Nosh Pit

Restaurant Shifts and Shakeups

This week: the third Thai Curry Simple opens, Beecher’s is expanding to Sea-Tac, Where Ya At Matt finds a home in Fremont, and more.

Posted by: Anne Larkin on Mar 09, 2012 at 11:00AM 0 Comments

Our own Caffe Vita has just opened a NYC outpost. Photo via Facebook.

OPENINGS

RoRo BBQ and Grill
The BBQ and burger joint in the location that was Zesto’s for decades opened Monday, reports My Ballard. No fancy comfort food here, just no-frills comfort: pulled pork, brisket, beans, and cornbread.

Fiddlehead Fine Foods and Café
A sweet new lunch spot has opened in West Seattle and has plans for breakfast soon. West Seattle Blog has photos of the sunny space and the cute mason jar chocolate caramel pudding cups.

Thai Curry Simple
The popular Thai restaurant’s third location in South Lake Union opened Monday, March 5, with an extremely busy ran-out-of-food day, according to Facebook.

Caffe Vita
One of Seattle’s mainstay coffee destinations has staked its claim in the big city. The New York Times reports that the outpost opened Monday on the Lower East Side, joining Stumptown as a representative for West Coast coffee on the Eastern seaboard.

CLOSINGS

Trattoria Cioppino
My Green Lake says that Trattoria Cioppino has shuttered after just nine months of serving, but it’ll soon be replaced by a second Seattle location for Portland-based Mio Sushi.

Grubwich
Broadway’s unfortunately named late-night sandwich joint has closed, reports Capitol Hill Seattle blog.

NAME CHANGES

The Burgundian
Due to legal complications with a Chicago restaurant of the same name, what was The Publican is now The Burgundian. But that’s all that’s changed; the not-messing-around beer program and hearty menu remain the same.

COMING SOON

Where Ya At Matt
Building on his Creole food truck’s success, Matthew Lewis is opening a sit-down restaurant Fremont Ave, called Roux. There’ll be beignets all day and a “sexy” dinner service that will surely include nighttime takes on truck favorites.

D’Ambrosia Gelato
Capitol Hill Seattle blog says that the second location of the Ballard gelateria will open its doors in a couple of weeks, with double the flavors of the original shop.

Top Pot
Bellevue Square is getting its very own Top Pot shop in May.

San Fernando Roasted Chicken
Peruvian rotisserie chicken is coming to White Center in April. The menu will be much the same as at the other two locations, with cumin-garlicky pollo a la brasa as the centerpiece.

Beecher’s
Layovers just got a lot better: Beecher’s is opening a Sea-Tac location. There’ll be mac and cheese (of course), as well as paninis, stratas, and a bit of charcuterie. And a mini Caffe Vita.

C.S. Finnegan’s
A new Belltown bar is coming, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. The bar, housed in a former 1900’s grocery store, might softly open next week, but if not there’s a very grand grand opening for St. P’s.

Juice Box
The culinary couple that put on a series of underground dinners in 2010 is at it again, this time with juice. They’ll be selling fresh, seasonal juices at the Broadway Farmers Market (and maybe the Queen Anne market too.)

Po Dog
The all ho dogs, all the time restaurant will be opening its third location in Ballard in just a week or so, says My Ballard.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Seattle Restaurant Openings, Thai Curry Simple, Beecher's, Where Ya At Matt, Sea-Tac, The Publican, Grand Opening, Seattle Restaurant Closings, Bar Openings, Top Pot, White Center, Closings, Juice Box

Restaurant Shifts and Shakeups

Even more Ballard openings, drama at Ba Bar, juice bars take over Seattle, and more.

Posted by: Anne Larkin on Mar 02, 2012 at 10:30AM 0 Comments

The Capitol Hill Molly Moon’s will gain a Wonka-esque windowed kitchen this summer. Photo courtesy of CHS.

OPENINGS

Café Suisse
Real-deal Swiss hot chocolate is available now on Westlake Avenue.

La Lot
The Vietnamese restaurant opened Wednesday on the ground floor of the Aspira building on Stewart Street, says The Stranger. The restaurant is the newest, slickest project from Cynthia Hoang, the owner of a couple pho restaurants around town.

Alki Juice and Java
A new juice-smoothie-coffee bar is up and running in West Seattle, right across from what will become a Marination outpost come summer, says West Seattle Blog.

Persepolis Grill
Eater Seattle reports that a new Persian restaurant has opened up in The U District, in what used to be…a Persian restaurant.

CLOSINGS

Kabab House
Greenwood’s Kabab House is closing down this Sunday, according to Phinneywood.

SHIFT CHANGES

Ba Bar
Don’t bother with Tivo-ing soap operas—just drop by Ba Bar on a Sunday night. For the second time since the restaurant opened last summer, the bar manager is out, this time as a result of a dinnertime confrontation. Hanna Raskin has the whole tale on Voracious.

Local 360
Mike Robertshaw was cut from the Local 360 team over the weekend. The firing came as a surprise for Robertshaw, but, silver lining: it’s giving him a chance to join forces with a friend for an upcoming restaurant project.

COMING SOON

Molly Moon’s
Last week, word came out that Molly Moon’s would be expanding into the recently vacated space right next door to the Pine Street shop, but questions about what would go into the space were answered with a Willy Wonka riddle. Now we know what’s up: come summer it will become a kitchen on display that Wonka himself would admire.

Hallava Falafel
Georgetown food truck Hallava Falafel is adding on a mobile counterpart soon, with a few new menu items and a much larger roaming area—Ballard, Capitol Hill, and South Lake Union will all soon have the yellow truck on their streets.

The Gerald
Surprise, surprise: something is opening in Ballard. Seattle guys Kevin Rothrock and Elliot Westwater are opening The Gerald later in March on Ballard Ave, offering gussied-up comfort food and classic cocktails.

Skillet
Josh Henderson will be expanding Skillet into the newly revamped Seattle Center House later this summer. The space is not exactly a diner, not exactly a food cart, but something in-between: a grab-and-go counter slinging Skillet favorites.

Marination
After some fuss, Marination’s second brick-and-mortar is slated to open by July, says West Seattle Blog. Marination was given the concessionaire contract that had long been held by Alki Crab and Fish, but it seems that things have settled down out west and Marination will be excitedly welcomed into the community.

The Neighbor Lady
A new mostly vegetarian bar will be opening at 3rd and Union soon, brought to the Central District by the same people behind The Twilight Exit, just a few blocks away, says CDN.

Xplosive
Cody Bay of Seattle Magazine reports that there’s another new food truck comin’ right up: this time a Vietnamese-Filipino hybrid.

Naos
Fremont Universe reports that the neighborhood is getting a juice bar in the old Cool Whirled space. Naos is planned to open mid-March and serve not just juice and smoothies but coffee, beer, and wine as well, under the motto Community, Sustainability, Funk.

Seattle Coffee Works
The coffee shop is opening an outpost in Ballard on the corner of 22nd and Market Street, planned to open March 24th, says the Ballard News Tribune.

RollinQ
So much to look forward to. Another food truck, coming soon. This one a southern barbeque truck, complete with custom mobile smoker.

Add a Comment »

Tags: New Seattle Restaurants, Marination Mobile, Shift Change, Seattle Food Trucks, Molly Moon's, Grand Opening, Coming Soon, Seattle Restaurant Closings, Ballard, Closings, Seattle Restaurant Openings, Local 360

Dine Amongst the Orchids at Emerald City

A formidable flower shop makes space for a new cafe.

Posted by: Emily Dhatt on Nov 30, 2011 at 09:00AM 0 Comments

Inside Emerald City Orchids. Photo courtesy Joe Grienauer.

Emerald City Orchids, a sweet specialty flower shop in a cottage-esque space in Ballard, is set to open a lunch and espresso cafe in mid-December.

The shop, which annually offers over 500 different varieties of orchid from every habitable continent in the world, has been a haven for orchid enthusiasts since it opened its doors in the summer of 2008. With the addition of the cafe, owner Joe Grienauer hopes to reach out to the floral laypeople who love to visit the shop and ogle its orchid-lined walls, but need a reason to stay and hang out.

In Seattle, explains Grienauer, coffee is always an acceptable reason.

The cafe will be serving drip and espresso from Fremont Coffee Company, sustainable sandwiches and salads from Molly’s Salads, sweets from Hiroki, and loose-leaf teas.

The official opening date is yet to be determined, but there will be an open house on Saturday, December 10 from 3–6 for curious early birds. Refreshments will be served, and Grienauer promises Emerald City will pull out all the stops when it comes to the orchids. Stop by to get a glimpse of the shop’s rare gems and soak up the skylight-brightened tropical vibes under Seattle’s cold gray skies.

Add a Comment »

Tags: floral, Coffee Buzz, Coffee, Grand Opening

Mt. Townsend Creamery Settles In at Pike Place Market

Get your local cheese fix daily at the creamery’s new stand.

Posted by: Emily Dhatt on Nov 28, 2011 at 02:00PM 3 Comments

Allyson Taylor mans the new Mt. Townsend stand in Pike Place. Photo via Facebook.

You may already know the brand from grocery stores and farmer’s markets, but be advised that Mt. Townsend Creamery has expanded its cheesy outfit, arriving in Pike Place Market, as we prophesied back in September. Now you can—and should—find Mt. Townsend’s whole catalog of ten cheeses in a tiny glass case near Rachel the Pig.

This prime real estate certainly doesn’t hurt the stand’s already-booming business, but it’s not all that draws in customers. (And draw in customers they do—when I visited, there was a small crowd mobbing around the counter.) The Port Townsend-based creamery sources additive-free, non-GMO milk from Sequim dairy Smith Brothers [not this Smith Brothers farm in Kent as we stated earlier], and even donates the whey workers separate from their curds to local farmers to repurpose as pig food.

The creamery’s most famous cheese, Seastack, is a briny, soft-ripened number. As it happens, Seastack is what brought us Allyson Taylor, cheese connoisseur and manager of the Pike Place location. “I was living on the East Coast at the time, and I tried some of the Seastack. It was perfect—so Pacific Northwest.” Two months later, she was in Seattle.

Allyson has been with the company for three months, making and promoting cheese in the flagship location until she set up shop in Seattle two weeks ago. Before that, she slung cheese at Savour Specialty Foods in Ballard.

There’s an obvious comparison to draw between Mt. Townsend and longtime Pike Place stalwart Beecher’s, but Allyson insists that the two shops are uncompetitive and even work as partners. “They sell our cheese,” she says. “We’re two completely different kinds of creameries. They make cheddars; we don’t. We send people over to them all the time, and they send people to us.”

You can find a few Mt. Townsend products at Whole Foods, but you’ll have to visit the Pike Place outlet to get your hands on some of their more obscure cheeses, including Trufflestack, a black truffle and salt-infused version of the classic Seastack, and rich, buttery jack New Moon. Not that you’d want to avoid the shop, anyway—its sample-laden counter and knowledgeable, passionate staff are big pluses.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Cheese, Pike Place Market, Food News, Grand Opening

Taylor Shellfish Store Opens in Capitol Hill’s Melrose Market

…and is offering an oyster special to celebrate.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jul 01, 2011 at 12:22PM 2 Comments

Oysters on the Hill: Taylor Shellfish is now open in the Melrose Market.

Just in time time for the Fourth of July, Taylor Shellfish Farm’s Melrose Market store on Capitol Hill is now open at 1521 Melrose Avenue. The opening special is $9.99 for a dozen oysters.

Located next to the Sonic Boom space (the record store will close on September 5), the bivalve boutique will be open seven days a week from 10am to 7pm and will sell oysters, clams, mussels, geoduck, and scallops.

Taylor is planning a grand opening party on July 21.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Capitol Hill, Grand Opening

Local 360 Mercantile To Open Tuesday, June 21

The supply store will stock meat, produce, dry goods, beer and wine—all from around these parts.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jun 14, 2011 at 02:07PM 0 Comments

Photo: Lucas Anderson

Local 360 Mercantile, photographed back in February

Belltown: If you’re tired of shlepping it to the SLU Whole Foods to pick up your Washington-made, all-natural whatnot, this should come as welcome news.

The mercantile from Marcus Charles, the man behind Local 360 restaurant, will be open for business beginning Tuesday, June 21.

Like the restaurant—which opened in the former Flying Fish space last winter—the retail operation will focus on sourcing local products. Those will include meats, produce from Full Circle in Carnation, custom condiments (pickles, dressings, ketchup, mayo), dairy products from Twin Brook Creamery in Lyden, dry goods, and wine and beer from Washington. It will be open from 11am to 8pm daily.

The store, which takes up the space once occupied by Flying Fish’s private dining room, has a separate entrance from its sister restaurant next door. The inhouse butchery, run by meat carver Ben Frey, will supply both eatery and shop.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Belltown, Locavore News, Grocery Shopping, Grand Opening, Pantries and Mercantiles