Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 12, December 2003

Copyright 2003 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

German dining, Virginia Tech football

on tap at People's Pub

By JAMES BUSH

Where can you enjoy a fine German lager, a plate of wienerschnitzel, and a sports game on the television, all in the heart of Ballard's club district?

The answer is the People's Pub. Opened just after Thanksgiving 2000, the Ballard Avenue restaurant/bar features Southwestern German dining, a tap line of exotic brews, and more than a bit of Ballard ambiance. Co-owner Jon Norris credits his mom and dad with providing the inspiration for the restaurant.

In the mid-1980s, both his parents moved to Germany to work at a US military base. "They hated the idea of staying on the base, so they lived out in a little farm town," says Norris. Their visiting son ended up eating at local restaurants where he was the only Yank in the place. "That's when I fell in love with the food," he says.

Before opening, Norris took business partner Drew Kondik and newly recruited chef Keenan Fox (formerly of Flowers in the University District) to Germany "to see what I was talking about." The lesson took. Fox's menu at the People's Pub features many authentic dishes, plus a few of his own creation. Norris says a beet dish that Fox created is actually his own invention, "but a lot of Germans who come here think it's an authentic German dish."

Norris, who moved to Seattle in 1993 to attend grad school at the University of Washington, says he was attracted first to Ballard as a clubgoer, then was drawn to the area when he decided to start his own restaurant. He learned that the Sunset Tavern was on the market, but he contacted the owners a day after that club was sold.

Just down the block, however, the former Vasa Sea Grill space was available.

Norris jumped at the chance. The space already had a kitchen and a liquor license, plus it was larger than the Sunset.

Creating the People's Pub would take an extensive renovation (photographic highlights of the construction and the bar's first three years can be seen at www.peoplespub.com). Norris envisioned a split space a front dining room with a bar in back.

"Our mentality is we want to be both a restaurant and a lounge," Norris says. The dining room is all-ages and non-smoking until 10 p.m., serving a dinner crowd of families, couples and seniors. After that, the pub switches into nighttime mode with a limited menu of appetizers and sandwiches.

While the front space is sometimes sparsely populated at night, Norris says musicians playing at the nearby Tractor Tavern or Sunset "just sort of hide out up here" before and after their turns on stage.

The bar features several popular German ales and lagers (for those unfamiliar with the offerings, a five-beer sampler costs $6), plus a few Northwest microbrews and other domestics. Also available are an array of German and American bottled beers, wines, and a full bar. The rotating tap has recently featured EKU 28, a high-alcohol import which was only cleared for sale in Washington a few months ago.

More than half of the staff members have been around since day one, says Norris. Those who move on to other jobs often stick around as club regulars. "That's something we enjoyed some of the same faces for three years," he says.

But, the People's Pub has one unusual distinction even some of its most devoted patrons don't know about. On Saturday mornings during football season, the pub becomes the meeting place for fans of Virginia Tech football. Norris and Kondik handle the serving duties for their fellow Tech fans, with average crowds of about 25 (and as many as 65) to cheer on the Hokies. "It's getting a little more active as time goes by," says Norris. "It's good extra business."

The People's Pub screens Mariners and Sonics games during the evenings and would be willing to host fans of some other college on the days when Virginia Tech isn't playing. Not the Huskies, though, despite Norris' dual VT/UW degrees. "Every bar in Seattle's a Husky bar," he says.

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The People's Pub (Die Volkskneipe) is located at 5429 Ballard Ave. NW. Phone: 783-6521. Hours are 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. (6 p.m. opening on Monday and Tuesday).