Inside RN74 Seattle
After months of building anticipation, celeb chef Michael Mina’s restaurant and wine bar is slated to open June 13.
Posted by: Christopher Werner on Jun 10, 2011 at 12:47PM
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RN74 Seattle is the nineteenth restaurant of the Michael Mina group.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Each table is engraved with its own code number based on its position in the restaurant.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Polished as it is, RN74 is meant to cater to casual crowds as well as downtown types.
View Slideshow » Illustration:The dining room will seat about 55. Unlike at most restaurants, the wine informs the food rather than vice versa. In that March interview, Mina talked of adjusting acidity in dishes to harmonize with the vintages. “I’m totally into the whole idea of balance.”
View Slideshow » Illustration:The menu is made up of Mina-modernized Franco-American classics and shareable plates—five snacks for under $5, 10 consumables under $10, another 10 less than $20—all of which go down best with a pour.
View Slideshow » Illustration:The bar accounts for a majority of the restaurant’s real estate.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Certain design cues are borrowed from the SOMA-set original, like the real-time train station sign that tracks wine sales.
View Slideshow » Illustration: View Slideshow » Illustration:Industrial chic is the theme here. The bar’s seating area is festooned with strands of worn fixtures.
View Slideshow » Illustration:By now you’re probably versed in the details of RN74 —how it’s an offshoot of the San Francisco original, the ambitious food and wine program, the is-he-or-isn’t-he-tending-here drama surrounding Murray Stenson.
Now it’s time to take a look inside.
Back in March when Mina was in Seattle for Taste Washington, I asked him why he decided on downtown after eying the city for nearly a decade. “There was a lot of consideration, but the building itself was the real selling point to us. RN74 just really fits that Joshua Building,” Mina, an Ellensburg native, said of the historic property on Fourth and Pike. "Once you fall in love with a space, it’s really hard to find another one. It’s like buying a house. Once you’re in love with that house, it’s really hard to like anything else.”
To see what it was that had Mina so smitten, click through the slideshow.
Tags: Celebrity Chefs, Seattle Restaurant Openings, Downtown Seattle Restaurants
Does anyone else feel like they’re inside a Los Angeles bar at RN74? Not that I’m complaining—it just feels so starkly un-Seattle I caught myself looking for celebrities.