Shot In The Dark: Skylark Cafe & Club

Skylark Café & Club was shoulder-to-shoulder with anxious young Democrats last Tuesday. The North Delridge joint was hosting its Election Night Party complete with patriotic drink specials and news coverage projected on to a screen behind the stage. We arrived just in time to see Obama take my home state of Pennsylvania (which, judging from the county-by-county breakdown really is still Alabama sandwiched by Pittsburgh and Philly). The room erupted in applause. We squeezed our way into a sliver of open space at the bar and ordered two Stoli Blue States (very clever), Each slurp of the electric blue drink filled us with great “we-told-you-so” pride as we watched Obama’s electoral vote count tower above his opponent’s, winning my wife’s home state of Ohio. What? It couldn’t be true! It’s the red state that came to its senses! There were many bars in West Seattle showing election coverage that night, but Skylark’s felt like the neighborhood’s most official. What better place to celebrate than at a bar boasting wholly Middle American cuisine like Meatloaf Dinner and Real Philly Cheese Steak (both $9.95) alongside the very blue-state sandwich, the Super Fresh Vegan ($8.25). During the height of the Bush era I’d be embarrassed to admit to lefty friends that I liked getting drunk and eating fattening foods. It seemed so…Joe the Plumber. Similarly, I couldn’t say the word “vegan” in front of some Republican relatives for fear of sounding “elitist”. But that night, looking at Skylark’s politically open menu and watching CNN’s U.S. map get bluer and bluer as the polls closed, I thought maybe there was hope after all. Then again, I didn’t see anyone ordering Skylark’s “Red State” drink special, so maybe we Dems have a ways to go. BRIAN J. BARR 3803 Delridge Way SW, 935-2111, www.skylarkclub.com