Category Archives: Food & Drink

Knee High Stocking Co. — the quiet end of a speakeasy’s 16 years on Capitol Hill

Posted on by
Reply

(Image: Alex Garland/CHS)

Capitol Hill bars with 16 years of business in the neighborhood don’t usually close without loud lamentations but it is probably not surprising that E Olive Way speakeasy joint Knee High Stocking Co. has come to a secretive end.

The online listings show the venue as “permanently closed.” The Seattle Times included the bar in its most recent morbid countdown of recent city food and drink shutdowns.

Knee High’s owners didn’t call the Times back, either.

The bar debuted in 2009 as a pioneer in Seattle’s speakeasy revival with secret doors and buzzer-door locked entry at the street level of the 1914-built Belvedere Apartments. Reservations were highly recommended. At the time, CHS called Knee High’s founder Jack Valko “a retired tech IT guy.” Continue reading →

After a year in Capitol Hill’s tumultuous street food scene, Tacos Cometa will open on Broadway in 2026

Posted on by
6

(Image: Tacos Cometa)

(Image: Tacos Cometa)

Tacos Cometa is moving inside. The street taco venture from brother chefs Rey and Osiel Gastelum that has grown a devoted following this year at Nagle and Pine on the edge of Cal Anderson Park as part of the neighborhood’s wild — and delicious — nightlife street food scene will open as a brick and mortar taqueria on Broadway in 2026.

Rey Gastelum tells CHS Tacos Cometa isn’t leaving Capitol Hill’s street scene behind.

“There should be a better path. I wish there had been a better path for us as well,” Gastelum said. Continue reading →

Seattle’s ‘World Cup Host City Final Draw Watch Party’ to be held on Capitol Hill

Posted on by
2

World Cup fans on Capitol Hill in 2014

Seattle’s organizing committee for the 2026 Men’s World Cup will be on Capitol Hill Friday with a few local soccer legends for a Final Draw watch party as the groupings for the global soccer tournament get mostly banged out.

Seattle FIFA World Cup 26 announced it is holding its Friday watch party at Capitol Hill’s Stoup Brewing:

WHAT: Seattle FIFA World Cup™ Host City Final Draw Watch Party
WHO: Local soccer legends, Community leaders and officials of the SeattleFWC26 Local Organizing Committee. Speakers for the event will be available for comment and will include:
  • Peter Tomozawa, CEO of Seattle FWC26
  • Peter Fewing, former Seattle University Soccer coach
  • Lamar Nagle, former Seattle Sounder
WHEN: Friday, December 5, 2025, Doors at 8:30am, program begins at 9:00am
WHERE: Stoup Capitol Hill, 1158 Broadway, Seattle, WA 98122

This spring, a few more teams will qualify and the full groups will be fleshed out but Friday will be a big day for the 2026 cup. With an expanded field, 48 nations will be split into 12 groups of four for the group stages when all is said and done. Continue reading →

Paradise adds Birrieria Jalisco #1 to its Broadway mix

Posted on by
4

A seat at the Paradise bar

One thing you have to hand the recent generation of new Capitol Hill restaurants moving into old Capitol Hill restaurant spaces is that they work hard. Places like Mint and Martini — an Indian joint that moved into former Barrio space on 12th Ave — and Broadway’s Paradise in the long ago home of the Broadway Grill will be open this Thursday when much of the rest of the Hill’s restaurants will be closed for Thanksgiving.

(Capitol Hill’s bars are another story with many open for the holiday for when you and friends and family could most use a drink.)

Paradise continues to hustle. CHS reported last November as the Mexican restaurant and bar moved in after the closure of Olmstead in the former Broadway Grill space. Continue reading →

The Roll Pod brings its take on Indian bowls and wraps to 22nd Ave

Posted on by
Reply

(Image: The Roll Pod)

(Image: The Roll Pod)

An Indian fast food concept already familiar for its food truck presence on First Hill and its growing roster of shop locations including Bellevue and White Center is now open on 22nd Ave across from the neighborhood’s Safeway.

The Roll Pod’s newest location is celebrating a grand opening Saturday. “We delight customers with yummy, fresh, balanced Indian food on the go assembled in a ROLL or a BOWl, easy to carry and eat” is the pitch.

Owners Anubha Singh and Parimal Kumar have grown The Roll Pod to include regular food truck locations plus restaurants in Bellevue, White Center, and now on the edge of the Central District and Capitol Hill. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s Bateau making 2026 restart: New paint, retooled menu, and, hopefully, a fair deal with unionized workers

Posted on by
22

(Image: Bateau)

Those hoping to track the demise of the Capitol Hill neighborhood by restaurant closings will continue to be confounded by Bateau.

Its rebirth will be part of a small burst of reopenings to start 2026.

Jeremy Price of the Sea Creatures restaurant group says the retooling that led to a shutdown of the E Union steakhouse earlier this year is about to pick up steam with plans to reopen the venue — and reinvigorate its corner on the backside of Pike/Pine — in February.

Price says Bateau is now “in the final phases” of its remodel with painting and new window treatments scheduled this week. New signage will also soon go up. Meanwhile, it is also retooling its business with an overhaul of its menu and its prices, and working out a new deal with unionized workers. Continue reading →

Shutdown of Capitol Hill’s original Skillet Diner part of chain’s Seattle downsizing

Posted on by
16

(Image: Skillet)

Capitol Hill’s Skillet Diner is permanently closed after 14 years of service on E Union.

The food truck-born concept that grew into a chain of high-end diners announced the immediate closure of its Capitol Hill location along with its diner in South Lake Union. Its Post Alley location will close in December. The company says it will continue to operate its counter inside the Seattle Center Armory and locations inside Sea-Tac Airport.

SKillet ownership blamed costs for the shutdowns saying it was “time to shrink the Skillet footprint.” Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s new Roma Roma by-the-cut pizza joint (and the super Brunton brothers) preparing for January debut

Posted on by
29

Forrest, Renee, and Colin (Image: Roma Roma)

The Cherry & Burrata (Image: Roma Roma)

Powered by the super Brunton brothers, Capitol Hill will begin 2026 with a new chef driven, by the slice pizza joint.

Roma Roma is taking shape this fall along with Chef Forrest Brunton’s mustache as a food and drink idea they say his brother Colin Brunton first pushed 20 years ago after studying in Rome:

At Roma Roma, guests will experience elevated counter service where ordering is done at a long display case showcasing whole pizzas. Each guest will indicate the size of the piece of pizza(s) that they’d like, and the “pizza monger” will cut from the large rectangular pizzas. Each pizza order will be sold by the weight of the selected piece, a hallmark of Roman street-style pizza. Servers will deliver orders to the tables, with the option for takeout pizza or dine-in.

Colin’s stache is also apparently in excellent form as the brothers have set about building out the new restaurant and shaping their “playful, craftsmanship approach to Roman-style pizza” in time for a January debut. Continue reading →

New beer leadership on Capitol Hill at tiny Outer Planet

Posted on by
3

There is a change in leadership on Capitol Hill. The neighborhood’s tiniest brewery is now making Capitol Hill beer under its new owner.

CHS reported here on beer maker Amory Carhart’s decision to purchase 12th Ave’s Outer Planet in a last minute deal as the 2015-born brewery was about to be shut down. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s Queer/Bar is turning into the Christmas Dive Bar for the holidays

Posted on by
6

The Christmas Dive Bar past

11th Ave is set to once again be Capitol Hill’s North Pole but this time the Christmas Dive Bar is taking over Queer/Bar.

“These past few months have been tough for queer bars and nightclubs across the city and country—this has been true for us as well,” the 1th Ave gay bar and drag venue’s management said in Monday’s announcement of the temporary switch. “We are investing all our efforts into this pop-up as a new way to sustain our programming throughout the year. Eight weeks of Christmas will help us pave the way for 44 weeks of Queer/Bar experiences in 2026.”

Work is underway to redecorate and welcome the first holiday bar customers this month. The Christmas Dive Bar has also announced a “How the Queens Stole Christmas” drag brunch and matinee series slated to run in the bar on weekends “through the holiday season.” Continue reading →