Seattle - August 01, 2007

Kurrent Affairs

Kurrent Opens

Keeping up with the Joneses is a cinch. (Your loft beats a white picket fence any day.)

It’s keeping up with the elementary school set that throws you for a loop. (Your 6-year-old niece kicks your butt in yoga, knows HTML, and dresses better than you do.)

Resign yourself to dinosaur status — and to the fact that every now and then you’re glad to take direction. Start at Kurrent, the new Capitol Hill bar and restaurant that makes no bones about its white-hot aspirations.

No grungy Pike/Pine dive bar here: Slick lighting, glowing green booths, and a sprawling 50-foot ice bar make the place a sort of Vessel-meets-Vegas. And with Marco’s Supperclub alum Matt Baer in the kitchen, the Pacific Rim-inspired menu is as splashy as the decor.

The place is still in soft opening, but stop in for a drink (note the endless champagne list) or stay awhile (try the tamarind tofu fries or crab with black bean sauce). Pretty soon, you’ll be sipping cocktails and playing Wii in the VIP room.

Which is the totally mature thing to be doing.

Kurrent, 600 East Pine Street, at Belmont Avenue (206-323-1923).