Enjoy Hill blog-related happy hours from one end of Capitol Hill to the other tonight.

• Join the East Precinct police scanner report slingers in celebrating the first birthday of Central District News tonight from 5:30p to 8p at the BottleNeck. Congratulations to our Neighborlogs.com cousin! You can also enjoy this CNN article featuring CDN's Scott and then tease him a little bit about it tonight. The BottleNeck, if you haven't visited before, is located at 2328 Madison and, thanks, is a CHS sponsor.
• Meanwhile, those go-go kids over at cap to the hill are hosting tonight's c-to-the-h happy hour(s) at Moe Bar. Why should you go? If you like sites like cap to the hill, you gotta take care of them like little goldfishes and feed them what they thrive on -- attention.
• Bonus item: Blog types, mark your calendars for Monday night, Nov. 17th for Blogsgiving 2008.

Have fun putting the attend in attention. See you out there hopefully.

Promising simple, rustic, and hearty nosh plus adult beverages, the Oddfellows Cafe plans to open in early December. Linda Derschang (Smith, Linda's) and Ericka Burke (Volunteer Park Cafe) define their new cafe as a quintessential neighborhood hangout serving three squares a day plus Stumptown coffee, bakery items, and adult beverages.

The Oddfellows Cafe will be located in the Oddfellows building @ 10th & Pine (natch), as originally reported right here on CHS in April. Compatible people pair up, and viola! Eight months later, a cafe is born.

All the brekkie fans on the hill (you know who you are): stand up now and cheer "Yay!" (Works best if you raise both arms straight up when you do it)

Oh, and BTW the cafe is hiring right now.

If you're not busy, stop by Poco Wine Room (located on Pine between 14th and 15th) tonight to help celebrate 2 years on the hill!  We dropped in last night and had a great time.  I finally met Bart, one of the owners, and we managed to put away 4 fabulous bottles of wine with the help of 4 of our friends.  Happy Hour specials all night:   $2 off each glass of wine and $8 off each bottle.  It's a great deal!

Metblogs Seattle goes to Zaw, mostly likes it:

So would I try it again? Yes, I think I would - but next time I would order in advance and try to get in and out as quickly as possible, because staring at their big ‘zaw this and ‘zaw that menu board will kind of ruin your appetite.

Not sure the writer goes far enough. Our Zaw experience was flawed (fl-Zaw-ed?) enough that we fear for the Seattle start-up's existence. It's not really about Zaw -- it's the concept. Still, we think the problems can be fixed:

1. Spread the word that customers shouldn't order in person. Call in your order or make it on the Web. Make it part of the marketing. Standing at 15th and Pine waiting 10 to 15 minutes for somebody to put together a pizza that you will still need to cook is silly. It's obvious in retrospect but how many chances does a new biz get?
2. Make a bigger deal about delivery. Because of the time factor above, doing anything beyond waiting for a Zaw to come to you really reduces the value prop of their offering. This also leverages...

Neighbor josh posted about Victrola on 15th's first step toward becoming the new Neighbours. Now, thanks to Everyblock, we learn that Faire Gallery Cafe has a new license that will allow it to offer liquor to go. Neighbor seadevi says go for the crepes. And soon, it seems, you'll be able to grab some beer or wine for the road.

Cakes, etc. are in place tonight for some kind of private event. Sign says opens for business on Wednesday.

Also, btw and related only by location, El Tajin is out of business. Adios.

Sent from my iPhone

Via the Seattle Times, some exciting news: Monsoon (615 19th Ave. E., Seattle, 206-325-2111) now offers happy hour 5-6:30 p.m. weekdays with $5 food items and wines.

Written on Victrola bandwidth, btw

I was about to write a nasty post criticizing Victrola's new Whidbey Island-based owner for cutting back on the coffee shop's offerings my replacing their sandwiches with packaged stuff from a third-party provider. But then I found this:

Very Part Time Sandwich Maker at Victrola Coffee (Capitol Hill)

---

Reply to: job-868760998@craigslist.org

^[?]
Date: 2008-10-06, 12:05PM PDT

We are looking for a Sandwich Maker to work about 3 hours/ day 3-5 days/ per week. Morning hours. Please bring in your resume and cover letter.
411 15th Ave. East, Seattle, WA 98112

Yay, Victrola -- sorry I doubted you. Sandwich makers of Seattle, we need you.

It's a little late for lunch but you can snack on these:

• The guys behind Union, Tavolata and How to Cook a Wolf are bringing their act to Capitol Hill. Anchovies and Olives will be located in the new Pearl Apartments building at 15th and Pine to help put the mixed element in mixed-use. Also, the trend reverses -- no communal tables.
• Can Fancy Pants Monsoon do pho? Yes it can, says foodie.
• BTW, what's latest on Monsoon's hunt for a new Hill location? We want news.
• Nothing about it on the Olivar website, but we got an e-mail announcing a special 4-course dinner on October 29th, presumably, to celebrate my birthday. Thanks guys. Olivar probably feels a little left out of the fun with Poppy, the newest shiny food thing on that end of Broadway, getting all the attention.
• BTW, that Olivar dinner is $45 a pop and not pegged to the stock market like this Thursday promo at Coastal Kitchen. 
• On the other end of the spectrum, a brave businessperson is opening a sandwich shop just off the Hill in the CD at 23rd and Union. It's...

Expect long lines at the Coastal Kitchen on Thursday. Chow Foods is having a promotion this between 5pm and 10pm where their food will be priced based on the close of the markets that day.

Food entrees will be based on the Dow. ("If it closes at 8300 (gulp!) then you won't pay any more than $8.30 for any item on our food menu.")

House wine, draft beers and well drinks will be priced with the NASDAQ. ("If it dips to 1250, then our depression era pricing on these libation will be just a buck twenty five!")

Yes, I'm about to review a fancy pants restaurant on a day when Wall Street is on its way to turning in yet another triple-digit loss. Here are a few of the things I saw, heard and tasted.

1. The space is wide open and has the requisite exposed brick wall and duct work. Orange and yellow curtains play Poppy's "not an Indian restaurant" game. Naan, thali, and curtains that look like saris? 
2. The reviewers that make IKEA comments are a little confused. Light oak is not trademarked by IKEA. It's not my favorite look either. Guessing the brains behind Poppy didn't want to go with something darker and more traditional.
3. The dinner rush was in full swing when we arrived around 8:30. By midway through our meal around 10, we were one of three goups.
4. Much appreciated, those sound dampers on the wall near the kitchen block.
5. The cocktail list is fun and pricey. Enjoyed the bourbon fizz while hanging out at the bar waiting for our dining companions.
6. Poppy's music soundtrack has been programmed by a hipster. Lee Hazelwood, 60s soul...

And everyone's invited. We got all bitchy about Zaw Capitol Hill's first opening party being all promotion and no (cheesey) substance. Looks like they're up for doing it again. We just received this MEDIA ALERT:

The public is invited to celebrate the grand opening of zaw’s flagship store in the Capitol Hill neighborhood at 1424 E. Pine St. on Tuesday October 14th from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The event will feature a sampling of zaw's menu and numerous opportunities to win door prizes. Also, kids under the age of 10 will receive a free slice of Naked ‘zaw (cheese pizza) and a Jones Soda.

Thanks Zaw. We take it all back. Really.

This is one of my favorite places on the Hill.  According to the email newsletter I just received:

Come and celebrate with us on Friday October 31 and Saturday November 1st. Both of those nights, we will have Happy Hour ALL night long. That means $8 off each bottle and $2 off each glass pour. We can't think a better or simpler way to say "thanks" to all of you who have been guests at Poco the last two years.

I don't know about you, but I'll likely be there! Poco finds some fantastic wines and this neighborhood treasure should be supported.  Website here, located at 14th and Pine, between Online Coffee and Zaw.

God you would think it was teh finals of Project Runway or something. If people put half as much energy into getting a friend loaded AND register them to vote, we would have this thing wrapped up.

Bars without TV on the Hill? Go!

Curious which Teriyaki joint on Capitol Hill gets your vote as the best one.  I occasionally stop at Teriyaki Madness on 15th (across from Group Health) but their gyoza is only so-so.  What's the best place?  Why?  Who has the best gyoza?

Looks like pizza! From our CHS flickr pool -- thanks to neighbor ERIK98122, per usual. Assuming that everybody who isn't going out to watch the debate is grabbing a pizza before tuning into CNN.

Zaw's Chicago Deli Pizza and pear salad