With years of experience working for other people’s food and drink projects, Paul Berryman and business partner Izzy Guymon have been building their new bar on Broadway since last fall and trying to keep a balanced perspective on just how long it can take to complete a buildout on your own.
“Everything takes longer than expected,” Berryman tells CHS about the overhaul underway inside the longtime Broadway at Mercer home of the The Byzantion Greek restaurant. While not exactly meant as a koan, Berryman’s words are the kind of “could mean more than you thought” thinking behind Spirit and Animal, slated, with any good fortune, to open in early May.
Berryman and Guymon decided to give one element of the project some additional deep thought after the original name Spirit Animal was evoking the wrong kind of vibes. Here’s what the duo said about their decision to modify the bar’s name:
We would like to extend our gratitude to everyone in the community that has participated in the conversation regarding our name change. We respect all of your opinions and appreciated the feedback. Along with listening to our community, we have spent the last week reaching out to various First Nation organizations, gathering insight and perspective. At Spirit and Animal Bar we are respectful and welcoming to all people, from every ethnic and cultural background. Our philosophy has, and will always will be built on the notion of mutual respect and love for all.
The have some help with that notion with the addition of chef Mac Jarvis to head the Spirit and Animal kitchen and its planned Middle Eastern-tinged menu.
“There’s a lot of really amazing spices, and fresh ingredients,” Guymon said of Spirit and Animal’s flavors. “That’s where Mac comes in. Her expertise is going to showcase a lot of Pacific Northwest ingredients and incorporate those Mediterranean-Levantine flavors.”
Guymon worked with the Derschang Group previously where he first met Jarvis. She spent 2015 helping launch Ernest Loves Agnes with Dave Meinert, Jason Lajuenesse, and Joey Burgess on 19th Ave E. Berryman is a big fan. “She’s got such a great energy. She’s a dynamic human,” he said.
CHS reported last September on the purchase of The Byzantion after 30 years of business and Berryman and Guymon’s plans for a “mystical” food and drink spot on the north end of Broadway. “I think this end is going to have a little bit of a renaissance,” Berryman said at the time. “It feels more like a neighborhood than an entertainment district.” Along with the bars at DeLuxe, Poppy, and Lionhead, the area now includes Derschang’s Bait Shop, and the cocktail-focused Herb and Bitter for the more boozy end of things in this part of Broadway. Spirit and Animal’s block is also home to DeLuxe, tex-mex player Rooster’s, Rom Mai Thai, and Aoki. Meanwhile, the old Harvard Exit building is being overhauled to create new offices and a restaurant and bar space.
For Berryman and Guymon, their focus now is on completing the extensive overhaul of the old restaurant which is finally rounding into shape. Some artifacts from the street’s food and drink past were found during the work in the form of an old soda cup and some trash from the dearly departed Broadway Taco Bell. We don’t know where Spirit and Animal comes down on the whole bad juju end of things, but we suggest the partners put that stuff right back where they found it.
Spirit and Animal is planning for a May opening at 601 Broadway E. You can learn more at facebook.com/spiritanimalbar.
Capitol Hill food and drink notes
BREAKING: It sounds like Spirit and Animal will soon have a new barstaurant neighbor on North Broadway. Welcome Club Leche:
The Derschang Group is proud to announce the newest member of their family: LECHE. Brought to you in partnership with TMZ, Grey Goose, and Axe Body Spray, LECHE is the Kim Kardashian of bars, featuring an ultra-exclusive, VIP experience previously only seen in corporate-sponsored celebrity Instagram posts.Located at 606 Broadway East, LECHE and will be holding a grand opening Extravaganza on Friday, April 1st so exclusive that nobody is invited.
After opening Linda’s Tavern twenty-two years ago and subsequent unique projects (King’s Hardware, Smith, Oddfellows, Bait Shop and Tallulah’s), Linda Derschang was inspired to open LECHE after a recent trip to da club with her squad.“I’ve lived in this neighborhood for the last thirty years, and I’ve never been afraid of trying new things,” Derschang said recently over the blaring “untz untz” beat of some superstar DJ from Ibiza, Sao Paulo, or New Jersey or something. “I can’t wait to bring this exciting, HOT, innovative club trend to Capitol Hill. Soon, anyone in the city will be able to enjoy Happy Hour bottle service once they get past our excessive security detail and velvet rope!”
The decor of LECHE is inspired by Bieber’s entourage, popped bottles, strobe lights, shame, mall culture, and keeping it “100.”
Club Leche opens April 1st.
- Not a joke. The locally owned sushi restaurant set to take over the space in the Broadway Building formerly home to the Genki sushi chain will be called Zushi. The company behind the restaurant, by the way, is called Yo! Zushi prompting CHS to spend half a day trying to talk to somebody from the Yo! Sushi chain of restaurants. We heard back. No relation.
- Capitol Hill’s great year of pizza 2016 will also include some small additions. The 10th Ave E Pagliacci up near Roanoke Park is adding beer, wine, and pizza by the slice starting in May, we’re told.
- Capitol Hill’s transplanted classic Lark is introducing brunch starting in April:
John Sundstrom and the Lark crew are thrilled to announce the addition of brunch to the restaurant’s offerings. As of Saturday, April 16, Lark will be open from 10am to 2pm for weekend brunch. The menu kicks off with a handful of pastries made in-house, like caramel pecan monkey bread, apple fritters with maple foie gras glaze, or buttermilk biscuits with preserves. Starters will include house-made yogurt with cashew granola and dried figs as well as brinier options like oyster shooters with mezcal, lime, and charred jalapeño. As for mains, there’s an array of gorgeous morning plates, from sweet (stuffed French toast with lemon cream cheese and rhubarb conserve) to salty (crispy pork belly with kimchi fried rice and scrambled eggs.) Additional offerings include: green chickpea, asparagus, and mushroom caldo with poached eggs, a Dungeness crab Benedict with an English muffin, spinach, and chive hollandaise, and an oyster po’ boy with bourbon pickled jalapenos and blackened aioli. Avocado toast is also on offer, upgraded to a complete brunch dish with smoked farro toast, tomato ginger chutney, and fried eggs. - You can eat Sunrise Tacos for breakfast at Cone and Steiner on 19th Ave E and Tougo on 18th. Here’s why you might want to.
- Union Coffee coming to the Central District.
- How about some Tacocat ice cream from Bluebird:
We're having an ice cream social with @TacocaTs at @ChopSueySeattle on Thursday. Custom flavor, b4 it's in stores! pic.twitter.com/W6yTanh5eC
— Bluebird Ice Cream (@bluebirdicecrm) March 29, 2016
- We’re not covering Columbia City (yet!) but this Young and Young Smoked Fish project reportedly involves the Hill’s Wandering Goose.
- Slog sez: “It’s Okay to Cook “Other People’s Food,” But You Better Be Ready to Talk About It“
Sunday, Cupcake Royale’s little brudder Rodeo Donut is celebrating its 1-year birthday:
To celebrate their anniversary, the cowgirls are planning a nothing short of a brioche bonanza on Sunday, April 3 from 8am to 3pm. Bring a pal or come ready to chow down. Rodeo Donut is offering Buy One Get One FREE brioche donut.
CHS was there in June 2015 when Rodeo was added to the Capitol Hill Royale offerings.- We like to watch Chuck’s CD as a laboratory for the dynamics of mixing family and beer. Here’s the latest update in managing that mix — no kids after 9:30 PM.
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As somebody for whom Spanish is his first language: that’s an awful name for a club. It means “milk” which is already kind of weird, but in the context of a night club, it evokes the wrong kinds of alternate connotations for the word (kind how the word “come” can mean “to arrive” but it can also mean something much more gross)
Opening April 1st….I’m fairly confident that’s an April Fools joke.
The only thing better than Linda’s annual fake restaurant announcement is the people who miss the joke and complain about it :)
Has any building had a life quite like the Broadway Building? A pizza place replaced with a pizza place, a frozen yogurt place replaced with a frozen yogurt place, and now a sushi place replaced with a sushi place. It’s just so strange.