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Shanik’s Opening Is Slightly Delayed

Issues with kitchen equipment will keep the long-awaited Vij's sibling dark until at least Wednesday.

Here are a few things you might eat when Shanik opens its doors…hopefully later this week.

UPDATE: Dhalwala says Wednesday, December 5 is indeed the day. Seattle, it’s on.

Well, I guess this is why you have a soft open. Shanik, the long-awaited sibling to Vancouver’s Vij’s restaurant, is pushing back its official opening. During Saturday’s friends and family dinner, chef-owner Meeru Dhalwala discovered some major technical problems with the kitchen equipment. 

Oh, there was also the small matter of Dhalwala’s painstakingly hired nighttime kitchen staff quitting 48 hours before Shanik’s soft debut over the weekend, citing the long commutes between the restaurant at 500 Terry Ave N and their homes in outlying suburbs. Dhalwala prides herself on hiring skilled home cooks with no professional kitchen experience, and the process of finding such women in an unfamiliar city filled her thoughts in the months leading up to Shanik’s opening. But on Saturday night, Dhalwala at least appeared equinamous. She did a last-minute “emergency hire” and put together a team that hails mostly from the Lake City area to work and train alongside the cooks she brought down from Canada. 

Shanik is hoping to open on Wednesday, kitchen and equipment gods willing. We will, of course, be all over this, but the restaurant’s Twitter feed is another good bet for updates.











Allecia Vermillion
Allecia Vermillion
Allecia Vermillion has spent a decade at Seattle Met, arriving as food and drink editor, and expanding her role over the years. She served as the magazine’s editor in chief until moving into a newly created executive editor role in 2021. She spearheads Seattle Met’s food and drink coverage and oversees home design content. Allecia’s writing has earned her multiple journalism awards and two James Beard Award nominations over the years. A native of Portland, Oregon, Allecia began her writing life as a newspaper reporter in the Chicago suburbs before making a grateful return to the Pacific Northwest. She has an English degree from Washington University (no, the one in St. Louis) and a masters in journalism from Northwestern University. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two children.