There is a new organic bakeshop and cafe in the heart of Pike/Pine. Shikorina Pastries celebrated its “grand re-opening” and is now settled in on E Pike.
“Cake is back!,” the latest social media post for Shikorina exclaims. “Chocolate chiffon w/ strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream,” the hand written sign promises.
CHS reported here last month on the plans from baker Hana Yohannes to move the Black, queer, and woman-owned “organic, sustainable Central District bakery” off of E Union and into the heart of E Pike in the space left empty by the exit of Portland vegan Jewish deli chain Ben and Esther’s.
The move is an opportunity to leave lease, financial, and personal challenges behind, Yohannes said. Continue reading →
Sayap Ayam Pedas wings and a coconut shake, please (Image: Kedai Makan)
First, Kedai Makan came back from restaurant limbo with a new life at 15th and Pine. Now, it is getting ready to expand to Belltown.
The Capitol Hill Malaysian favorite says it is working on the new 1st Ave location and ready to expand from the E Pine corner where it reopened last year under after founders Kevin Burzell and Alysson Wilson decided they were ready to step away.
At 15th and Pine, the new Kedai Makan is continuing the traditions started at the original Bellevue Ave location and the many farmers markets where the Kedai Makan approach to Malaysian flavors were perfected. It has been a happy transition for the collaboration from Khampaeng “KP” Panyathong with Joe and Lucy Ye of Hangry Panda who originally came together to form the short-lived Money Frog concept.
Kedai Makan now moves forward under the Hagnry Panda ownership.
The old Bellevue Kedai Makan spot is now home to the Jilted Siren lounge.
Permit records show work is underway to make upgrades for the 1st Ave location where “Asian fusion” restaurant Lai Rai closed last summer.
Kedai Makan says only that the new location will open “soon.”
Kedai Makan is located at 1449 E Pine. Learn more at kedaimakansea.com.
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On this rainy “Spring Forward” Monday, let us turn our attention to thoughts of summer bus rides to Madison Park — and a gelato stop in Madison Valley along the way.
Fainting Goat Gelato is expanding south of the Montlake Cut with a new shop in Madison Valley. You can also find Fainting Goat in Fremont. The Wallingford shop is currently listed as “temporarily closed” as they work on a new location. Continue reading →
The Harry’s Good Times family of businesses is growing. There’s a place to come and stay on Capitol Hill when everyone visits.
Harry’s Guest House was once home to a beloved neighbor. Now, it is part of Harry’s Fine Foods and of the few new places to stay on Capitol Hill where recent attempts to develop new hotel projects have been slow to take shape.
Jake Santelli and Julian Hagood opened their first accommodation-based business on Capitol Hill at the corner of E Mercer and Bellevue Ave in November. It is a two-unit bed and breakfast. As their Harry’s Fine Foods restaurant took shape in 2016 out of an old neighborhood cornerstore, Santelli and Hagood were pleased to make friends with the eccentric neighborhood longtimer next door. Winnie, they say, “dined with us, laughed with us, and ultimately became a symbol of community that made the corner of E Mercer and Bellevue Ave just a little bit sweeter.”
When they learned Winnie was moving out and leaving her beloved home behind, the Harry’s guys moved to make the house part of their presence at the corner. Continue reading →
The corner of Melrose and Pine’s next culinary legacy will be established by a restaurateur who has already brought the finest meats to Capitol Hill.
Now, Heong Soon Park is bringing us his finest cheeses.
The good folks over in the CHS Facebook Group broke the news this week. The food and drink venture taking over the space left empty by the exit of neighborhood favorite Ristorante Machiavelli will be a cheese-y new project.
Liquor and business license paperwork filed for the address shows that work is beginning to transform the classic Italian joint into a new Cheese Room restaurant from the Meet Korean BBQ food and drink family.
What shape and form the cheese-inspired project will take is yet to be seen. Anything from a cheese bar (RIPCulture Club) to a fondue joint that echoes the attendants and prepare-at-your-table vibe of Meet BBQ could be in the works. Popular Seoul restaurant Melting Shop and its Italian leanings could also be an inspiration. There is also the possibility Cheese Room is just a temporary project name for the final food and drink project. We’ve reached out to Meet to learn more. Continue reading →
One cannot measure the life of “Capitol Hill’s #1” teriyaki joint as a simple instant. This is a multiverse.
Last month, CHS bid goodbye to Broadway’s Teriyaki & Wok as its longtime owners announced they had sold the business and were taking their 14 years of Broadway restaurant experience to Federal Way.
TheRhino Room has had quite a Capitol Hill life in its years on 11th Ave. The neighbors used to be The Stranger and a Value Village. Then a WeWork and national golf bar chain moved in. The alt weekly moved out. In that lifetime, the WeWork has gone bankrupt and closed. Tough skin.
The party is still going strong at the “Booze and Boogie Palace” as the Rhino Room marks a decade on Capitol Hill this spring. The club might be in its toughest, leanest form, sparking to life and sending its disco ball spinning only two nights a week. But they are two nights of very big fun.
Patric Gabre-Kidan, still part of the ownership today, hasn’t had much to say over the years at Rhino as the venue has endured waves of Pike/Pine redevelopment and the weeks of CHOP and SPD turmoil in the streets outside the club in 2020.
“I’ve been out of town the past week. Just landed moments ago. What can I say? It’s been a great 10 years,” Gabre-Kidan told CHS. Continue reading →
A popular Pike/Pine cafe space has cracked open a new life as a Capitol Hill beer hall and bottle shop.
The Last Drop has expanded from its Maple Leaf neighborhood roots and is now open on E Pike in the former home of Alaska-based coffee company Kaladi Brothers.
The new beer venue includes plenty of tables and chairs with creations from multiple breweries on tap plus bottles and cans for purchase. It fits into the area’s beer community just a little more bottle shop than the Pine Box on the Chuck’s end of the beer bar spectrum. Continue reading →
You will be even more free to enjoy your happy hour mozzarella sticks at The Cuff however you want to. Washington state legislators have responded to outcry from Capitol Hill queer nightlife venues, including changes to liquor board “lewd conduct” rules as they passed a so-called “Strippers’ Bill of Rights.”
The Stranger has details of the bill including labor protections for dancers that includes a major change for Washington that “effectively allows strip clubs to sell alcohol.” The legislation also repeals the lewd conduct code that critics said was being used to target gay bars.
The bill still must pass through the senate. Governor Jay Inslee, who has said he supported the decision to suspend the liquor board rules until changes could be made, must then sign the legislation. Continue reading →
The 122-year-old apartment building home to Vito’s and providing subsidized housing in its four stories above Madison has been demolished and trucked away.
There is no public plan for what will come next on the former site of The Madison Apartments. Continue reading →
There is a new organic bakeshop and cafe in the heart of Pike/Pine. Shikorina Pastries celebrated its “grand re-opening” and is now settled in on E Pike.
