Post navigation

Prev: (04/22/14) | Next: (04/22/14)

Capitol Hill food+drink | Corretto mixes the craft of coffee and cocktails for night — and day — on Broadway

20140421-AM2A305711

Brandon Paul Weaver at work (Images: CHS)

Brandon Paul Weaver at work (Images: CHS)

The sidewalk sandwich board announces “Finally! Another coffee shop on Broadway,” but the crew inside the recently opened Corretto are aiming to be more than just any old coffee slingers. In an effort to bring something new to such a drink savvy city, Corretto founder Travis Rosenthal reached back into espresso’s Italian roots for inspiration. What the Tango owner came up with was a bar featuring new spins on a classic coffee cocktail, caffe corretto or “coffee corrected”, and a distinctly Capitol Hill hangout.

“Think about it like a bar that happens to serve coffee,” said Corretto’s director of coffee Brandon Paul Weaver. “If you want to go to a bar to get a coffee on Capitol hill, where do you go? I think it offers something new to this block.”

On Monday Corretto opened for daytime hours after its official opening earlier in the month inside the former Panevino space. CHS previously reported on Rosenthal’s original plan to open in the new Pine+Minor building before deciding to relocate the project to Broadway, between Harrison and Republican. Be sure to stop in this week for half-off all coffee drinks.

One small business cannot completely embody a neighborhood, but it’s not uncommon for a single bar or cafe to reach symbolic status in a city, to be first thing that leaps to mind upon mention of a certain area or its inhabitants.

It remains to be seen if Corretto will become that business for Broadway or Capitol Hill. But the melding of craft cocktails with craft coffee wrapped in a decidedly Seattle decor certainly looks like Capitol Hill’s ultimate act.20140421-AM2A307414 20140421-AM2A30055 20140421-AM2A30369

Corretto is the creation of a Capitol Hill-centric crew that combines the efforts of a neighborhood bar owner, with Weaver’s Capitol Hill coffee consulting project Matte&Gloss, and locally roasted Slate Coffee.

Corretto currently features four of its namesake cocktails, which mix Slate Coffee espressos with Italian liquors like amaro or grappa. The bar features some 20 different varieties of the Italian brandy. The classic corretto, which the new baristas are happy to make, is a fairly uninspired affair back in the old country. Weaver recently told Sprudge about where Corretto wants to take the drink next. The cocktails go for $8 and if your wondering when its appropriate to start drinking one, Corretto opens at 9 AM.

The un-corrected espresso menu features a rotating number of 3-4 coffees with a pour over recommendation and simple “espresso with steamed milk” for $3.50, which can be taken to-go. Weaver promises in excessively acessible experience, but if you want to nerd out on coffee origins, tasting notes, or why its important to call coffee beans “coffee seeds,” you can do that too. Coffees can be ordered at the bar or with table service.

20140421-AM2A306212

Kyle Oels and Brandon Paul Weaver of Slate Coffee bring their skills to the Corretto bar (Photo: Suzi Pratt)

Food service starts at 4:30 PM for happy hour, and is straight Italian, beginning with salad, soups, and antipasti dishes like bruchetta caprese and vongle en brodo (manilla clams in a rich broth). Pastas include gnocci al pesto and a rigatoni in marinara or bolognese, as well has a handmade ravioli menu. Main courses include involtini di pollo (roasted chicken breast rolled with prosciutto) and a eggplant parmigiana.

The addition of Corretto to Broadway’s daytime offerings foreshadows another coffee and cafe experience about to join the neighborhood. Last summer, CHS told you about plans for Cafe Solstice’s return to Broadway. The cafe’s buildout is nearly complete in The Lyric building at 10th and Thomas.

In February, CHS checked in with Nik Virrey, the second half of the “hospitality forward” Matte&Gloss team. Weaver, who opened Slate Coffee in Ballard after launching in an Airstream on Capitol Hill, said he knew he had to join Corretto after the first meeting with Rosenthal. “Corretto is an embodiment of this thing me and Nik have been philosophizing about,” Weaver said.

Capitol Hill food+drink notes10259202_10152742597492004_2248297313345001237_o

This week’s CHS food+drink advertiser directory
Subscribe and support CHS Contributors -- $1/$5/$10 per month

6 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Adam
Adam
9 years ago

Could the Panevino replacement be any more hipster? Yeesh. It’s so over the top, you have to wonder if it’s serious or not.

Roberto
Roberto
9 years ago
Reply to  Adam

Oooh…slammin’ the hipsters. How incredibly original. Is that what you do to make yourself feel better about your square self? Anyway, if you’re so offended by this hipster entrepreneurs, why don’t you open your own damn business? Then maybe you’ll comprehend just how difficult and risky it is to run one. But something tells me you’re just a Comment Warrior.

jonathan
jonathan
9 years ago

This sounds fun, I am looking forward to getting crossfaded on grappa and espresso. And then coming down with pesto gnocchi. Yes.

calhoun
9 years ago
Reply to  jonathan

“Crossfaded”? I guess I’m not a hipster, because I have no idea what that means.

jonathan
jonathan
9 years ago
Reply to  calhoun

I took liberties with this term as it actually means using alcohol and cannabis together.

The alcohol+caffeine combination is a little notorious actually, and needs to be taken with care and non-driving (see Four Loko and other alcohol+energy drink combinations). If there is an increase in the population of rampaging bros around Broadway and Harrison, we’ll be able to guess the cause. Although maybe a place like Corretto will be more likely to activate the hipsters and thus counteract and suppress the rampaging bro population seen elsewhere. An interesting social experiment to observe while trifaded.

JRT
JRT
9 years ago
Reply to  jonathan

I wish there was a “like” button on here so I could like this comment.