11 great places in the Seattle area to get spooky food and drinks for Halloween

Aside from the candy, Halloween isn’t exactly a food holiday. But Seattle’s chefs, bakers, and mixologists are using the ghosts, pumpkins, and horror films associated with the holiday to create some really creative and scary Halloween specials.

From inky black soba noodles to midsummer-themed cocktails and boozy trick-or-treat events, here are some of the best ways to celebrate Halloween in Seattle’s bars, restaurants and bakeries.

Bars / restaurants

Strength of the navy

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Navy Strength, a tiki bar in Belltown, has probably the most creative Halloween cocktails in Seattle with its October menu of 14 drinks based on horror movies. And they taste good too. In 2018, Navy Strength was named America’s Best New Cocktail Bar by Tales of the Cocktail, a prestigious liquor festival.

The “Candyman” ($ 14) comes garnished with a small mirror that you can use to conjure up the ghost in the film by saying your name five times. The burning, hollowed half lime on top is a reference to the scene where the Candyman is destroyed in a fire, and even the Jeppson Malört (a bitter liquor popular in Chicago) in the drink is a nod to the city where the Film is set.

With Irish whiskey, bourbon, spicy honey and cinnamon, the smoky-sweet drink warms the chest and is a perfect autumn drink.

Navy Strength’s Midsommar-themed cocktail combines aquavit (a popular liqueur in Sweden, where the film is set) with gin, honey, passion fruit, lime, citrus oil and spicy bitter substances for an herbaceous blend that stings on the tongue. It’s dusted with ground mushrooms (not the psychedelic kind the characters in the film eat) and garnished with flowers (the protagonist wears flowers for most of the film).

Taku

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Chef Shota Nakajima’s Capitol Hill Bar and Japanese Roast Chicken Taku celebrate Halloween with food, drink and events leading up to the holidays.

Events include a horror movie quiz night on Sunday at 8pm, a screening of the 1987 horror movie “The Lost Boys” at 11pm on Wednesday, and a costume contest judged by Nakajima on October 29th will be served on the movie night and Nakajima will be served Cook on the line on October 29th.

The food specials are black corn dogs, squid soba salad and a beet salad. And the bar will mix Halloween specials, including a neon green drink called The Eulogy, which is made with midori, mezcal, green chartreuse, lime juice, and Sichuan peppercorn tincture.

On October 28, from 8 p.m. to midnight, Taku will be handing out a free jell-o-shot and candy to anyone over the age of 21 purchasing costume-style food at an adult trick or treating event in the neighborhood. The La Dive wine bar across the street will serve mini ice-cream drinks and truffles. Redhook Brewlab, Life on Mars and Saint John’s Bar and Eatery are also participating, but had not disclosed any details about their “goodies” at the time of publication.

Dreamland Bar and Diner

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Fake cobwebs cover the walls and hang from the ceilings of Dreamland, a popular bar and brunch spot in Fremont. With the red light shining through the bottle display, the bar has the perfect Halloween atmosphere. And the bar’s Halloween cocktails are delicious.

The Swamp Crawler ($ 13) is bright green topped with a plastic toe and a pile of pink cotton candy. It looks like it tastes like Sour Patch Kids but instead celebrates the natural flavors of fall fruit with green apple and quince liqueurs mixed with Singani 63, a brandy made from aromatic white muscat grapes.

The Viper Black ($ 13) is more palatable, with botanical flavors of blanc vermouth and black gin, rounded off with apricot liqueur. It’s garnished with a plastic eyeball and edged with edible green glitter.

Dreamland is also organizing a drag brunch on October 30th from 12pm to 2pm, a drag freak show by reservation only from 7pm to 8.30pm and a costume competition that evening. There is a dog costume competition on Halloween night.

2 fingers social

2fingerssocial.com

2 Fingers Social, a movie bar in the South Delridge neighborhood north of the White Center, shows four or five horror films every night in October.

Some nights there are drink and food specials that cater to the themes in the films, and Halloween has happy hour deals all night.

The mountaineering club

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The Mountaineering Club, a rooftop bar and restaurant at the Graduate Seattle Hotel in the University District, has live music on October 30th and 31st from 6pm.

The bar serves psychedelic drinks like the microdose, a shot of mezcal with a dropper filled with cinnamon or cardamom tincture, and the Acid Test, a drink made from tequila, a mix of citrus juices and miracle berries that trick your taste buds into thinking sour things sweet to experience.

Olmstatt

olmsteadseattle.com

The Capitol Hill Bar and Olmstead Restaurant are hosting some Halloween events this year and offering special food and drinks.

On October 29th at 9 p.m. there is a Halloween comedy show featuring comics that are queer, trans, or people of color with a pet costume contest. Entry is $ 15-30, staggered.

And on October 30th from 8:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. there is a “Kink Ball” costume party and a costume competition with cash prizes.

The pine box

pineboxbar.com

Pine Box, a bar and pizzeria on Capitol Hill, shows horror films every night, open until Halloween.

On Tuesday, it is offering table reservations for pumpkin carving (with four pumpkins and all necessary tools) for $ 100.

And on October 30th, the bar is showing slasher movies for those who like gore.

bakeries

Trophy cupcakes

trophycupcakes.com

Trophy Cupcakes, which has three locations in Seattle and one in Bellevue, offers a wide variety of Halloween treats.

You can pre-order Halloween specials online for next day pickup, and many of the baked goods will be in stores during Halloween week.

For $ 55, you can buy a kit to decorate a dozen cupcakes that comes with plastic eyes, spiders, and other decorations. You can also pre-order a dozen pre-made cupcakes with ghost or monster designs for $ 64.

Other Halloween cupcakes are decorated with nets, pirates, pumpkins, and more.

Dochi

Dochicompany.com

The popular mochi donut chain Dochi, which has one location in the Chinatown International District and another in Tukwila, is offering Halloween specials until October 31st.

Options include an M & M’s encrusted trick or sour donut, a creepy eyeball with red veins around an oreo eyeball, and a chocolate donut topped with white frosting in the shape of a spider web.

Macrina Bakery

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Macrina Bakery, with four locations in Seattle, serves up some delicious spooky treats for Halloween.

The Ghost Cupcake ($ 6.25) is a chocolate cupcake with meringue and a tiny chocolate mouth and eyes. And the jack-o’-lantern shortbread biscuit ($ 5.25) is buttery and crumbly. But the star is the peanut butter chocolate mini cake ($ 6.25) topped with chocolate cobwebs: it’s decadent with layers of chocolate cake, peanut buttercream, and a thick chocolate shell like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup when it gets big .

Sweet nothing and more

sweetnothingsandmore.com

Sweet Nothings and More, one of my colleague Jackie Varriano’s favorite bakery pop-ups, will be serving Halloween specials on October 30th and 31st, held at four locations around the Seattle area.

Specialties include Snickers croissants, a banana muffin with a Heath bar, and a chocolate and strawberry cake with the face of Jack Skellington.

Jade Yamazaki Stewart:
jstewart@seattletimes.com; Jade Yamazaki Stewart is an intern with the Seattle Times. You can reach him at jstewart@seattletimes.com or on Instagram at @jade_vs_food.