Rock ’n’ roll bar with Filipino food from acclaimed chef opening on Tacoma’s 6th Ave

A new rock ’n’ roll-themed bar on Sixth Avenue pays homage to Tacoma as a haven of ‘60s-era punk while also serving up Filipino comfort food from an acclaimed Seattle chef.

Busy Body!, so named after The Sonics’ 1964 performance at The Red Carpet on South Tacoma Way (still a venue but now The Plaid Pig), opens soon at 2717 6th Ave. It replaces El Borracho, which closed in 2022 less than a year after reopening with a fully plant-based menu.

Behind the new bar are four names with ties to the music scene in Tacoma and Seattle: Dave Flatman and Chris Jones have operated Screwdriver Bar in Belltown since 2017, a basement bar with rock legends on the wall and regular dance nights with DJ Maxwell Edison, who has joined the Tacoma venture along with Nathan Chambers, program director at ALMA.

Chef Melissa Miranda, owner of the celebrated Musang in Beacon Hill — the restaurant was named the best newcomer by Seattle Met in 2020, she was honored by Food & Wine as one of the nation’s best new chefs last year and was a 2023 James Beard Awards semifinalist — will bring her pop-up concept, Musangtino’s, to the kitchen.

“We found this space, and she was the first person we reached out to,” said Flatman, who met Miranda in 2007. They often swapped ideas of pursuing a joint project.

Incidentally, she ran her first pop-up event with Musangtino’s partner Jeff Santos, an old family friend, at Flatman’s Belltown bar. The menu circles around the “food they loved eating as kids,” he said, including Jollibee-esque Bomb Burgers with pickled zucchini and “magic mayo,” Spaghetti Mang with banana ketchup and pork served poutine-style, lumpia and tamarind-dusted fries (most dishes $6-$12). Chef Jørgen Larson, previously of Poquitos, 3uilt and Taylor Shellfish, among others, will manage the day-to-day kitchen operations.

“The menu is specifically intended to complement the bar’s delightfully raucous rock ’n’ roll spirit,” according to the group.

“It’s a coup to get that food every day,” added Jones. He describes the overall aesthetic and experience as “awesome, comfortable, approachable.”

The bar will lean into that edge, with bottles of Filipino beer and, on tap, local brews and Heidelberg ($5-$7). The draft system will also pour wine and cocktails ($13), the latter “loosely inspired” by the classics but in a way that complements the food. Frozen cocktail slushies will highlight Southeast Asian ingredients, too, as in the Wildcat with ube, coconut, pandan and pineapple. Some of the drink names harken to the building’s roots: It was once home to a pharmacy called Sun Drug owned by a man named Fred C. Diamond, whose namesake here recalls a Fanciulli Manhattan (Fernet Branca, bourbon and Brovo Spirits Tacoma Punk, a blend of curacao and amaro produced in Woodinville).

‘Reverence for the 1960s cultural explosion’

Connecting those threads of history to the present-day was important for the Busy Body! team.

“It’s this triangle of music culture,” said Chambers, who was the talent buyer for Seattle’s Chop Suey for 10 years and has been with ALMA for six. “It just made sense to be near Jazzbones and Hi-Voltage.”

Tacoma has deep ties to the music industry, they explained. The Sonics not only put Tacoma on the airwaves in the early 1960s with their unique brand of punk rock, but they inspired musicians ranging from The Ramones to Kurt Cobain and LCD Soundsystem. A 2018 documentary called them “one of the greatest American rock bands you’ve probably never heard of.”

As Edison put it, the band had this “kind of legendary” sound that perhaps became more famous in the hands of The Stooges, who also got their start in a mid-sized city (Ann Arbor, Michigan). Tacoma’s own Etiquette Records put out The Sonics’ work; incidentally, the studio was also located on Sixth Avenue, in the building where Da Tiki Hut is today.

Actual 45s from The Sonics and other Tacoma names of the era including The Ventures and The Wailers (The Fabulous Wailers, that is) have been preserved under resin on the glittery-green U-shaped bar. Their bright red and electric violet labels inspired the wavy colors on the walls.

To that end, Busy Body! will be as much a bar with great food, to be enjoyed at custom wooden booths or a few high-top tables, as it is a place to truly boogie.

In addition to regular vinyl nights led by Edison and a host of DJs from the area and around the world, all with a penchant for the punk-rock era, expect the occasional appearance of BOOTS!, Edison’s beloved go-go dance party, and Emerald City Soul Club, which recently said goodbye to its longtime home as LoFi Performance Gallery closed after more than 20 years.

Together, the four friends see Busy Body! as a place that will preserve a specific moment in Tacoma’s history while acting as a “beacon” for the people looking to shake up today’s local music scene.

“Local bands can be big in Tacoma — they have to be a little encouraged to stay in this community,” said Chambers, pointing to venues like The New Frontier Lounge and the work of Airport Tavern co-owner Dan Rankin, whose Reggae on the Way brings thousands to Tacoma for an outdoor festival every summer. “We need places where all those people interact.”

BUSY BODY!

▪ 2717 6th Ave., Tacoma, instagram.com/busybody_tacoma

▪ Daily 4 p.m.-2 a.m.

▪ Details: rock ’n’ roll bar with frequent DJs and Filipino-inspired bar food from Musangtino’s (instagram.com/musangtinos); opening July 14

This story was originally published July 6, 2023 at 5:15 AM.