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Capitol Hill food+drink | Grubwich RIP, D’Ambrosio Gelato opens soon, La Bete does Indian

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  • After only six months of business with the new concept, Grubwich is no more. The Broadway sandwich shop born out of the long-time Pita Pit chain outlet that called the space home shut down last week and was quiet, dark and late-night drunk-free all weekend. The shuttered restaurant joins the now-empty Blockbuster building across the street to create a sad little stretch of Broadway. The Grubwich space shouldn’t be empty for long. Owner Brian Kun is mum on what comes next for the space but he won’t be part of it. 


    Kun opened Grubwich last summer in a mini-wave of burger/sandwich joints joining the Hill. Kun had also operated the Pita Pit that fed many a drunk belly over the years but struck a deal to transition the franchise into his own Grubwich concept. If you were disappointed that Kun used your awesome idea for a sandwich shop name before you could open yours, consider Grubwich again up for grabs.
  • Not going out of business is Kiki, partner Miki Nguyen tells CHS. The E Pine restaurant has been on the market since fall and, though no buyer has emerged, Nguyen says the plan is to continue operating Kiki as the partnership group talks through alternatives with potential buyers. You should totally buy it. And call it Grubwich.
  • Skelly and the Bean debuts its first night of “community” in its kitchen tonight with a Meatless Monday guest chef. Also, these people think Skelly’s concept is confusing, you? Maybe they never read our explainer. Or maybe they did and that’s the problem.
  • And, yeah, the pop-up thing is a thing on Capitol Hill.
  • La Bete was doing pop-up before you even thought about doing pop-up and helped make Little Uncle strong enough to go fixed-place. The change of pace introduced by the Little Uncle visit has inspired La Bete to stick with the “visiting menu” concept. Here’s what Aleks Dimitrijevic tells us about the special series at La Bete:

    “Jeweled Rice Pudding with Saffron Infused Sultanas and Citrus Sherbert” (Image: La Bete via Facebook)

we had been the location of the “Little Uncle” Thai pop up on mondays here from about august ’11 to december ’11.  Chefs Wiley and PK have since opened little uncle on madison and 15th, and since it proved to be such a nice experience, the change of cuisine, flavor, smell, and general ambiance of the restaurant, we decided to keep the concept, but tweak it to our liking.

since we do cook what we like to eat, that category being fairly all-encompassing, we thought we would give ourselves the freedom to play around a little bit, and turn it into a fun learning experience for ourselves, as well as bringing something a little fresh to our customers.

we decided to do a more or less bi-monthly world tour, so to speak.  every two months we are choosing a country/region and featuring a menu every monday of typical, classic home cooking from that particular place (with some possible theme nights thrown in the mix, such as the “Big Night” dinner party, recreating the sumptuous feast that the movie was all about).  this keeps fresh ideas in our heads, little influences from around the world, and some equally fresh, interesting and delicious food on peoples plates.

we started with indian food back in mid January, and will be cooking indian through march, so about another 4 mondays and we will wrap that up… and perhaps revisit particular regions in the future, as it has been a ton of fun, and not enough time to explore indian cuisine thoroughly enough.  we have been making all kinds of indian snacks;  peanut chaat, dal soup, samosas, papadams, parathas, naan, dosas, housemade pickles and chutneys, shrimp pakoras, chickpea chole, and plenty of other things like butter chicken, lamb and beef meatballs a la rogan josh, pork vindaloo, fish curries, clams etc…  and like i said, the fun will continue for another 4 weeks.

then we are going to take a little metaphorical trip over to eastern europe and see what people like to chow down on in places like the balkans (i’m a half yugo myself), poland, hungary, czech, russia, bulgaria, armenia etc etc…  it will still be cold enough around here for a couple months for people to get their pirogi on!  we will be featuring typical regional dishes of those countries, also homestyle, and also very delicious!  i make a pretty mean GOULASH!  

Dimitrijevic says the crew at La Bete is also thinking about doing cooking courses in conjunction with its world tour.

  • Speaking of Little Uncle, Restaurant Management magazine calls the walk-up stand one of “20 Hottest New Restaurants.”
  • What’s next for the pop-up trend? We’ll predict “sharing” where restaurants share venues and kitchens to put expensive build-outs and leases to their fullest possible use. You mean like The Wandering Goose? Sure, like The Wandering Goose, maybe…
  • Thai Curry Simple’s South Lake Union location debuts today.
  • The Capitol Hill location of D’Ambrosio Gelateria Artigianale is planned to open in the next few weeks, Marco D’Ambrosio tells CHS.
  • Dinette is now open on Mondays. Starting tonight.
  • Your heirloom tomatoes are pedestrian. Skillet is showing off with a “Choice Cuts: An Heirloom Pig Menu” this Thursday at the diner and the mobile trailer. You can find out more about the Tamworth pig you might want to eat via Wikipedia where you’ll learn “Tamworths display a good disposition and enjoy the attention of humans” and “The Tamworth pig is ready for slaughter in 25-30 weeks.”
  • The Bottleneck Lounge turns five years old and the long-time CHS advertiser is planning a big bash this Friday:

It’s hard to believe that five years ago The BottleNeck Lounge flung open its front door on Madison and waited breathlessly for someone to come in.  And come in you did!  Through Buttrock Suite dance parties and Hot Dog Blessings, Olympic Hockey games and  Women’s World Cup Soccer, during the Great (oh so great) Palin political debates, and five Kentucky Derby events – you have been there.  You have danced on the bar top (please refrain), lined up for Skillet, brought your Canadian flags, and tied your pups up front.  We salute you!

On Friday the 9th we’ll be celebrating our lucky longevity and we hope that everyone who has ever crossed our threshold will return that night to raise a frothy pint and share our glee.  We’ll be bringing back the Top Five Hair of The Dog Drinks from throughout history and the owners of the famous pooches will be on hand to receive a special prize.  We’ve also got guest appearances lined up from the special Seattle folks who have contributed to our success.  Too many drink specials to mention here – just show up, bring a friend, your ongoing sense of humor, and your love for the ‘hood!  Special guest appearances by a myriad of fantastic Seattle folks.

We posted about the Bottleneck’s grand opening way back when we were small.

  • Faire celebrates six years on the Hill this month.
  • Bottleneck brother Tommy Gun, the aforementioned Kiki, Poquitos, Online Cafe, Sun Liquor Distillery, Cobra Lounge, Knee High Stocking Co. and Rancho Bravo also celebrate March birthdays among new-timers. If you know of any Hill old-timers with March birthdays, let us know in comments.
  • Want to be a “Capitol Hill bar manager”? Pays $24,000 plus tips. Hmm, wonder who’s hiring
  • Look who else is hiring. Beard-nominee Altura needs a line cook.

– Strict attention to detail

– Passion for Italian cuisine

– AT LEAST 2 years fine-dining experience

– Strong desire to continually improve your craft

– Firm grasp of traditional cooking techniques and excellent knife skills

– Enthusiasm to participate in guest interaction at our open kitchen dining counter.

  • Or you can be part of the new team at The Pine Box.
  • Or you can be a barista at Cupcake Royale. “As a barista/cupcake slinger you work hard and need to have a sense of urgency to get things done, be clean organized and to efficient at what you do being able to work well in a team environment and be willing to pitch in wherever needed.”
  • How about a chef at Plum?
  • Seattle Weekly on Seattle food truck Off the Rez — frequently found on E Pike: “Fry bread is definitely a big deal in the Native [American] community. It’s one of those foods that’s shared when big groups come together.”
  • West Seattle’s hunger grows for Marination Mobile’s second fixed-place location.
  • Caffe Vita via Facebook: “We are now getting gluten free Rice Krispy Treats from our local baked goods heroes at Street Treats! Every Friday!”
  • Seattle Times visits Broadway’s Americana — the former Table 219: “He’s retained some favorite dishes but has revamped a menu that puts his own deft touch on American comfort food, offering mainly small plates rather than big entrees, a sweet and savory daily brunch, and scrumptious desserts ranging from carrot-cake lollipops to a doughnut a la mode.”
  • “The $4.50 Li’l Woody carries quite a bit more heft than a Dick’s burger, but the flame-broiled burger offers many of the same satisfying flavors to anyone who spent their teens racing the clock to make it to that orange, glowing mecca before closing time at two in the morning — more
  • These things also happened at the Comet 31 years ago.
  • Here’s the list of the six stores where you’ll be able to buy hard liquor on Capitol Hill come June 1 — and the one additional store that is still thinking about it. You can probably add Trader Joe’s to this list, too — but we haven’t confirmed it with the company.
  • This week’s food porn… it’s a tie.

Chicken Fried Steak, originally uploaded by zeebleoop.

Cocoa & Card, originally uploaded by sahafoto.
  • High 5 Pie is trying some new things out with “Milkshake March” and a few new mercantile offerings including old style candy and chewing gum plus $7 High 5’s Mixes: chocolate chip cookie, almond chocolate chip biscotti and vegan banana bread.

    Our milkshakes are made with fresh locally produced ice cream from Bluebird Microcreamery right around the corner from the pie shop with handcrafted flavors direct from our kitchen, this makes for an especially delicious take on an old fashioned treat. Our flavors include Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry and Banoffee (Banana, Dulce de Lece, and Cinnamon). You can also add any slice of pie to your milkshake transforming it into a pie shake, a truly unique and decadent confection found only here at High 5 Pie.

    High 5 is a CHS advertiser.

 

This week’s CHS food+drink advertiser directory

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7 Comments
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Kskjal
12 years ago

Tacos Chukis celebrates its 1st birthday this month!

sarahell
12 years ago

YOU WERE SO DELICIOUS. You left us too soon. You will be sorely missed. Brian Kun had better move that portabello brie sandwich somewhere else.

songstorm
12 years ago

Gosh darn it! I’d been wanting to check out Grubwich and never got around to it. Shame on me!

Johnny Chest
12 years ago

Really surprised they are using a pre-made chicken fried steak.

Jessicar R.
12 years ago

Where the heck is that served?? I want it!

motab
12 years ago

I tried several times to eat at Grubwich. They were supposed to be open for lunch, but every time I tried them, they were closed. Once I actually found it open, went inside, but there was no one there. I called out “hello” several times and waited for about five minutes, then left and went to the Other Coast Cafe.

zeebleoop
12 years ago

manhattan drugs. on their brunch menu. i thought it was just so-so. maybe you’ll have better luck.