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The Milton Tavern has come a long way from it’s lusty past (para-phrased from The Seattle PI, November 11, 2000 written by Gregory Roberts, restaurant critic) When Chris Guzek bought the tavern at Porter Way and Pacific Highway, in 1987, He bought a slice of Milton history. (with a checkered past) Back around 1914, there was a gas station on the corner, and eventually a grocery store was added to it. Just before Prohibition, so the story goes, the owners put a tavern in the rear of the building and ran it as a speakeasy in the ’20’s “There was some evidence for that” Chris said. “We found all these rooms in the basement and signs of an alarm system” After repeal, the bar business came above ground and by 1964, the gas station and grocery store were gone and the Milton Tavern was the whole show. It was a pool-tables-and pull-tabs joint, strictly for drinking (yellow Beer). “When I bought it, it was a pretty rundown place with a bad reputation”, “It was a biker bar, with lots of fighting & things going on.” Chris set about changing the image of the tavern. He painted the walls, cleaned the carpets & generally spruced things up. Soon, locals started dropping by and business improved. There were 2 taps originally. Rainier & Pabts Blue Ribbon. In 1987 Microbeers were coming into focus in the Pacific NW. Grants, RedHook, Hales/MossBay were some of the first Brews on Tap. So Chris put in 4 more, but with so many micro breweries popping up, soon he bumped it up to 31! (this was around 1989, also the year Nancy came on the scene) Better Beers, Better customers & real food! So we took out the pool tables & increased the seating! Food at the time was fried chicken & Jo's in a pressure Fryer. We did burgers and fries, but 4 Bacon Cheese Burgers maxed out the Broiler space, & we could only cook one pizza at a time! (the kitchen was 1/3 the size it is today) We had remodeled, brought in the nice oak barstools, the first week Chris found a cigarette burn on the seat and that was it! March 1st 1993 The Milton Tavern went NON-Smoking. “The restaurant at that time wasn’t doing very well,” Guzek said. “We decided, almost as a last-ditch effort, to go non-smoking because we were non-smokers.” At that time, there were only a couple of non-smoking taverns in the state, Guzek said. The ban attracted media coverage and support from the American Cancer Society. “We really expected to go right down the tubes,” Guzek said “but In about 10 days, we tripled our business.” The Guzeks dropped “tavern” from the name of The Milton (in 1997) when they added hard liquor to their beverage list. (as required by the WA State Liquor Board) But beer still plays a major role at the bar, with 17 brews on tap. Meanwhile, the Guzeks continue to spruce up the place. “We’re in a constant state of remodel,” Nancy Guzek said. "I'm very proud of The Milton Tavern. We've created the kind of place we'd want to hang out at!" (Clean, Safe, Friendly with Awesome Food!) “Roy Dean’s Famous French Dip” named after an old friend and former employee who "borowed the oleslaw On the French Dip" from a famous restaurant in Alaska. Milton Tavern has 31 taps, & is Non Smoking! Seattle PI, April 28, 1993 written by Vince Cottone The nonsmoking pub concept is gaining momentum, and smokeless pubs report business is booming. One of the most recent places to go smokeless is The Milton Tavern on Highway 99 in Milton. Where’s Milton, you ask? Its between Fife and Federal Way. The Milton Tavern occupies a segment of Old 99 that I consider the last unspoiled stretch of that once proud vehicular aorta. The tavern has earned a good reputation over the past couple of years among South End and Tacoma area residents. By now you’re wondering “What’s this about an unspoiled stretch’ of Highway 99? Has he gone nuts, or what?” Bear with me. If you take Exit 142 of I-5 and go west to 99, then turn south, there is a several mile section that has not changed much since the 1950s. No strip malls, minimarts or fast-food restaurants. There is the Daffodil Motel, with one of the more spectacular neon signs in the area (drive by at night for best effect.) At 7320 Pacific Highway E. is the Milton Tavern, which occupies an old house on a stoplight corner. It’s a roadhouse in the truest sense, never mind recent lame corporate attempts to “revive” the concept. But it’s also been given an attractive face lift and has the best selection of brews between Tacoma and Seattle: 31 taps, to be exact. Owner Chris Guzek prepared for the smokeless change for a long time by telling his customers it was going to happen. “My business increased almost immediately,” he says. While he’s also been doing some major upgrading inside, he believes the smokeless policy accounts for the bulk of the increase. The place has a great ambience. The fare is salads, sandwiches, burgers and pizza and prices are very reasonable. Recently, the Milton has featured all the products of a particular brewery on tap for a month. March was Redhook, April is Pyramid, May will be Bridgeport. Milton Tavern remade into sanctuary from smoke, noise. Tacoma News Tribune, August 26, 1994 Bart Ripp The bikers think they’re cool. They park their hogs in the dusty parking lot, shake off the road and strut that slow, tough walk, leathers crinkling, into the Milton Tavern. Mmmm mmmm doggy, home at last a tall animal beer, Schmidts of Philadelphia with a moose on the can, light up a Camel and soak in the old place. Haven’t been here in years. What a shock. The biker’s drop their jaws like transmission gear teeth sprinkled all over asphalt. Hey! This ain’t the Milton Tavern. Where’s the pinup taped to the wall? Where’s the pool table? Where’s the tattooed bartender with the missing teeth who hands you a lukewarm can of animal beer? Where in the name of Harley Davidson is the smoke? The Milton Tavern is lost and found in a new sensibility. It’s clean. It’s mellow. It has a green lawn and white petunias. It smells like salsa and garlic. The beer, 27 microbrews on tap plus Bud for the hardcores, are cold. You can see out the windows. And, believe it biker boys and girls, you can breath. Anybody who lights up in the Milton Tavern gets tossed out the door, don’t ask for more. The bikers’ beloved palace of paunch died seven years ago. The statute of limitations has expired. Chris Guzek, whos dad owned the fabled Drift On Inn in North Seattle, bought the Milton Tavern seven years ago and transformed it into a sanctuary where you can drink, eat and talk without the vermin lures of karaoke, smoke, jukeboxes, pool tables, television blasting motorcycle races taped three months ago in Kentucky. There are two big TVs in the Milton Tavern, but they’re only turned on for a a community event such as a Seahawks game. No foul haze surrounding a Cortez Kennedy quarterback squashing. Eighteen months ago, Guzek and his girlfriend (now wife) Nancy Nolde, who operate the Milton Tavern, bought new oak boar stools. After two days, they found cigarette burns in the stools. “We just got real sick of the smoke and the abuse” Nolde said. “On January 31, 1993, we gave away all our ashtrays to customers. The next day, we put no-smoking signs up everywhere, even in the parking lot.” Business tripled. Enough said. Nolde, who also owns The Mint Tavern in Enumclaw, and Guzeks are transforming their thumping business into a landmark to rival the sensation neon sign at the Daffodil Motel just up the road. Built in 1928 as a grocery and gas station, the Milton Tavern, by January 1st will have a paved parking lot, a microbrewery around back, and expanded beer garden and a full-service restaurant upstairs with steaks and seafood on the menu and a wine list as thick as a Harley Davidson Electraglide repair manual. I can hear the hogs spinning their wheels. There is another attraction. The tavern food is good. Just wish the menu were bigger and offered accompaniments more imaginative than potato chips. Nolde and Guzek have borrowed recipes from friends and family to conceive some of the best tavern food in Washington. Nolde met Guzek because she wanted something more resourceful than a draft beer. On St. Patrick’s Day 1989, Nolde came into the Milton Tavern, ordered an Irish coffee and was told by Guzek that green beer was as Irish as the place got. Then he asked her to breakfast. That led to a long engagement and a successful partnership at the Milton Tavern. Best item on the menu is pizza. The pizza is big, strong and yummy. The crust holds up well even after the most sever test going home in the takeout cartons. I like the liberal toppings. Try a Theresa and Valerie Ripp special of artichoke hears, olives, mushrooms and fresh tomatoes. I must get the pizza to go since Washington’s obsolete liquor laws prohibit kids from venturing into taverns. Better to eat fired junk in a fast food restaurant than a tavern pizza and salad. Chicken salad is a bounty of teriyaki chicken or an intriguing lemon pepper chicken with tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and croutons on a bed of Romaine lettuce. Even bigger are super macho nachos, enhanced with a fine pico di gallo. The menu states that the nachos are a meal for two, but I thought it would serve four. Best of the sandwiches is the barbeque beef. Tavern manager Tim Tooker perfected the spicy barbecue with steak seasoning and jalapeno juices. I also liked the BLT sandwich made with fresh to order and piled with thick slices of bacon. The Roy Dean French Dip sandwiches, is named for an old family friend. Sandwich prices may seem high, until you see these monsters. There was much to like at the Milton Tavern. The old-fashioned straw dispenser on the bar. The ancient wooden cooler, a relic of days when the place was a grocery. The neon Fresh Espresso sign. And the look on old customers’ faces when they walk into the Milton Tavern and ask, “Where’s the pool tables?” All gone. Gone for good. NORTHWEST Brewing News June/July 2006 The late, great Dr. Hunter S. Thompson once said “Good people drink good beer.” While that may always be the case, it is certainly true at the Milton Tavern (7320 Pacific Highway E, Milton) Once a dark and violent dive bar that would have left the thirstiest Hell’s Angel asking directions to the nearest Red Robin, The Milton underwent a complete transformation in 1991. The change in clientele is reflected in what’s on tap. Big mega-beer bullies now sulk in a lonely corner run out by a towering gang of might Northwest muscle brews. The Milton features 25 taps and specials from their “brewery of the month” Customers play board games at this former speakeasy (the kitchen still has a trap door in the floor_ and an occasional game of “R Rated Jenga” has been known to break out. The menu is vast. Pizzas are recommended especially with the black and blue sauce! Weekly Volcano December 21, 2006 I have oodles of respect for the owners of the Milton Tavern in the not so distant past, this establishment was straight up sketchville. It was home to scuffles, surly bikers and a cloud of smoke so thick that I felt like I could wring it out of my hair. The current owners had the courage to take on that place and all of its related issues with force. They gutted it; they started offering hearty pub grub; they threw out the crap beer, and they were one of the first well-known establishments to make the conscious effort to take care of their employees and customers by going nonsmoking well before the ban was state law. Now you’ll find the place full of light-hearted regulars, twenty-somethings on up, enjoying the Milton’s casual and comfortable ambiance, shiny, happy, servers and impeccable pizza. I’m not sure how many ways I can say it, dear Weekly Volcano readers, but here’s a shot; buy the pizza, try the pizza, love the pizza. I bet that batch of not-so-pleasant bikers who used to hang out there never would’ve seen this coming; The Milton is now family friendly! That’s a true sign of a turnaround. Kids are welcome at the Milton from 11am-9pm Saturday through Thursday and 11am to 4pm on Fridays. The Milton carries dozens of the best microbrews from the Pacific Northwest including Jolly Roger, Celebration, Ebenezar - and party pigs (beer to go) in 2.25 gallons for $30-$35 plus a $25 deposit on the pig. I used to hang out there all the time during the four years that I worked for that alleged giant forest product’s company in Federal Way. The most gregarious of the lawyers and photographers from the company were especially fun to happy hour with at the Milton. But then, I decided that the future was blowing, not growing, at the company, so I decided to leave. However, I did manage to have one of the best nights of my life there as a result of the change in employment. I had a bittersweet going away party at the Milton with 50-some people in the bar down stairs. That section is perfect for any kind of large gathering, and all you have to do is call in advance to reserve it. I’m sure you don’t typically associate the city of Milton with nightlife hot spots, but you should give her a shot. I’ll be heading back there soon as my way of thanking the owners for the wonderful job they’ve done turning this important corner of Milton around for the better. Tacoma’s Business Examiner September 3, 2007 By Hilary Maynard Though the city of Milton celebrated its centennial last month, the Milton Tavern is celebrating a birthday of its own. The historic, 1930s establishment underwent a facelift this spring to mark the tavern’s 20th year under the ownership of Chris and Nancy Guzek. “We’re working on improving the Milton little by little.” Nancy said. The bar’s street frontage has been remodeled, capturing its original 1930s charm with added windows and horizontal, old-growth cedar planks replacing the crumbling stucco. The couple hopes to add a new kitchen and bar onto the tavern, with the possibility of installing a microbrewery. Though Milton isn’t the Guzek’s hometown, they appreciate its quaint family atmosphere. The tavern offers up cold beer and hot eats to Milton-ites, yes, but Nancy said the place is home to clientele from Federal Way to south of Tacoma and beyond. “Milton’s growing a lot, but its contained,” Chris said. “Its just a small town. Its always going to be a small town. It really gives us the opportunity to stand out and not get lost in the crowd like we would in Seattle. Everyone here knows the Milton Tavern. Smoke free and catering to an all-ages clientele, Chris said that in its 20th year, he hopes to take his business back to the traditional role of a tavern only more family-friendly. “Just 30 or 40 years ago, there were something like 14,000 taverns’ in the state,” Chris said. “Now we’re down to 200. A tavern is a community-central place. We host business meetings and family events. We hope to do even more than that.” But, for now, the Guzek’s are focusing on creating a business they, and their community, can be proud of.
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