Looking for food and jazz in Seattle

[HaggisMan]

Visiting Seattle for a convention and staying downtown for 4 nights. Have booked Lola's, Zoe and Waterfront Grill for business dinners but looking for something non-business for Saturday night and for jazz/blues venue. Have heard of but not visited Dimitrious. Any suggestions?

[MichaelG]

The Dahlia Lounge is a Tom Douglas-owned Seattle classic. It's a block from Jazz Alley, so you can have a very good and very convenient dinner before or after the set.

[HaggisMan]

Thanks very much to all who replied. We had great meals at Wild Ginger, Lola, Zoe and Waterfront Grille and heard some fine jazz at Triple Door. You folks are blessed with many excellent restaurants and prices are quite reasonable even with the less favourable exchange on Canadian dollars. Hope I can respond in kind with advice to any Chowhounds visiting Calgary.

[bikerchick]

Serafina's on Eastlake has jazz on weekends, http://www.serafinaseattle.com/music/index.html

Dimitrious gets the good gigs but I don't care for their food. If I get a dinner reservation, I usually just order an appetizer (usually what I do when I go by myself to keep the waitperson from totally blowing me off

)

I know you said Seattle, but going east about 20 minutes takes you to Bake's Place
http://www.bakesplace.org/
I cannot speak for their food but they book some pretty good musicians.

[jchase1]

The Pampas Room underneath El Gaucho in Belltown has jazz (again!) every Friday and Sat night. Cover is Free. They have been featuring a lot of Seattle favorite Jazz Musicians- Greta Matassa, Brian Nova, etc. They serve the menu from El Gauch which is predominantly steak.

http://www.elgaucho.com/elgaucho/_sea...

[zoogrrrl]

HM -- I'm with cynbad. Most top jazz billings cycle through Jazz Alley or the Triple Door and they're both good venues, music-wise. Triple Door has the more interesting food offerings, but neither are great if you're a foodie.

I'd have drinks with the music and go for a meal before or after at something close by. The last time I was a JA, I ate dinner afterward at the Palace Kitchen, a half block away. They serve a $12 late night breakfast special after 10 pm that's always interesting.

[smalt]

Agree with both of you regarding JA's food. I usually go for the dinner reservations to get the choice seating and use the time catching up with old friends before the show.

[smalt]

Check and see who's playing where....

Dimitriou's Jazz Alley: http://www.jazzalley.com
Triple Door: http://www.tripledoor.net
Tula's: http://www.tulas.com

Just off the top of my head, I'm sure other Chowhounds will have other suggestions, they're not shy!

[cynbad]

Those are three top jazz venues in town, to be sure. On the food side of things (not sure how high a priority it is in this case), Jazz Alley is pretty ho-hum but typically the dinner reservation tables get top placement so certainly worth doing if scoring a table closer to the stage is important. But even with just a drink in the balcony or back in the bar, it's a great spot for live music. Triple Door, being associated with upstairs Wild Ginger, has a more interesting/better dinner menu, for what it's worth. Not at all familiar with Tula's food offerings.

[Jeri L]

Tula's menu has a Greek bent. I've eaten there but have no memory of the food, so I'd say it's about what you'd expect for a jazz bar...you can eat there, but it's not about the food. It's more "bar with a stage" dive, whereas the others are more upscale "dinner theatre" arrangements. Performers booked at Jazz Alley often end their nights jamming at Tula's.