True to its name, The Bohemian in West Seattle sits a bit left of center. Situated on a quiet section of street about a mile off the main drag of California Avenue S.W., it's just far enough away from the fray that residents in the immediate vicinity feel like they have something special to call their own.

Ambitiously aiming to be all things to all people, The Bohemian is a coffee house by day, bar and restaurant by night, live music venue, art gallery and a brunch spot for the lazy days in between. And judging from the comfortable and contented crowd filling the Deco-adorned space nightly since its mid-September opening, it seems like it has always belonged there. Someone just needed to build it.

That someone is Jason Todd Rice, a former caterer and private chef who talked his family into helping him open his own restaurant. While Rice holds down the kitchen, turning out "eclectic, globally influenced fare" from "bohemian cultures around the world," his brother Eirik mans the bar occupying the back, pouring a wide variety of vintage cocktails, specialty libations, craft beers and drinkable, affordable, $4-$6 glasses of wine. The owner and resident charmer is Rice's mother, Terri Ross, who mills about, chatting with guests, highlighting that this is indeed a family affair.

In the morning, sit and sip French-press coffee and linger over your laptop (free WiFi, of course) to the sounds of vintage jazz. From 4 to 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight are four very happy hours, with $3 glasses of wine and $4 glasses of a house-made sangria that bursts with fruit and cloves. Classic martinis, Sazaracs and Manhattans are just $6, or go a little nuts with specialties like the Martini de Sade: Grey Goose vodka, chartreuse and muddled lime ($10).

Happy hour bar bites include the Baña Calda, slow braised garlic cloves with extra virgin olive oil and choice of Spanish white anchovy or sun-dried tomatoes ($6); or a duo of tapenades, one classic and another with grilled fennel, white bean and lavender ($8).

The dinner menu adds the Cast Iron Misty Isle Meatballs, a choice of pomegranate molasses barbecue or braised garlic, fresh herbs and black truffle oil (8 pieces for $6 or 10 for $8); plus salads and a straightforward trio of entrees.

The Carnivore features a grilled petite beef tenderloin on a ragut of baby potatoes, sweet corn, smoked bacon, wild mushrooms and asparagus ($22). In the Pescivore you'll find pan-seared sea scallops on an herb risotto of heirloom faro grains with baby spinach, shaved dry cheeses and white truffle oil ($18). Vegetarians get the Herbivore, of course, a white bean and root vegetable cassoulet with a salad of endive, grapes and hazelnuts in honey sherry vinaigrette ($16).

Cheesivores might want to make the trip for The Bohemian's signature Cast Iron Raclette, aged raclette and gruyere melted in the broiler over various combinations of savories like pan-seared mushrooms, bacon, butternut squash and sweet corn ($10 for a small, $18 for large). 

It may be a little off the beaten path, but that's the way the bohos like it. 

What's on your table? E-mail cellerd@gmail.com.

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