The Loveless Building murals from when Olivar occupied the space. (Image: Suzi Pratt)

The murals are staying.

As Nile Klein and Zac Reynolds prepare to write the next chapter of the historic Loveless Building on E Roy, the first question from neighbors passing by has been about their plans for the space’s intricate wall-to-wall paintings.

“The murals are our number one priority,” Klein told CHS. “It’s a beautiful and very interesting gem.”

Those familiar with the 19th Century Russian poem that inspired the murals could have guessed Cook/Weaver would be incorporating the paintings. The Alexander Pushkin poem tells the story of three sisters: a cook, a weaver, and a wife.

The work-in-progress menu we found posted outside Cook/Weaver

Where Restaurant Marron and Olivar, the last two restaurants to occupy the building, offered relatively formal dining experiences, Klein said Cook/Weaver will let the space’s guard down. “We’re trying to create a space that people will feel comfortable with a quick cocktail, a small plate, or to bring friends for cocktails,” Klein said.

A sample menu full of hearty, rain-appropriate small and large plates was recently posted outside the restaurant’s door, which Klein expects will open sometime before the end of the year. Pastrami with rutabaga pierogi and broccoli casserole are a couple of the items that will make up Cook/Weaver’s “inauthentic Eurasian” fare.

“It draws from traditions of all places,” Klein said. “We’re going to cook food that we love.”

After running the Food at Cortona pop-up in the Central District, Reynolds has worked as a private chef while searching for a new brick-and-mortar space with Klein, who has managed bars and front-of-house operations primarily in downtown and Belltown. As soon as they saw the Loveless Building, Klein said the entire concept clicked.

Other changes inside the space will include opening up the kitchen to be in view of the dining room and adding a small cocktail bar, Klein said.

Restaurant Marron closed in August just a little more than two years after bringing its $$$$ tasting menu format with 16-course, small-bite creations to E Roy. Prior to that, Olivar closed after nearly six years on north Capitol Hill.

Capitol Hill food+drink notes

• Rumors that spots bar 95 Slide will be coming to its end just as the Mariners might actually make the playoffs are not true. While the corner is still planned to eventually be home to a six-story, mixed-use apartment building, owner Marcus Lalario tells CHS he is planning to be in the space until the end of 2017.
• Happy first anniversary to Ernest Loves Agnes and the expanded Kedai Makan. ELA is planning a big birthday party Wednesday:
  Ernest Loves Agnes is happy to announce that we will be celebrating our first birthday on Wednesday Sept 21st! Everything will be 50% off. Thats right, wine, dinner, desert, full bar, everything! We can’t believe it’s already been ONE year since we opened and we want to celebrate it with you! Reservations will not be available for this day, so get here early. Kitchen opens at 5PM.
• Galerie 23 is a tasting menu concept from Thierry Rautureau protege Rob Sevcik in search of a home on Capitol Hill. We heard form Sevcik about one space inside one of the neighborhood’s massive new Pike/Pine preservation-boosted developments that did not work out. Stay tuned.
• Lots of new coffee and cafe action coming around the Hill. The Rapha Clubhouse will likely have a food and drink component in its project at Melrose and Pine where Bauhaus once made its home. Honor Society Coffee is putting Melrose Market’s nighttime bar space at Sitka and Spruce and Bar Ferdinand to use by day. Union Coffee is now open at 24th and Union. Seattle Coffee Works is building a new cafe on E Pike just east of Broadway.
• The Caffe Vita origins story.
• Cupcake Royale wrote a big check to the National Center for Lesbian Rights thanks to sales of Make America Gay Again hats and shirts and the bakery’s much-loved The Gay cupcakes.
• New Capitol Hill cookbook:

Okay, Heather Earnhardt of Seattle's @TheWanderingGoo is THE BEST and her new cookbook = ? https://t.co/9Tqt4zLQDW pic.twitter.com/27l9KNZVN9

— Bethany Jean Clement (@BJeanClement) September 13, 2016

• Buried the lede: No Full Tilt Capitol Hill coming to 15th Ave E.
• Now open in the Central District: Seattle Fish Guys.
• Opening on Broadway in October: healthy pasta concept Dueminuti. They’re having a party.
• RIP Don Stevens, owner of Bill’s off Broadway.