All of the feelings. Blind Pig’s last night of service is November 12.
Five years ago, Anchovies and Olives chef Charles Walpole and front-of-house vet Rene Gutierrez created a new chapter for one of the city’s most unconventionally storied restaurant addresses. Now the guys have announced that Blind Pig Bistro will soon join its predecessors, Nettletown and the original Sitka and Spruce, as happy, filling memories in that unlikely restaurant space within an Eastlake strip mall.
Blind Pig Bistro announced this afternoon that November 12 will be the restaurant’s final night. Walpole and Gutierrez decided against renewing the restaurant’s lease, and will look for other spots that better suit Blind Pig’s off-the-cuff creativity and enthusiasm for the tasting menu. It’s not entirely clear what will happen next, say Gutierrez and Walpole. Running a restaurant with “Pig” in the name caused some people to mistake it for a barbecue joint, a decidedly inaccurate expectation of Walpole’s seasonal, vegetable-heavy menu. But they know they want to keep being creative, and keep working together.
Next door bar Babirusa will remain and keep to its regular seven-day-a-week schedule, much to the joy of the neighborhood. And Blind Pig’s final Beastlake dinner happens October 24.
Man, Blind Pig’s opening was one of the first things I wrote about when I showed up at Seattle Met five years ago. It’s a place I have gone for birthdays, and to impress out-of-town friends without getting too fancy about it. It’s a place I hope hasn’t permanently left us, even if the name and location change.
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