Pitchers and more available at Quality Athletics. Photo by Sarah Flotard
Perhaps it’s fitting that Josh Henderson (Skillet, Westward) is reinventing the idea of a sports bar just as Seattle’s professional teams are reinventing the city’s sports identity. With the Seahawks looking like they have a real chance to repeat as Super Bowl champions, the Mariners knocking on the door of the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade, and the Sounders once again one of the best teams in MLS, Pioneer Square and SoDo have been hubs of frenzied fandom. Of course local sports bars have been packed, but the newest addition to the landscape is taking things a bit differently.
If your typical sports bar is an authentic replica jersey, Quality Athletics is a bit more like the faux-ironic softball shirts the service staff wears: more an allusion to sport than a profession of love. Yes, there’s sports memorabilia inside, but it’s mostly old rec-league trophies, not autographed footballs. It’s actually a welcome change; the sports bar is almost a cliche at this point. You know what you expect to find: lots of TVs, lots of fried food, and almost no one there unless a game is on. Walking into a sports bar on a random weekday afternoon can be a depressing undertaking, with 20 TVs all showing the same SportsCenter repeat and a distracted bartender checking his or her Tinder matches.
Turning those conventions on their ear, Quality Athletics is looking to become a spot to both catch the game and have a great meal. “We’re for sure a sports bar,” Henderson said. “We’re geared around the game-day experience, but during the week the TVs will be off. That area [Pioneer Square] is built around lunch and happy hour, and we need to be able to serve that crowd as well.”
Quality Athletics, Smoked salmon wings pickled shallots, coriander honey glaze, pickled peppers. Photo by Sarah Flotard
Henderson’s approach of riffing on an established concept (seafood, diners) is perhaps at its most playful at Quality Athletics. Take chicken wings, that digestion-destroying staple of weekend football viewing. Instead of tired old buffalo wings, you can choose charred chicken wings with harissa, jerk-spiced duck wings, or my favorite, the smoked-salmon “wings”—sweet, smoky, utterly delicious salmon collars. Plus, they leave your hands just as sticky and in need of the thoughtfully provided Wet-Naps as the real thing.
When it comes to drinking, it’s the clientele that sets Quality Athletics’ mood more than the bar itself. That group of fans in #12 jerseys is more likely to be doing shots of Fernet than of Fireball, and the pints of beer the future members of the King’s Court are throwing back are local craft brews, not Budweiser. It’s a very Seattle vibe, and with our hometown pride being fueled by the performances on the field, Quality Athletics seems poised to be a vital part of the pre- and post-game scene for quite some time.
thebarcode@seattleweekly.com
