Nosh Pit

Restaurant Shifts and Shakeups

This week: Regent Bakery and Café opens in Capitol Hill, West Seattle loses Avalon, and Branzino’s new chef has big plans.

Posted by: Anne Larkin on Feb 10, 2012 at 11:00AM 0 Comments

Brightly colored pastries keep company with savory hot pots at the new Capitol Hill Regent Bakery and Cafe. Photo courtesy of their website.

OPENINGS

Pomegranate Bistro
The sunny Redmond restaurant is adding a bar—Pombar —on Thursday, February 16. The Bistro website says that to celebrate the opening, happy hour will go on all night, from 3:30 till the bar closes at 10.

Ben and Jerry’s
The Greenlake ice cream shop re-opened Thursday after getting new owners and a remodel, says My Green Lake. Now we just need another sunny ice cream-worthy weekend.

Regent Bakery and Café
The new Pine Street outpost of the famed Redmond bakery opened Wednesday on the corner of 14th and Pine, reports Capitol Hill Seattle. The shop does, of course, have pretty Japanese-meets-French pastries, but to our happy surprise, also a full-on savory Chinese lunch and dinner menu with items like hot pots and fried rice. And booze! The new restaurant plans to capitalize on the neighborhoods nightlife, with hours from 11 to midnight and a full bar.

The Amber Den
After a softly-open first week, the laid-back Ballard spot is now officially open. Eater Seattle’s got photos, and it’s the sunniest wine bar we’ve ever seen.

Paseo
Fremont Universe brings the good news that Paseo reopens today, after a long, Cuban sandwich-less winter break.

COMING SOON

Hot Cakes
For the past 4 years, former Theo chocolatier Autumn Martin has been providing Seattle with decadent treats, first in the form of chocolatey bake-at-home jarred cakes, more recently with cookies, hand pies, and sauces. She’s been selling at farmers’ markets and in a few retail locations, but Rebekah Denn of the The Seattle Times says that Martin just signed a lease for her very own space on (where else) Ballard Ave and has plans to open in May.

Five Hooks Fish Grill
Recently shuttered Tenoch Mexican Grill atop Queen Anne will soon be replaced by a “renewable seafood” restaurant, according to Eater Seattle.

CLOSINGS

Big news. Le Gourmand and Sambar
Bruce and Sarah Naftaly are are closing down their seminal Ballard restaurant and companion cocktail spot in June, after 27 wonderful years. Cookbooks, baking, and family time will replace the bustle of kitchen life for the Naftalys. More here.

Avalon
After just over a year, this fine-dining option in West Seattle is closing its doors. Owners told the West Seattle Herald that the rent was too high, the location was far from ideal, and that maybe there’s only room for one fancy restaurant in West Seattle. Or maybe not.

663 Bistro
One of Tom Douglas (and our) favorite I.D. BBQ spots was temporarily shut down by the Health Department, says The Stranger. …We did say “dodgy.”

SHIFT CHANGES

Branzino
After hopping around from Verve to Oddfellows to Terra Plata, Chef Garrett Michael Brown seems to have finally settled at Branzino, where he’s planning to revamp the menu and revivify the restaurant.

RN74
A new chef and perhaps some big menu changes for Michael Mina’s Downtown French restaurant. Seis Kamimura of Spago and Boka (among others) is taking the helm, and though he was trained at the French Culinary Institute, expect “bold interpretations” of the classics.

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Tags: Seattle Restaurant Openings, Shift Change, Pomegranate Bistro, Ice Cream, Sambar, Le Gourmand, Seattle Restaurant Closings, Bar Openings, Bar Openings, Closings, Branzino

First Look: Bitterroot BBQ

It must be said: Ballard’s newest spot puts the “bar” in “barbecue.”

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Jan 17, 2012 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

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The latest arrival in the current parade of new Ballard Avenue destinations is Bitterroot BBQ, which opens Wednesday, January 18 at 11am, regardless of how much snow might be on the ground. Seattle has barbecue joints, sure, but Bitterroot is a more stylized version, complete with walls of chevron-patterned salvaged barn wood, artfully piled logs, and a fearsome list of whiskeys and bourbon, all hailing from the United States.

But just because the small 30-seat dining room isn’t a grotty, greasy, rickety table sort of place doesn’t mean that owner Grant Carter isn’t serious about his barbecue. He and wife Hannah (who runs the front of house) invested in a custom-built smoker from Missouri company Ole Hickory Pits. Patrons can sauce the dry-rubbed meat themselves using the four sauces planned (mustard, vinegar, ancho chile and classic) for each table.

My favorite thing about this space: Beyond the all-ages front dining room is a hallway that leads to a 21-and-over bar with an additional 30 seats. The green-tiled room has a totally different vibe from the front, and even its own back entrance. You can still get the full menu, and there’s a TV on the wall that will likely see lots of sporting action, but gets covered with a tasteful black screen so it’s fairly invisible most of the time.

My second favorite thing about this place: There’s a barber pole outside that contains a spinning pig! And a red light that gives this little fellow the appearance of rotating on a spit. Hannah Carter said the couple restored the old pole that hung outside the building from its long ago days as a barber shop. By a most fortunate coincidence, her mother happened to possess a rubber pig that fit perfectly inside.

Bitterroot’s menu is straight up American barbecue, including smoked pork belly, baby back ribs, or pulled pork sandwiches, made on custom pretzel buns from nearby Tall Grass Bakery. The back bar will stay open until 2am; Hannah Carter promises they will never close early, and the kitchen will serve food until about 1am. Check out the slideshow for more shots of the space.

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Tags: Seattle Restaurant Openings, Bar Openings, Bitterroot BBQ, First Look, Grant Carter, Hannah Carter

More Details on Bitterroot BBQ, Opening in Early December

Barbecue, bourbon, and beer coming to Ballard…and will be available until the wee hours.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Nov 21, 2011 at 02:30PM 3 Comments

The very early stages of Bitterroot, opening in the former Acme Rubber Stamp Company address on Ballard Ave NW. Photo via Facebook.

Ballard, ready yourself for a new barbecue restaurant. One with lots of sauce of both the literal and boozy variety. Owners Grant and Hannah Carter say Bitterroot BBQ will open the first week of December at 5239 Ballard Ave NW. Grant Carter will serve as pit master while Hannah will manage front-of-house matters. The couple met at college in Montana, and have cooked in and managed restaurants in Chicago and LA. Their establishment’s name comes from Montana’s Bitterroot River, where the couple used to fly fish.

Bitterroot’s barbecue is a classic affair; the menu includes ribs, brisket, a whole-smoked chicken and pulled pork. Rather than commit to one regional variation of this meaty art, the meat will be dry rubbed, says Hannah Carter. “There’s no sauce applied ‘til it’s on the table.” The table, thankfully, will be stocked with four different sauces: a sweeter, classic style; a spicy version with an ancho chile base; a vinegar sauce; and a mustard sauce. Let’s make things even more exciting: sandwiches will be served on pretzel buns, custom made for Bitterroot at nearby Tall Grass Bakery.

Back in July, Seattle Weekly food critic and barbecue enthusiast Hanna Raskin wrote that Carter will use apple wood, as well as some alder wood in the pit. The smoker, says Hannah Carter, is “a big, beautiful thing” custom-built by Ole Hickory Pits in Missouri. Should a giant plate of sauce-slathered meat not be enough for you, the menu of seasonal sides includes braised greens, glazed carrots, baked beans or a cornbread casserole.

And then there’s the bar. The focus, says Hannah Carter is U.S.-made “beer and browns,” meaning whiskeys, bourbons, and a whiskey-based cocktail list. There’s a full bar as well, and fresh brewed iced tea and sweet tea. All of these fine foods and beverages can be yours day or night; Bitterroot will be open for lunch every day, and serve food until 1am. Keep an eye on the restaurant’s Facebook page for updates. Those targeted opening dates can be nebulous suckers.

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Tags: Seattle Restaurant Openings, Bar Openings, Bitterroot BBQ

Varro, an All-Day Italian Bar, Opens in October (Maybe November) on Capitol Hill

You likah the Italian restaurant? Bene, here’s another one.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Aug 20, 2010 at 12:18PM 2 Comments

Stylish mid-century Italy, immortalized in the 1960 movie La Dolce Vita, is the inspiration for Varro. The bar/cafe opens this October on Capitol Hill.

I had a chat the other day with Richard Troiani, one of the partners in Varro, the 1,600 square-foot Italian bar opening this fall in the Packard Building at the corner of 12th and Pine.

One of the questions I had for him was: Aren’t there already a lot of Italian restaurants on Capitol Hill?

Yes, agreed Troiani, who closed his eponymous downtown eatery last September. But his new spot distinguishes itself from Spinasse, Anchovies and Olives, Osteria La Spiga, and Tidbit Bistro (to name just a few) in three ways:

1. Concept: Varro is modeled after Troiani’s favorite way to eat in Italy: At casual bars—he compares them to Spain’s tapas bars—that are open all day and into the night. He says such places are always full of neighborhood people who pop in for an espresso in the morning (Varro will serve Lavazza coffees) and come back later for some lunch, and then again in the evening for a beer and a snack. You can stop by for cocktails or eat a full dinner. “It’s all good,” if you will.

From a conceptual standpoint, then, Varro resembles Oddfellows more than it does Spinasse. It’s just the food is Italian.

2. Decor: In contrast to all the sparsely appointed restaurants popping up around the town, Varro will be an elaborately decorated affair with lots of color and a collage of images from 1950s-60s Italy—that highly stylized, highly decadent era immortalized in the movie La Dolce Vita.

3. Price: Troiani has a Class-two commercial hood system in the kitchen. The upshot of this is that he’s making most of the food in a 1,100-degree wood-burning pizza oven. Look for rustically (and, given that oven, quickly) prepared proteins like chicken paillard and roasted prawns with peppers. His menu will include five or six pastas and a Calabrese sausage and peppers sandwich.

Varro’s dinner menu prices top out at $17.

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Tags: New Seattle Restaurants, Seattle Restaurant Openings, Capitol Hill, Bar Openings, Italian Food