manager: David Thayer
Floor Manager: Richard Hill
Kitchen Manager and Chef: Aaron Benson
The Scoop
It was the place where forlorn pensioners rubbed elbows with the dot-com nouveau riche and late-night clubbies. All got their fill of cheap drinks from bartenders who went light on conversation and heavy on the sauce. Funky, campy and gritty, The Frontier Room leaves a legacy that Seattleites recall over nearly 50 years. As a tavern and a refuge for cheap eats, the tales people tell are both infamous and beloved. The Frontier Room has changed hands but remains a rare breed, serving affordable Southern style barbecue in a speakeasy environment.
The Food
The Frontier Room serves up mouthwatering wood-smoked barbecue using an authentic Southern Pride Barbecue pit and woods of apple, hickory and cherry. Louisiana native Chef Paul Michael (formerly head chef at Queen City Grill) mans the kitchen and drew from his southern roots to create much of the menu. Pit specialties such as pulled pork sandwiches, Baby Back and St. Louis ribs and smoked organic chickens are cooked "low and slow." Careful to balance the menu, vegetarians will savor his specialty platters. Salmon and oysters are prepared on and off the barbecue as well as Gulf Rock Shrimp and Southern Style Catfish with Michael's cross-cultural fusions also finding a home on the menu. Side dishes of sweet potatoes, coleslaw and cornbread, and desserts such as seasonal fruit cobblers and Louisiana Bread Pudding fill the senses and the stomach.
The Environment
Casual, communal and raw. Architect George Suyama says it's about contrasting the archeology of the space with new pieces that heighten the texture of the place. A mahogany-trimmed bar with a raw steel surface takes on a slate quality; another cross-section of curved cedar log with a live edge sits on steel fins and adjoins the bar. A huge section of wainscoting discovered behind a wall in the dining room remains in place. Shreds of the Frontier Room's former checkered linoleum flooring randomly appear in patches aside old rustic poured flooring. A giant fir communal table seats 24. Brick walls and windows were re-exposed in the bathrooms, masked for years by false walls. Scott Fife's 4 by 10-foot, three dimensional art installation of a bull pops out on the wall with some eye-popping anatomy. Rawhide lampshades stitched with dark leather strips scream Wild West. A tongue-in-cheek metal, electric fireplace warms the back room, flanked by itŐs "woodpile." All the decor lends a commentary on the concept of the frontier.
The Seating
Know your neighbor. The Frontier Room is a 4,000-square foot eatery with a bar, sit-down restaurant and take-out area that seats 120 inside with an outdoor deck that seats an additional 20. Four recycled oak booths occupy one side of the restaurant charmed by an adjacent eating bar. The eating bar boasts old Frontier Room chairs which have been fastened to swivel posts. To the back is the bar.
The main dining room, dubbed The Frontier Room, sections off to comfortably hold 50 for private dining and boasts a communal table made from a single, giant wood slab that seats 24. Four round overstuffed booths in the room each accommodate seven. A handful of tables await for quick eating in the take-out area and views peek into the open kitchen and dining room. Succulent aromas escape itŐs separate doorway, creating an on-street buzz as people come in and out.