As you may or may not know—and consider me in the latter group until just recently—Keith and Janice Raschko, the duo behind One World, now owns the Checkerboard Tavern (1716 E Sprague Ave). The bar was established back in 1933, and has quite the history behind it, including holding the longest liquor license for an establishment in one location in Washington state. Wednesday peanut nights will, apparently, continue with the new owners. I have no idea what that actually is, but they also add Wii tournaments the same night, and that’s pretty great.
Currently the menu is showing nice potential with vegetarian options, and, soon, vegan options. And our pretzel was served with a pretty dang good mustard.
The beer selection too, is going in a direction that is looking good. Sure, it’s not huge, but with the excellent Clem’s Gold on tap and Laughing Dog IPA on bottle.
Checkerboard Tavern still feels old school, and hopefully that won’t change, even though the clientele inevitably will start skewing younger after the grand opening on March 17th. That’s probably not a bad thing, as the place is big enough for everyone. And the checkerboard tables are awesome for the competitive among us.
Also worth noting is that Down to Earth will host Green Drinks at the tavern on April 13th. Consider this your early notice.