Snohomish brew-pub owners aim to tap into Seattle market

SNOHOMISH — Father-son entrepreneurs Jay and Kurt Meacham, owners of Fred's Rivertown Alehouse, plan to take a taste of Snohomish to the big city.

The duo will open a new pub modeled on Fred's in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood next month.

Like Fred's, the pub — the Barking Dog Alehouse — will serve both bar food and upscale fare, and offer a selection of single-malt scotch. The restaurant and bar also will specialize in microbrews from regional breweries and boutique European beer makers.

"This is a big risk for us," said Kurt Meacham, who recently resigned from the Snohomish City Council and moved with his wife to Seattle to focus on the Barking Dog's launch and begin a master's program at the University of Washington.

"For years people have been telling us to come down here," he said. "This is coming both from people in Seattle and from people in the beer business."

The Meachams investigated several sites in Seattle, including a Green Lake location chosen by Tangletown, a new brew pub owned by Elysian Brewing, before identifying Barking Dog's new spot, 705 N.W. 70th St. It's the site of the former 7th Avenue Tavern.

With advice from Small World Design, a design firm that has helped other Seattle brew pubs, the Meachams have spent more than $300,000 to gut and rebuild the interior of the tavern, where beer and wine drinkers used to smoke and play pool or darts but had limited food options.

When the Meachams complete work on Barking Dog Alehouse, the atmosphere will differ greatly.

The games, TV and smoking will vanish, and the décor will feature antique signs from local and European brewers. The Meachams are aiming to keep the pub neighborhood-friendly, open to the dinner crowd as well as those seeking only drinks.

The menu will offer Fred's basics and entrees, but it will also include appetizers and meals made from game, such as buffalo steaks and wild-boar satay with peanut dipping sauce.

The Barking Dog also will serve such entrees as tofu tout, a meatless Southeast Asian dish.

"Snohomish is a meat-and-potatoes kind of town," Meacham said. "We've never had an opportunity to do much vegetarian at Fred's."

Andy Eason, the manager of the Diamond Knot Brewery in Mukilteo, which supplies Fred's with a customized brew, said he thinks the Meachams' new restaurant can succeed.

"What they've done well at is creating an environment. It's kind of boisterous," said Eason, who used to live around the corner from Fred's. "They do a good job at rotating taps, and they make good food. They've always had a big dinner crowd."

Though Fred's doesn't brew its own beer, Eason said the pub still stands out because it serves beers that are hard to find elsewhere locally. In Snohomish County, local brewers include Flying Pig Brewing and Scuttlebutt Family Pub and Brewery, both in Everett, as well as Twin Rivers Brewing in Monroe and Diamond Knot.

Fred's was founded in the 1950s as Fred's Tavern. The Meachams bought it in 1994, and soon, the bar's four taps — just one of which poured a microbrew — were joined by 28 more, all serving specialty beers. The Meachams added varieties of single-malt scotch and a food menu that gradually was expanded.

The business was unprofitable during its first three years, but it turned the corner in 1997, Kurt Meacham said.

He said it's too early to tell whether the Barking Dog can replicate Fred's success, but he's been visiting Ballard block parties to spread the word about his new business.

"Most restaurants have their niche — live music or scheduling bands," he said. "We bring in great beers."

Jane Hodges: 425-745-7813 or jhodges@seattletimes.com