What’s in a name? Well, find out at Drunky’s in Frelard

Originally published August 12, 2015 at 5:17 pm

Come for the drinks, stay for the delicious barbecue.

By Tan Vinh

Seattle Times staff reporter

No one gets the glory of rib tips and burnt bits more than Drunky’s Two Shoe BBQ, where such odds and ends from the smoker are not discarded or relegated to doggy bags but savored as bar bites.

Those ends of spare ribs? They had more caramelized fat than meat. Spread that melted fat on bread, and it’s like bone marrow on toast.

Burnt edge of the briskets? Just charred nuggets to dip and dip again in its hot “Doom Sauce” and wash down with a PBR.

Drunky’s specializes in east Texas barbecue, but the omnivorous joy of the joint is sitting in its courtyard and nibbling on $5 happy-hour plates of meat that would never leave the kitchen at other restaurants.

Drunky’s is better for it.

Located on a wedge of real estate between Leary Way and the ship canal, Drunky’s is the oddest of honky-tonks, from its name to its décor. (Then again these are the same owners who christened their other bar, in Fremont, “9 Million in Unmarked Bills.”)

Dangling overhead are a canoe and the grille from an old Dodge in its rusting rictus. On summer nights, the crowd gravitates toward the open-air patio with a petting zoo.

“Maybe they’re going for that backwoods, chicken-shack chic,” my buddy said.

Our mood turned south when our server announced there were no more burnt ends left. If the poor man’s barbecue is not your thing, there’s always $5 hot links and chicken wings on the happy-hour menu. Or order from the barbecue dinner menu.

On this sweltering afternoon, the server delivered $5 frozen mai tais and palomas with the warning, “they’re pretty strong.”

Few patio patrons heeded her public-service announcement, downing $5 slushies like water and ordering more rounds.

Just then, a guy came out of a door marked “do not enter” and dumped a bucket of greens into a pen for the two goats.

“Those goats, are they dinner in the future?” I asked.

Our server looked incredulous. “No. They’ve got names.”

Dinner is a name, but whatever.

Drunky’s Two Shoe BBQ offers happy hour 4-6 p.m. Wednesday-Friday with $2-$5 bar snacks, $2-$4 beers, $4-$5 cocktails and slushies. Drunky’s will start opening on Mondays and Tuesdays by early September.

4105 Leary Way N.W. (206-693-3962 or drunkytwoshoesbbq.com

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com. On Twitter @tanvinhseattle