dining
8 Friday, 05.22.2015 The Daily Herald
Day or night, Sound Check cranks it up to 11 Sound Check Bar & Grill
It’s always 5 o’clock somewhere. That saying was my rationale as I studied the speciality cocktail menu at 2 o’clock in the afternoon at a bar in Lynnwood. Usually, when my husband Max and I are on those busy Saturday errand marathons we duck into a fast-food joint to grab a bite. While clogging along 44th Avenue West across from Fred Meyer I saw the sign for Sound Check Bar & Grill. Why not go to a pub for some grub? A Herald reader named Becky had suggested a dining review on the Sound Check, praising the food, the owners, the music, everything. “I promise you won’t be disappointed that you went,” she wrote. I love reader suggestions. Readers are the best eyes, ears and mouths for story ideas. “Turn here,” I told Max, who looked at me warily as we rounded the corner of a GOURMET BURGERS! WRAPS! SALADS!
19720 44th Ave. W, Lynnwood; 425-582-8808; www.facebook. com/SoundCheckBnG. Hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Alcohol: Craft cocktails and full bar Happy Hour: 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday
shopping plaza anchored by Grocery Outlet, Sports Authority and the closed CompUSA. The bar is tucked on the side. We’d planned to meet up with our daughter so I texted her to join us there. Just walking in the door of the Sound Check already made me want to come back again — at night. The spacious concretefloored bar has a big stage area for live music and dancing, with a side room with a pool table and
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dart machines. It looked like a superfun place to come after dark. It was fun in the day, too, with flat screen TVs lit up all over and upbeat canned music. At Max’s urging, we sat by a TV with a baseball game on. A few other diners were scattered in the vast table setup, which seemed like it could hold quite a crowd without feeling crowded. The friendly waitress mentioned specials that included a meatball sub and ginger lemonade. Max went for both. He always orders lemonade, though usually it’s virgin. He kept going on about how good it was and told me I had to taste it. I don’t really care for lemonade but he insisted I try it ... and then he insisted I stop drinking it. He was right. It was delicious. I ordered the Pomegranate Thigh High vodka cocktail ($8) from the specialty drink menu. It was a toss up between that and the Raspberry Panty Drop. About that time our daughter arrived and shook her head at her parents getting plastered
early in the afternoon. There were vegetarian choices for her, such as a black bean burger ($10) with homemade pickles and an apple pecan salad ($9) with baby spinach, granny smith apples, pecans and pickled red onion. Appetizer options include fried Beecher’s cheese curds and jalapeno bottlecaps ($8) and baked portabellos ($7). What spoke to me was the 5 Alarm Burger ($13) with blackpepper bacon, jalapenos, fried onions, pepper jack cheese and sriracha aioli. My burger arrived with a steak knife jabbed in it. It was a needed weapon to divide and conquer. The sandwich stood about 8-inches high. No lie. It had six strips of bacon on it. It was like a fabulous five-course meal packed between a bun. The pub fries that came with it were hot and tasty. Max loved his sub. Becky, you were so right about this place. I certainly wasn’t disappointed. I just hope owners Mike and Soni Murray can keep it open.
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Earlier this week, they launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise $78,000. By mid-week, they’d received about $8,000 in pledges. The couple opened the Sound Check last December, using Mike’s severance package after he lost his job in finance in a corporate restructuring. “I never dreamed I’d be doing this,” he said. But it made sense. He’s a guitarist in Platinum Spandex, a 1980s hair metal band. He’s known as “Mikey Spandex” on stage and off. Guess that makes him a cool dad to his three teen daughters, one who works at Sound Check. It’s a family friendly place until later at night when the music action starts, and the 30-to60-year-old crowd takes over. Lynnwood has a place in the Bothell couple’s heart. “We met when we were working together in the Mr. Kleen Car Wash across the street 30 years ago,” Mike said. “Our lives have come full circle. We lived our lives elsewhere and we came back here to start a business.”
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