From the exterior, the Root Beer Store looks ridiculously small.
But inside, the shelves at The Root Beer Store are stocked with more than 400 drinks and over 150 types of root beer. Non-root beer beverages include ginger beers, fruit-flavored sodas and novelty/retro sodas.
Including micro-brew sodas from Rogue Brewery (of beer fame).
Root beer can be bought by the bottle for a few bucks to whole kegs of Crater Lake Root Beer (starting at $49/keg) and very fancy Rouge Root Beer (starting at $110/keg).
And some very unusual sodas. Plus candies and sarsaparillas. That's the best word: sarsaparilla.
Yes, comrades, there's even Leninade.
The Root Beer Store also offers ice-cream floats with hand-scooped ice cream (starting at $2.95), root beer mugs on tap (from $1.79) and floats with a bottle (from $1.65) at little tables in the store's center.
Park at the store's rear to ensure a decent amount of browsing time.
The Root Beer Store
Address: 20015 WA-99, Lynnwood, WA 98036
Phone: (425)673-9999
Hours:
Sunday Closed
Monday 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Tuesday 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Wednesday 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Thursday 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Friday 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Saturday 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Web: http://www.therootbeerstore.com/
I love bowling, even though I'm terrible at it. In the past decade or so, bowling alleys went fancy -- featuring dark interiors, DJs, neon lights, Top 40 music videos on giant screens and expensive appetizers.
Family-run Glacier Lanes is having none of that fancy business. Located in working-class Everett's northern end of Highway 99, Glacier Lanes is going to give you some lanes and some bowling balls and beer.
Which is all anyone needs, right? Prices start at $2/game, which is fantastic. Lots of specials run throughout the week, and the lanes do offer a weekend evening rock-n-bowl.
Well, no, some of us also need pull-tabs. What are pull-tabs, you ask?
Well, pull-tabs are tear-up game cards that sort of work like slot machines but a pull-tab runs only 25 cents. Yes, I enjoy a rip of the tab now and then. Sometimes I win, but mostly I don't.
Kids can't play pull-tabs (darn gambling rules). But if your children also like to throw away money, they can spend quarters at the claw machines and arcade games available at Glacier Lanes -- including my favorite, Ms. Pac-Man.
If someone made a Ms. Pacman-pull-tab-claw machine, I might spend all my dollars on it.
(When I was in high school, a classmate wrote an English paper on the evils of pull-tabs because she felt some people were spending all their money on pull-tabs vs. rent or food. While I don't honestly think I'm at risk of chronic pull-tabbing, I guess it's a problem for others)
Anyhow, now you know one of my embarrassing habits.
Glacier Lanes is always downright noisy with the cracks of strikes, whenever we've visited. Sometimes we can only get a half-hour play on a lane, due to the number of individuals and office parties going on. A variety of ages populate the hard plastic chairs and lanes, but watching grandparents bowl with their grandkids is always super-cute (and I get bowling tips if I eavesdrop). Thursday nights is family bowl, with games running just $2/each.
Bowling is something no one needs to get dressed up to enjoy and anyone can play (well, with bumpers and assist devices for little kids).
Glacier Lanes also contains a little restaurant for breakfasting and dining. I can't speak to the quality, but I'll try it soon and let you know. Once I'm finished playing pull-tabs and bowling strikes.
Glacier Lanes
Website: glacierlanes.com
Address: 9630 Evergreen Way, Everett, WA 98204
Phone: (425) 353-8292
Hours:
Sunday 7:00 AM – 12:00 AM
Monday 7:00 AM – 12:00 AM
Tuesday 7:00 AM – 12:00 AM
Wednesday 7:00 AM – 12:00 AM
Thursday 7:00 AM – 12:00 AM
Friday 7:00 AM – 12:00 AM
Saturday 7:00 AM – 12:00 AM
Located in an unassuming Lynnwood strip mall, Looking for Chai is one of the best restaurants I've sampled so far.
The interior is minimalist and upscale. Predominantly black tables and walls absorb light cast from the windows to the parking lot exterior, but the white accents keep it from being too dark. Each table is set with both forks and chopsticks.
The menu was comprehensive without being overwhelming, and integrated traditional Taiwanese foods like bitter melon and hot-pot soups (delivered still boiling, on individual kerosene burners).
We ordered an appetizer of tofu with seaweed and soy-sauce eggs ($5.95).
Looking for Chai is known for their drinks. Dozens of teas, milk teas and other drinks (hot or cold) were presented in the menu and on a giant black-wall board. People inside held mugs of various beverages. So my kids and I decided to order a few. Our chocolate-cookie milk tea was slightly bitter but gorgeous to look at. We ordered it cold, but I think I'd order it hot next time.
The teas described on the menu as "hand shaken" look somewhat like a big pint mug of beer -- but these are green teas. Here, a green tea with dried plum ($3.75). Sour-bitter-sweet, all at once. The whole table fought over drinking it.
The lunch menu included this crispy chicken with special spicy sauce. For $2 more, our server said we could make it a meal with two sides and rice. In this case, the sides were corn and eggs and tomatoes. I think I'd skip the sides next time unless the sides were spectacular. Although everything tasted fine, the chicken was more than enough for two to split.
Kids (and immature adults) will get a kick out of the bathroom signs, which are sorta awesome.
Looking for Chai Taiwanese Kitchen
Address: 22511 WA-99 #100, Edmonds, WA 98026
Phone: (425) 672-0880
Website: http://steve11977.wix.com/lookingforchai
Hours:
Sunday 11:30 AM – 10:00 PM
Monday 12:00 – 10:30 PM
Tuesday 12:00 – 10:30 PM
Wednesday 12:00 – 10:30 PM
Thursday 12:00 – 10:30 PM
Friday 11:30 AM – 11:30 PM
Saturday 11:30 AM – 11:30 PM
Another Castle's interior is divided into two sections. Half of Another Castle's fluorescent-lit interior is a video-game shop selling new and used games for the Playstation, DS, XBox and even Gameboy.
There are also Pokemon stuffed animals and these adorable fridge magnets made from fuse beads (created by lying plastic beads out in a pattern, then ironing the beads to fuse them).
But the other half, well -- it's a darkened three-room circus of retro arcade games and pinball. You'll see Frogger, Contra, Donkey Kong, The Simpsons, Dig Dug and Tetris. Pull up a Mario Brothers-style red-mushroom stool and play a few games (or more).
Most still only cost a quarter or at most, two quarters, even newer games like Mario Kart, Dance Dance Revolution or Star Wars Racer. A roll of quarters comes in hand, or bring cash to draw coins out of the change-making machines.
The store's small kiosk window offers beer, pop and snacky things like chips. But I'd eat before arriving.
I like Another Castle better than other video-game locations in the area; it's a more manageable size, the pricing is straightforward, and I really like the retro games. One employee described it as a dive-arcade, and that's about right.
A few downsides: Limited hours and limited parking. It's not open until 5 p.m. on weekends, and there are only a few parking spots outside in the tiny lot. You might need to wait, or park in a lot just to the south. Also, trying to turn left out of the lot onto Highway 99 is a recipe for certain death. Just turn right, for the love of Mario.
On weekends, the arcade opens at noon.
Oh, and if you come with kids, they might see some 1980s sexism of the cheesy variety.
Would I play again? An unequivocal yes. GAME OVER.
Another Castle
Address: 23303 WA-99, Edmonds, WA 98026
Phone: (425) 967-3740 or Arcade: 425-967-7043
Store Hours:
Monday – Saturday: 10 am – 8 pm
Sunday: 11 am – 6 pm
Arcade Hours:
Monday - Thursday: 5 pm – 11 pm
Friday: 2 pm – 2 am
Saturday: 12 pm – 2 am
Sunday: 12 pm – 10 pm
Website: http://www.anothercastlegames.com/
