(Images courtesy Cafe Juanita)

It’s not quite a pied-à-terre but Holly Smith is doing what she can to pack nearly 15 years of Pacific Northwest fine dining experience into a small, temporary home on 12th Ave.

“We emptied the place. Every single plate, stemware. All the wine is in storage at a distributor. We brought our chairs. We brought our artwork. It felt very much like opening. It’s really reminiscent,” she says.

“We have every single pot that we thought we’d need.”

Smith’s temporary stay on the edge of Capitol Hill just got a little less “pop-up.” With the longtime home of Cafe Juanita undergoing a massive overhaul, Smith and her team have packed up and moved onto 12th Ave in the former home made available by Lark’s launch of its ambitious new ventures in the Central Agency Building. Smith says the short stay is going to last a little longer. With her Eastside construction stretching deeper into spring, she and Cafe Juanita will now be resident on 12th Ave into June.

She’s looking forward to meeting her new — temporary — neighbors.

“We’re really proud of what we do,” Smith said. “We like to have fun. We have award wining service, but very personable, very heartfelt service.”

Smith (Images courtesy Cafe Juanita)

“Come in very open minded and be ready to have fun.”

Running Wednesdays through Saturdays, the pop-up started last week already full with regulars who made the trek from the Eastside and regulars happy not to need to cross a bridge to visit their favorite restaurant. Smith says Valentine’s is already booked up, of course, as are Fridays and Saturdays in March during prime dining times. But she reminds that the three stools at the bar are still there from Lark’s days in the space and are usually available for walk-ins. And the locals have Wednesday and Thursday to work with, too.

With a menu too robust to tackle off of her home turf, Smith is bringing a tasting menu version of the cafe to her tour on 12th Ave. The first week, diners found “Jerusalem Artichoke Sformata with Sea Urchin,” “Grilled Octopus with chickpea crema, smoked bone marrow and salsa verde,” and “Rabbit braised in Arneis with turnips, pancetta and porcini, Meyer lemon peel Crema” on offer. Next weeks will add “Smoked sablefish with wild steelhead roe, Tangarine, Piments d’argile and celery leaves,” “Goat cheese Gnocchi with carrot bolognese and carrot top salsa verde,” or an option of “Australian Greg Norman +7 Wagyu Ribeye” for an additional $50.

It’s not budget dining. The James Beard-nominated cafe’s tasting menu weighs in at $135 per person. Wine flights are $75 and $95 and Smith promises Juanita “brought select bottles with us from our extensive cellar list.” She also says Cafe Juanita will be “restocking our captains list weekly,” for all you captains out there.

So, is there any chance Smith will make a long-term home on 12th Ave? She’s flirted with the neighborhood before. In 2010, she was lined up to open a brew pub on E Pike but the expensive seismic work the building required helped scuttle that plan. Today, by the way, Poquitos calls that corner home.

(Images courtesy Cafe Juanita)

“Everyone’s asked,” Smith said of the question most asked by diners in the pop-up’s first week. “I bought the property in Kirkland,” she said. “And I’m about to sink even more cash into it. But I’ve always wanted to. Now I’m like dammit I should have just bought here.”

With a child already attending 10th Ave E’s Bertschi School, Smith says her stay in the city is considerably more chill without the extra bridge crossing. She’s also enjoying being part of the “scene” she’s amazed to have watched grow up along 12th Ave and Lark’s former home.

But the old Lark isn’t available. John Sundstrom, who still owns the old Lark space, told CHS he would be announcing a new venture come spring.

Smith is also not convinced Capitol Hill’s exploding food and drink scene is sustainable — but not because there aren’t enough diners or people going out. She says the major concern for her and others in the industry she’s talking to is how to find enough people to work at these increasingly ambitious ventures.

“My concern is about staff,” Smith said, “— a talent drain. If we don’t have enough good people long term, you’re going to see closures.”

But nobody has to worry about that right now. Cafe Juanita is only visiting.

“My focus is to enjoy this for now and we’ll see,” Smith said.

Cafe Juanita can be found Wednesdays through Saturdays though June at 926 12th Ave. You can learn more at cafejuanita.com.

Capitol Hill food+drink notes

• Speaking of newcomers, Stateside has settled in on Pike and is ready to start lunch service:
  

  We are open for #lunch! M-F, 11:30-2:00. Brunch coming soon…. #banhmi #pho #getoverhere #capitolhill pic.twitter.com/ETif2P7k45

  — Stateside Restaurant (@StatesideSEA) February 9, 2015

• 

  CHS pics from the 2014 Seattle Street Food Festival

  In 2014, the Seattle Street Food Festival grew into a multiple day event that spread into Cal Anderson Park. But for 2015, organizers have announced the annual event is leaving the neighborhood.

• Spaghetti Western: Now serving brunch
• Smash Putt min-golf (and bar!) is making plans to open at 23rd and Union for its 2015 Seattle run
• Off Hill but mini-golf-y: Flatstick Pub has plans to expand from Kirkland at 4th and Stewart
• Don’t worry. Little Uncle’s E Madison walk-up is coming back. Plan is to open in a “couple of weeks” when some staffing issues have been resolved, according to this.
• Congratulations, Speed Rack Seattle runner-up Holly Pugsley.
• Treatbox is Seattle’s “first cookie delivery service” — Capitol Hill born.
• Here’s a peek inside Omega Ouzeri.
• What Pike/Pine bar or restaurant would *you* like to own 4% of?
• Optimism Brewing is full steam ahead at Broadway and Union:
  

  “Can a keg be sexy? I think so! A few more developments this week: cold room floor poured, last wall in the courtyard came down so we can put new ones up, and sprinkler piping going up. A great week.” via Facebook

• You sick of the debate over the Elysian’s sellout? Here’s the surprisingly different takes we got from two insiders.
• Rhein Haus to go:
  

  Sausage to go? Yes please! Visit our new deli case and take home your favorite sausage or mustard! #seattle #rheinhaus #bocce #bier #brats A photo posted by Rhein Haus (@seattlerheinhaus) on Feb 4, 2015 at 5:34pm PST

• Watch a Capitol Hill barstaurant get built in 2 minute time lapse: