House Of The Rising Hops - Seattle

This review is specific for the pinchy bois pop up that took place during Seattle Restaurant Week Spring 2021. Having been a loyal patron of Ethan Stowell's establishments for many years, I have to say he did it again and I absolutely love these pop-up concepts here!!! They should probably make this pinchy bois part of their regular rotation; it's too good to not be around multiple times a year. The $35 SRW deal included your style of lobster roll, fries, and a lemon bar. Lobster rolls should have heft and this Maine style delivered on this. Not too Mayo-y but enough to make it a proper lobster salad roll. Fries were perfectly crisp and lemon bar had the perfect amount of acid to make you feel like you've had the most balanced New England picnic. I washed this meal down with the spring Diablo drink which was also delicious. I cannot wait until pinchy bois comes back and I am already regretting only getting this once.

While on vacation, this restaurant was a highlight of our trip to Seattle and was by far the best place we stumbled upon! Usually before vacations I 'll spend hours on Yelp trying to find the best food to find. Somehow I missed this, but luckily my fiancé found it and brought it to my attention. We were craving juicy burgers and judging by the reviews and photos this place looked like a safe bet. It far exceeded our expectations!!! The inside is beautiful, I love all of the ornate touches all around from the high detailed ceilings to the library-esque booths with little desk lights and bookcases. Our server was excellent, very friendly and checked on us often. We both ordered burgers, obviously. We 're from Chicago and have had some pretty bomb burgers.... These were some of the BEST burgers we 've EVER had. Also, the fries.... I don 't know what they do to their fries but they were absolutely amazing. Also some of the best fries I 've ever had. Seasoned to perfection with salty herbs. I also loved all of the sauces that came with our meals. They also tasted like they are made in house which I always appreciate. We typically don 't go to the same place twice while on vacation. And unfortunately we went here on our last night. But if we found this earlier on I know for a fact we would 've went here multiple times for their food!!

Not sure why it says this place is closed, but they are currently open as an ESR pop up called Pinchy Bois. Choose between a lobster roll or whole lobster with seasoned fries and gourmet worms in the dirt for dessert. I gobbled everything down as soon as I walked in the door with my treats. What can I say except that it was what I come to expect with ESR restaurants! Everything was on point. The serving size was more than I could eat and I had leftovers. I 'm hoping they keep this pop up around for awhile it is the perfect summer treat!

Brewski Old Fashioned! Oh my goodness!!! Bourbon, vanilla-stout sugar, bitters Stoup Porter. Just popped in for a pre concert drink but got some Everything Pretzels as a beer sponge. Just a little too greasy for my taste. I like my pretzels dry; these were coated in butter. Mustard underneath (which was too sweet in my opinion) so a bit hard to handle. Just kind of weird. Would not order again. Excellent bartender. Great happy hour menu!! The other food that went by looked and smelled amazing! Will be back!

Bramling Cross's Happy Hour is top notch! if you're in Ballard, this is the place for some great food. My friend and I met up on a Sunday just as they opened at 5pm. Happy Hour is from 5-7pm. When we walked in, we were the first two to sit at the bar, so we took the 2 seats closest to the kitchen. I love watching the chefs cook. There's just something about watching chefs working in unison that satisfies me. It's so zen watching their craft on display. As I looked at the Happy Hour menu, I was amazed at all the different food items. There must've been 12 different food offerings. My friend read a Seattle Times article that was raving about Bramling Cross's Happy Hour and specifically, the Bramling Burger so he ordered that. The burger was cooked to a perfect Medium-Rare and came with Pickle Fries. When he was done with it, he thought it was the best burger he had eaten in over a year. Trust me, he's eaten a lot of burgers. I had a little taste of the burger and I too was impressed. The patty was cooked over a wood fired grill and had the perfect char. Everything was of high quality and the contents of the burger complimented so well with the burger bun from Macrina Bakery. While my friend was noshing on his Bramling Burger, I decided to order something from the regular menu. I heard so many good things about their Dynamite Fried Chicken, so I couldn't pass it up. A small order came with four juicy pieces of chicken. The crispy skin was perfect, but you know it's good fried chicken when the breast piece was just as juicy as the chicken thigh. I could've eaten another 4 pieces if we didn't order other things off the Happy Hour menu. In addition to the Dynamite Chicken, you must not forget the biscuit that accompanies the dish. It might've been the best thing I ate that night. The sweetness from the honey on the biscuit just absolutely blew me away. Combine that with the saltiness from the chicken and I was in heaven. As for the rest of our order, we also got the Castelvetrano Olives, Beef Tartare, Deviled Eggs, and the Half-a-Wedge Salad. Each dish from the Happy Hour menu was equally satisfying, but it was the subtle detail that really impressed me. The Deviled Eggs contained salmon roe with each egg. The egg in the Half-a-Wedge salad looked like it was sous vide. There was enough rye toast for the entire Beef Tartare. Just all these subtle details that went into the food just made the experience that much better. As we're finishing up our dinner, we noticed the chef who was working the wood grill started grilling pork belly and pork loin. If we weren't so full from all the other food, we would've ordered those two items as well. You definitely know that I'll be back for those in the near future. You win this round, Bramling Cross!