Hideaki Taneda (Image: I Love Sushi)
Capitol Hill’s Broadway Alley has featured an eclectic mix of small restaurants and shops for decades. Its deepest reaches can be a challenging business environment but a well regarded Seattle sushi chef might just have the perfect solution for the “hole in the wall” opportunity.
Chef Hideaki Taneda is putting the final, likely exacting touches on his plans for Taneda, a new sushi bar in the back of the Broadway Alley that will adhere to traditional kaiseki style. Taneda has been the creator behind the bar at Lake Union’s I Love Sushi and is also part of the ownership behind Fremont Bowl. His career began at the age of 16 at the Miyazaki Culinary School in Japan, according to his bio, and, along with Shiro Kashiba, he was part of a Seattle Sushi “dream team” in 2011 to help raise money after the devastating Japanese earthquake.
The new sushi restaurant will try its hand at a space inside the Alley that has been home to a lot of dearly loved eateries that couldn’t quite stick. Most recently, Laotian-flavored Lao Bar gave the restaurant space a try but closed late last year. Taneda’s exacting kaiseki approach will join longtimer Hana’s more downscale approach in the retail complex also home to Americana, and Kimchi Bistro.
If you’re trend spotting, small, tucked away sushi has always been cool but lately, smaller, more exclusive, higher scale approaches have gotten even more buzz than usual. On Capitol Hill, By Tae is making its name in the city’s sushi scene tucked inside Chophouse Row with the “8-person counter” approach and “low key” but masterful creations available during lunch hours only.
We do know Taneda isn’t being planned as a lunch joint. We don’t know more about Taneda’s approach on Broadway but expect a few more details on his masterful creations when the new restaurant opens soon.
Taneda Sushi in Kaiseki is preparing to open in the Broadway Alley at 219 Broadway E. You can learn more at tanedaseattle.com.
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As a native Japanese speaker, I find it funny how the Japanese word “kaiseki” came to be used as just a substitute for balanced, small-plate, multi-course dinner – since the original word (懐石) had to do with tea ceremony and the type of frugal, often vegan, meal that did not interfere with the ceremony. I guess you take whatever sounds catchiest, just like “spark joy.”
*There is another type of “kaiseki” (会席), which is a course meal traditionally served at poetry-reading parties; it’s a shortened version of more ritualized “honzen-ryōri” (本膳料理). I guess they could mean that, since that can include fish. It would be interesting to see (if they include any Japanese in the menu/sign) which kanji they would use.
I wish Mr. Taneda all the luck in the world at this new place. I hope he can overcome the reality that this location is deep in the Broadway Alley and therefore it is problematic to attract any foot traffic. I think the latter is probably responsible for Hana’s success over the years.
The location is difficult but not impossible. Just look at what Chukis did with an even less convenient location upstairs. Perhaps there’s more of a market for fancy Japanese food on the Hill. Junkichi’s been doing great every day, for example.