We're Rabid About the Barking Dog

We do love us some bar food. French fries, burgers (veggie ones anyway), fish 'n' chips. Man, we could live on that stuff and often think of the Albert Brooks comedy Defending Your Life when we allow ourselves to indulge, because he’s told that, while waiting to defend his life, he can do whatever he wants and not worry about the health consequences. We're pretty sure that’s the reason we're hoping the afterlife mirrors that movie.

Last night, we indulged at The Barking Dog in North Ballard. For a non-dive bar (which we tend to prefer), it was a damn good bar food experience, though the prices are slightly higher than we generally like.

First and foremost, they have an impressive selection of beers that includes a few Seattle standbys and a good number of names we'd never heard of. We always appreciate an opportunity to try a new brew and found the Trumer Pilsner nicely flavorful without being too complicated. It was a tasty beer that knew its place at a dinner table.

The food selection is also wide-ranging. We were tempted to try this week's Artichoke Bake special, but past bad experiences at bars that get uppity about their food have scared us away from specials like that, so we opted instead for the Portabella Burger with Waffle Fries.

The fries should have been much warmer and needed some seasoning. (We suggest Lawry's.) The burger, though, was scrumptious. Although they’re not meat and never will be, a well-cooked, thick, juicy Portabella mushroom has as much flavor as a really good burger. The Barking Dog’s version was fat, dripping with juice, and slathered in goat cheese. We made a mess while eating it and loved every second of it.

The atmosphere at the Barking Dog is about what you’d expect for a local bar in North Ballard: a few families, a crowd of the relaxing, young, and beautiful after a hard day in the software trenches. The space feels open, even when it’s crowded. As a kid-friendly restaurant, the Barking Dog is great (they even have a kid’s menu) because, even with quite a few little kids in there, our solidly kid-less table never felt overwhelmed by their presence, or really even noticed it.

The Barking Dog is at NW 70th St. and opens at 11 a.m. daily.
We know that, generally, we accompany food reviews with a shot of the food, but we remembered to take a picture after we’d dug in.