Images: Jingle Jackson

Oh winter, my toughest season. It's dark and rainy and, well, dark. You look at the clock and it says 5:30 but feels like 9:30. Time to get planning and get going so the bleak can't sink in. I have just the place to go - over the trestle from Everett to Double Barrel Wine Bar and Lounge in Snohomish. 

This place helps me smile, any season, starting with the big smile, Anna, the owner, gives you when she greets you. The only negative I can really give you on Double Barrel is that it can be a little hard to find. The inside of the location is warm and welcoming but the signage on the outside is on the demur side of signage. But here is an easy way to locate Double Barrel: its right across the street from the Cabbage Patch, a very well-known dining spot in Snohomish. 

Don't let the full name of Double Barrel Wine Bar and Lounge throw you off. While they offer a long and strong wine list of some really tasty wines, they also offer a full dinner menu. And with hours starting at 3:00 each day (except Mondays and Tuesdays when they're closed) this is a great place to seek out after a day of shopping in Snohomish for a glass of wine and some appetizers.

My group of six popped in for dinner on a very rainy Sunday evening after seeing a movie at the Galaxy Theaters in Monroe. It was fairly quiet on this evening, so Anna had a little time to talk with us. We learned that besides having Double Barrel, she and her family also own two restaurants in Livermore California which is a major wine destination these days in the Bay Area. Small world! My husband grew up there, so we started off with a robust conversation. After that we ordered bruschetta and smoked truffle tots for starters. Goodbye January blues! Both of these appetizers were full of flavor. 

Anna also took our wine order and here's something I really liked about the evening. We each ordered our wine and then ordered our dinner choices and Anna thoughtfully recommended some other wine choices based on what each of us ordered. She let both my brothers-in-law try their choice and her choice. It was clear she knew a thing or two about wine and food pairings. They both switched. I also loved that the wine choice made by two of us had come close to finishing off the bottle. "Can I over pour you?" she asked. Hello, my new favorite person. That was an easy yes. 

For dinner, the menu includes pasta, seafood, steaks, salads - basically, a wide variety of decadent choices. It was hard to choose! My sister swore by the salmon with garlic cream sauce and it was killer. I tried the baked spaghetti and meatballs special that evening (and ate it all) and one of my brothers-in-law had the Penne Luccia described as "penne covered in a rich aurora sauce with peas, mushroom and ham." Everything is made to order so takes a little bit longer than a fast foods place, but we were all thumbs-up on our choices and double thumbs-up on the salmon. 

If the appetizers and main dishes don't fill you up, Double Barrel also offers several selections for dessert including a tiramisu, chocolate decadence and a lemon mascarpone cake. Order a dessert wine and linger. On Tuesday nights you can even linger while listening to piano music from 5:30 to 7:30 making a great place even better. 

Get planning an evening out! Put Double Barrel on your chase-away-the-winter-blues list and for all the other seasons too. It is sure to become one of your new favorites.

We live lucky my friends! - Jingle

Double Barrel Wine Bar & Lounge
108 Avenue A Snohomish, WA
360-804-0066

Jingle Jackson grew up in Everett, attended WSU (go Cougs!) and worked a great career at Snohomish PUD. Now, she is working on the pursuit of new adventures and fun wherever she can find it.