Saturday, December 16, 2006

This is Ballard

TheViking is easy to love: a fifty year old stand alone brick bar and grill one block from home with a menu with three items on it: all claim to be smoked in house. Not to mention when you open the door you are greeted by a dark fakewood and red vinyl room. There are ten bar stools along the bar, and about five banquettes opposite it, each with their own little coat racks. I saw this place when we came to check out our apartment the first time, and I said I'm never leaving here. At night it's rockin with young folks; all day its seniors and drunks. But after trying it for lunch in a sober state of mind, I am forced to state what is all too apparent. I do not believe they have a smoker on-site, and I now must question whether the meat they serve is truly smoked at all. #1, the brisket roll, was machine-sliced beef that was not as tender, nor as smoky, as it should have been. As a man who has smoked his own share of meat in the backyard, I know you should be able to smell it a block away, and the texture, flavor, and aroma of the actual meat should make you swoon. Viking, I love you for what you are, but why can't you be all that I wish you were?

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