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No new bars or restaurants opened on Capitol Hill this week… but one closed

Lucky The SunBreak’s MvB wasn’t wearing paisley (like usual) — (Image: The SunBreak)

And Canon doesn’t count. It “officially” opened Tuesday but you could have ordered a drink to match your shirt there last week. Bethany Jean Clement says the $10 cocktails are worth every penny, by the way, though she neglected to demand a beverage to match any article of clothing she was wearing.

None of that will help console fans of Artid Siam. The Broadway provider of Thai cuisine — including pick-up and delivery — shut down yesterday a mere four months after it replaced the also relatively short-lived Jup Jup Jup. What was there before? Who remembers! CHS is getting old!

Owner Detmangkone Panpadith tells CHS he couldn’t draw enough customers to afford the high cost of a Broadway lease. “People liked the food,” Panpadith said, “But there weren’t enough customers.” Panpadith said he still owes around $50,000 on the venture but doesn’t know what is coming to the space next. “I don’t think it can be a restaurant,” he said.

Thanks to @pval for the tip!


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Inna
12 years ago

Before Jup Jup Jup it was… another Thai place. I love Thai food, but I’m looking forward to seeing something different in the space.

Susan
12 years ago

It was Chili Basil.

duh
duh
12 years ago

AND I LOVED CHILI BASIL. They moved to Lynnwood. LYNNWOOD.

That place must be cursed. Still, that at least four successive Thai joints in the same space. Might be time for the next owner to take a hint.

JimS.
12 years ago

Even if they were really good….there are simply too many Thai restaurants on CapHill. If someone would venture into some other unrepresented territory (Cuban?), they might have a shot at it. There is just too much Thai, Pho, and tacos.

Old School
12 years ago

Is it the old dairy queen/machismo mouse?

Was it the noodle studio?

Noelle153
12 years ago

Something about the layout and the lighting of this space always seemed uninviting to me, I’m not sure what exactly. I only ate there once four or five years ago (I think it was the Thai restaurant before Chili Basil?) and it seemed that none of the successive Thai restaurants ever did much to transform the space or lighting. Anyway, not the most constructive criticism here, but that’s what prevented me from ever walking in there.

zeebleoop
12 years ago

maybe, but i think the better statement would be, “i don’t think it can be a thai restaurant.”

Raku
12 years ago

It was Thai Go, then Chili Basil, then Jup Jup Jup, then Artid. Chili Basil was the best of the first 3, but I didn’t try Artid.

Vegan restaurant please! Every vegan restaurant on the hill thrives, with the exception of Healthy Hedon a few years ago. We need something to counteract all the new pork belly and cheese.

Mister T
12 years ago

“People liked the food,” Panpadith said, “But there weren’t enough customers.”

BECAUSE THERE ARE TOO MANY THAI PLACES ON BROADWAY, PERIOD.

And if one more goddamn sushi place opens I’m going to jump out of a window.

Eric
12 years ago

I got the impression the neighborhood basically said enough is enough with the cookie-cutter Thai restaurants and didn’t even bother giving this place a shot. It was *always* empty when I walked by.

The new conveyor belt sushi place in Joule is probably going to be the next to go. It’s a huge space and they have too many employees and not usually very many customers. There are so many types of Japanese food, it’s really too bad few people are willing to go far beyond the usual mediocre sushi/teriyaki/yakisoba. The ramen place is a nice change… how somewhere that specializes in Gyudon?

Meaty McBeaty
12 years ago

More burger joints! MORE I SAY!

Or a new Thai place.

Noelle153
12 years ago

Is the Piroshki place that was ousted by the light rail, I know there was another piroshki place on Broadway for just a minute, but it didn’t measure up in quality and was lacking in stern babushkas.

jseattle
jseattle
12 years ago

Thai Burger coming soon

Michael Faltesek
12 years ago

there was Thai Chili Basil or something, that also served thai food. Correct me if I’m wrong, but before that I believe was a thai restaurant too.

I bet the next place that goes in there is a thai place with hopes and dreams and the lack of foresight to see what businesses have failed there previous.

TacoStein
12 years ago

That’s right…Noodle Studio, which was pretty good.

Ten years ago the space held a Mexican joint that had good 4 dollar veggie burritos and chicken tortas, along with freshly made salsas. They were there for a good 2-3 years. Tacos Guaymas took the spot over but didn’t stay there long. I think Noodle Studio went in after that and held the spot for a good five years.

I think the broader problem is less about having too many Thai or Pho restaurants and more about not having enough places that are able to execute inspired and memorable cuisine.

marigold
marigold
12 years ago

Nah, I’m pretty sure Noodle Studio and Tacos Guaymas were there at the same time. The Noodle Studio was my intro to Thai food when I was in college and the Hill wasn’t overrun with Thai food yet. There were a few others then, but it was the best available for the price.

Sushi
12 years ago

We love the new conveyor belt Sushi place…… Much better quality and variety than Genki and their spider roll made to order is great. Hoping the arrival of the liquor license will help out.

--MC
12 years ago

It was another Thai place before Thai Go. That place had Volcano Hen, which I have never seen at another Thai place yet. I loved that Volcano Hen.

--MC
12 years ago

The piroshki place relocated downtown; they’re on the ground floor of the Arctic Hotel on Third. Go see them! Get some borscht!

i miss good thai
12 years ago

chili basil was in my opinion the best thai broadway has had. and do not invoke siam. not even close.

the people who ran it were incredibly nice, and their food was much more authentic, not your standard over-sweet americanized thai.

their rent was nearly quadrupled, they told us, and were basically being bumped for the awful jup jup jup.

now, for good thai that doesn’t taste like it is drowned in ketchup, i have to go to thai tom in the u-district, or phuket in queen anne. :(

weekilter
weekilter
12 years ago

Sorry about the subject line, but that’s really the story about most anything that opens and eventually closes on Broadway. In my 18 years in Seattle the only thing that I can say is still the same is the “Super 97” store next to the post office and the shoe repair place just inside the Broadway Market. Everything else couldn’t make it.

calhoun
12 years ago

If yet another Thai restaurant goes in there, meaning that they have ignored the fact that several similar places have not been successful, then the new place too deserves to fail.

a neighbor
a neighbor
12 years ago

Dicks, la cantina (don’t ask me how!) Charlie’s, paglaicci, hana… galerias been on way a longtime too.

H
H
12 years ago

I think it’s just something about that space. Those couple restaurants and clothing places next to it just all look a little dirty.

X.G.
X.G.
12 years ago

Mediocre or not, Capitol Hill commercial property owners are, generally, robber barons. Shame on them!

ixoxeles
12 years ago

May-Sept 2011: Artid Siam
Summer 2010-Spring 2011: Thai Jup Jup Jup
2008-2010: Chili Basil
2006-2008 Thai Go
1994-2006: Noodle Studio
1992-1994: Burger King

I believe Tacos Guaymas was actually at the Pike/Pine end of Broadway in the Harvard Market bldg next to Chase bank (formerly WAMU). There was also Taqueria, which was in The Alley (same bldg as Hana).

Comrade Bunny
Comrade Bunny
12 years ago

It’s not a curse, uninspired food, of even too much Thai food – the last several restaurants haven’t lasted long because the rent just keeps going up on that space.

Comrade Bunny
Comrade Bunny
12 years ago

There are some good property owners who charge reasonable rents around the Hill, but Broadway (esp. N. Broadway) is known for absentee landlords who will charge high rents without regard to the vagaries of foot traffic or good tenant fit.

Greg
12 years ago

I loved Chili Basil. Best Thai food on the hill… So much better than Jai Thai down the street. And sadly, I haven’t been there since they moved to Lynnwood. I agree about how nice the family who ran it were. Loved that place.