10 Things Zine can explain the taxidermy on Smith’s wall. Its Urban Cowboys post presents a compact dissection of the 15-year and going trend that has Capitol Hill’s favorite bars sporting decor straight from the dusty drinking dives of Ephrata, WA and Penngrove, CA.
There seems to be a still growing trend to bring a small town, country, cowboy flavor into the big city, to the point where whole subcultures have evolved around it.
The Seattle Times, post says, has labelled the trend ‘grange.’ Har har. Essay goes on to explain various northwest manifestations of the trend from Portland’s Doug Fir to Smith’s poutine:
Derschang capitalized on the country trend going mainstream, opening Smith on 15th on the backside of Capitol Hill and King’s Hardware in the now hip neighborhood of Ballard. Both restaurants/bars were decidedly more upscale than Linda’s, for the whole country shtick had begun to appeal to city-folk outside the hipster scene. Yet each restaurant was filled with all the accouterments of what one might think a country diner would have, from animal heads and shooting range targets, to old farm tools and equipment. But where Linda’s was more burgers and fries, Smith featured pork shank and English pea soup.
So, whether you hate it (like the author) or love it (we kinda like it), now you have words to justify your country-fried urban eating and drinking surroundings. The 70s ‘staches and pearlite button work shirts explain themselves, of course.
It ain’t a country bar until you can ask for (and receive) “one for the road.”
I prefer to ask for a “top off”
I like Smith – large, lots of seating, nice selection of drinks. But the food selection’s a little boring after you’ve been there a couple of times. Need some change on that menu, because nothing’s so good I’d keep going back there for it (except maybe the ham n’ cheese donuts).
Thanks for the article plug… honestly, I don’t hate the country in the city bars and restaurants, it’s just I’ve been to lots of small town joints and know they are more like Vegas or theater version of them. Kinda like the fake storefronts some old West towns had. There just is a feeling of fakeness. I reviewed a few real small town dives as well, you can tell while I have an admiration of them, I also realized they are in actuality pretty trashed and low-fi… but that’s also how I tend to like my music. I certainly get drinks at Linda’s, Smith, Redwood and King’s Hardware occasionally, although I’d never eat in those joints.