My Ballard

That didn’t take long. A resident at the brand new Landmark Senior Center along Leary and Ballard Avenues has filed a noise complaint with the city.

“Now she wants to switch rooms, which is going to be a problem,” the facility’s executive director told the Ballard News Tribune. Of course, Ballard Ave. can get a little loud, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. The bar manager at Hattie’s Hat, just across from the Landmark, says that’s par for the course along Ballard Ave. “I’m hoping they aren’t the golf-course retirees,” Aimee Shepard said. “I’m hoping they’re more the Manhattan martini-type people.” Somehow, we doubt that’s the case. By the way, the Landmark’s website describes it as “vibrant urban living with the character of a small town.” Stay tuned for this debate to heat up as more residents move into the 146-unit facility.

Over the last few months, Ballard has been blessed with some terrific new neighborhood bars. First The Dray, then The Stepping Stone and now The Traveler on Leary near 8th Ave.

The European-style pub opened a few days ago, and we dropped in to take a look around and grab a drink at the bar.

It’s a great space — not too small, not too large — with wood, brick and art on the walls. The full bar features many specialty drinks, such as The Perfect Seattle (bourbon, Chartreuse and a twist of orange.) On the menu, you’ll find salads, two kinds of mussels, Belgian-style frites, bistro steak and sandwiches, including the tasty-looking Irish Interloper (corned beef and sauerkraut).

Owner Scott Laney told us The Traveler is a classic European pub — casual and “neighborhood” — which for some of us may be a welcome respite from the increasingly busy Ballard Ave. and Fremont scene.

Right next door, construction on Anita’s restaurant is coming along nicely, including heaters for outdoor seating. As we wrote back in May, it’s the creation of Anita Ross, the talented chef behind “Anita’s Crepes,” the very popular food stand at the Ballard Farmers Market.

First Ocho, now Copper Gate is adding outdoor seating, reports Keith at the Ballardite Blog. He also lists other Ballard restaurants and bars with outdoor seating. As we posted before, the city has relaxed the permit process, so we should continue to see more sidewalk seating in the neighborhood.

My Ballard reader Ivy noticed that DiVino on Ballard Ave. has closed…

and this sign is in the window…

Looks like we’re getting a sushi restaurant and cocktail lounge called Shiku, which matches up with Ballard Gossip Girl’s recent rumors about a new sushi place opening by September.

They’re already getting to work on the inside. We have to admit, we are big sushi fans, so we’ll be anxiously waiting to see how Shiku stacks up to some of our favorites. (Thanks Ivy for the tip!)

Update: Ballard Gossip Girls says this isn’t the new sushi place they’re talking about. So, two sushi places coming to Ballard Ave?

Three members of the band Mooncalf have purchased the Ballard tavern Conor Byrne, reports the Seattle Weekly’s Reverb blog. Band member Diarmuid Cullen has been a minority owner and the bar manager, and two other guys from the band teamed up with Cullen to buy the Conor Byrne outright. (It’s like every band’s dream to own your own pub.) You may remember back in 2006 that Conor Byrne’s former owners were involved in a spat with the building’s owners over hard liquor. But the Weekly reports the building recently sold, so that appears to be no longer an issue. As the Ballardite Blog says, it will be interesting to see if there will be any changes with Conor Byrne in the months to come.

Meg Dalton went to the George and the Dragon pub in Fremont and said she noticed people smoking on the outside deck — a health code violation. So she sent the owner, John Bayliss, an email complaint and copied the health department. Health inspectors then went to the pub, found someone smoking on the deck and gave Bayliss a warning, reports the PI. What ensued was a flame war — pointed emails back and forth between Bayliss and Dalton — which resulted in Bayliss banning her from the pub. “Now our business sales have dropped because the smokers can’t smoke outside,” Bayliss wrote. “They are just going to go to one of a thousand places where people smoke on patios or outside the bars.” So is this a real issue or just an isolated spat?

If you’ve been wondering about those two empty spaces next to The Dish on Leary just east of 8th, two new signs have appeared with the answers.

On the corner, a new restaurant called “Anita’s” is under construction. It’s the creation of Anita Ross, the chef behind “Anita’s Crepes,” the very popular food stand at the Ballard Farmers Market. She was putting in some landscaping this morning, and she told us that the restaurant will feature her favorite creations — more than just crepes — but with a French spin, of course. She also plans to have outside seating, and she says she’s aiming to open in a month to six weeks. (For the record, this is the second success story from the Ballard Market: Veraci Pizza is opening its first restaurant, too.)

Next door to Anita’s is “The Traveler,” a new bar that’s moving into the same space occupied until recently by Harvey’s Tavern. “We want to have good food, mussels, different styles of frites. We’ll have a TV on showing the game. We want it to be a neighborhood place, but with a more contemporary feel,” Scott Laney told the PI back in January. The Traveler was slated to open on May 1st, but from my untrained eye when I took a peek inside, it looks like they have few more weeks to go. The Traveler joins the ranks of The Dray and The Stepping Stone, two other smaller-sized, contemporary bars that have opened in Ballard in recent weeks. (Thanks Sara for the tip!)

The new bar The Stepping Stone celebrated its “soft opening” Friday night on 24th Ave. near 59th St., just a few doors down from Cafe Besalu. A two-piece jazz band provided the background tunes while dozens of friends and curious neighbors stopped by to take a look around.

The menu, while still in its early stages, features a few wines, beer and sake. Similar to The Dray, The Stepping Stone features some very cool wood furnishings, but with a focus on sustainability. The bar top, for example, originated from a Ballard warehouse. The benches and foot rest at the bar are made from bleacher wood that came from a school in Oregon. And the cool walnut table tops were cut from naturally fallen trees. All in all, another cool addition to the Ballard neighborhood.

The Lockspot Cafe, apparently trying to cash in with a play on the Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch” show title, is advertising this:

The bar was closed when I went by, so if anyone has one of the shirts, send us a picture at tips@myballard.com so we can post it here.

If “deadliest” equates with dive, what other worthy contenders can you think of in Ballard that haven’t been replaced by more sanitized establishments?

Adds Andrew in comments: “Deadliest Catch filmed their last episode of last season at the Lockspot. Inside, you’ll see autographed items and posters of the show. Plus, it’s a great place. They have fantastic seafood.”

Update: Earlier this month, Ballard Gossip Girl’s readers voted that the Ember Room at the Smoke Shop is Ballard’s best dive bar. And by the way, the Seattle Weekly blog Voracious just posted a review on the Smoke Shop, “Where the smoking ban stinks… literally.”

The newest addition to the cluster of restaurants and bars on 65th St. just east of 8th Ave. celebrated its grand opening Friday night. The Dray is a cozy European-style cafe that converts into a cool neighborhood bar at night. For daytime visitors, it has an espresso machine, a handful of pastries, sandwiches and free WiFi. By evening, it has a killer eclectic beer list, plasma TVs and roll-up windows. We attended the grand opening (a packed house) and realized it could quickly turn into a popular hangout. But popularity could come at a price: it’s in a relatively small space, so seating is at a premium.

Ballard Gossip Girl has a good wrap-up of where you can go in the neighborhood to watch the NCAA March Madness tournament. We’ll add one more to the list: the Barking Dog Alehouse on 70th just off 8th, which is one of our favorite hangouts. By the way, half of the Geeky Swedes is rooting for the Washington State Cougars (the other is a Husky.)

Kathy saw the sign on the door and sent us a tip about “Stepping Stone,” a new bar/restaurant that’s coming to 24th Ave in “mid-April,” just a few doors down from Cafe Besalu. The sign says, “Featuring local beer, wine, sake and organic dishes.” Sounds very Ballard. Can’t wait.

If you have the inside scoop on Stepping Stone, please let us know…

Adds Sara in comments: “I’m also curious as to why the wine store that used to be there closed — I assume no business. I never saw anybody in there and I walked by almost every day.”