Meet me at the Highline!

I love Asylum, a bar in DC that has awesome vegan chicken wings, cheeze fries and $1.50 tacos. With The Clash on the jukebox, a plethora of live shows and events (like vegan taco eating contests) to attend, and hot surly waitresses, it was pretty much my favorite place in DC to go. Alas, I left Asylum for the left coast, but thankfully the Highline opened in April, and it’s kind of better than Asylum. I know, I know… blasphemy…

There’s mixed reviews on Yelp, but most of the gripes are about greasy food. Really? First of all, it’s a bar. A bar that totes greasy veganized versions of classic pub foods, and doesn’t even have flesh or dairy on the menu. The first 4 items listed on the website are Beer, Sandwiches, Whiskey, and Airhockey. What in the world would make anyone in their right mind think they would find healthy food at this place? Newsflash: Vegan does NOT equal healthy (all the time). There are plenty of good healthy vegan places in Seattle to go, but this ain’t one of them.

I can’t say the service is fast, but the bartenders I’ve had are all really nice. The bar is a really large space, and there’s really not a lot of staff that work there, so don’t expect fast service, but it’s worth the wait. There’s a great selection of infused liquor (lavender infused vodka lemonade? Yes please… I’ll take 4…), cheap tall boys of Olympia beer (which, by the way, is the only cheap beer worth drinking… even if it is now manufactured by SABMiller), metal on the jukebox, and really awesome greasy bar food.

I’m in love with the poutine, which is basically French fries smothered in creamy garlicky sauce… yummmm…. “The meltdown” is their take on a tuna melt: layers of melty cheeze and faux fish smashed between greasy grilled bread with a pickle on the side. Last time I was there I had it with a cup of roasted tomato pumpkin soup. Drool. They carry fake meats galore and don’t skimp on their variety of sammies, nor do they skip on stuffing the sammies. Seriously– these are 2 person sammies, and for $7-$10 a pop, you can have a pretty cheap meal. 

So if you don’t mind slightly sticky tables, good booze, greasy food, nice bartenders and metal blaring on the speakers, come meet me at the Highline. Oh yeah, they also have cake-arokee, which is karaoke with vegan cake one night a week. So hit me up, I do a mean rendition of "livin' on a prayer," and I'll let you sing along if you can keep up. 

I totally did not take this pic of the Tempeh Lettuce Tomato sammie. Stole it from Yelp.