From Benson Hill resident Kari Kopnick:

It’s been a long week. Somehow, I’m not sure how this happened exactly, but somehow, it’s almost Christmas. Again. And somehow, again, I’m not done with my Christmas shopping. For anyone. Even the dog.

So my dear husband and I decided to take a break from the shopping and budget and deciphering of our sons’ Christmas lists and go out for a quick pint of beer here in our local town. Now, Downtown Renton has a lot of great little spots to grab a quick pint. I love The Whistle Stop and always try to lure anyone who wants to meet for a lunch meeting to come and split sweet potato fries with me there.

The Dog and Pony is great, with a fantastic list of local beers that is always changing. And Giant’s Causeway is a treat, especially if you catch the live music.

But if you’re out looking for a place to grab a quick date on a Sunday night, those aren’t even an option. All closed. It’s quiet on Sunday nights here in our town, the Piazza is all lit up, the transit center looks active. But there aren’t a lot of our eateries and pubs open.

So my husband and I wound up in one of the hang outs in town we like best: La Hacienda. Once last fall we even stopped in to celebrate our friend’s new tattoo from Diamond Lil’s. It was full blast– fun, great service and fantastic food. So we hit La Hacienda at, oh about 8 on Sunday night.

The place was pretty empty, just a few folks hanging out at the bar and a few couples eating and chatting, good music on the jukebox, and a nice waiter. Gustavo took our whining for a dark beer seriously and told us about Negro Modelo, a Mexican beer which turned out to be good—smooth and not too heavy but with a good bite to it. We even split a second one. I think Gustavo was just showing off but he brought us new chilled glasses and I swear to the Christmas elves he split the bottle of beer perfectly between the glasses, must have been down to the drop. He kept us stocked up on the amazing pico de gallo and salsa, and brought our check fast so we could get home and back to stressing out about our how soon Christmas is coming.

Suppose once we get annexed we’ll have nice spots to eat over on Benson Hill? I mean, I love the new Pho World by Fred Meyer, but it’s just not the same as heading to a downtown. Even our little downtown. I love it. Hey, maybe I should head there during the day well, you know, for some Christmas shopping. Maybe someone will even meet me for some of those sweet potato fries when I’m done!

Kari Kopnick

(see Kari’s other entries by clicking the tag below)