A design sketch for the new burger joint
Nestor inside the work-in-progress Two Doors Down (Image: Two Doors Down)
Nestor learned from the Bottleneck Lounge that when her regulars start having families, they don’t come in as often, so she’s striving to make the new place family-friendly
A family-friendly, neighborhood beer and burger joint will be coming to Madison and 24th this summer, if all goes according to Erin Nestor’s plan.
Nestor is the co-owner of the neighboring Bottleneck Lounge with her partner in business and in life Rebecca Denk, and they will be opening a new place, two doors down from the Bottleneck and calling it Two Doors Down.
“I couldn’t do it without her support,” Nestor said.
Nestor learned from the Bottleneck Lounge that when her regulars start having families, they don’t come in as often, so she’s striving to make the new place family-friendly. There will be a kids menu, with staples such as mac and cheese or other non-burger items. And she wants there to be kid-friendly drinks that are a bit healthier, since many parents want that for their children.
“I try to aid those choices,” she said.
The space currently being built out is the former longtime home of Philadelphia Fevre which fell on hard times and dwindling business before leaving the corner it called home for 30 years in late 2014. To bankroll the project, Nestor sold her E Olive Way bar Tommy Gun which is now the home of Kessler’s sports bar.
The concept she and Denk are shooting for at Two Doors Down is simple.
“It’s the classic American hamburger,” Nestor said.
She’ll get the buns from a local bakery, and use no-hormone, no-antibiotic beef, and offer build-to-suit burgers with an array of toppings including cheeses, bacon, sauces, even a fried egg, and of course the more classic toppings.
“You tell me exactly what you want, and I’ll make you exactly what you want,” she said.
She plans on having options for people who are gluten-free and also for vegetarian and vegan customers.
And to wash it all down, Two Doors Down 20 taps. Nestor wants to focus on smaller regional and local beers, though she’s leaving open the option that she may sometimes bring in something from out of the area. While most of those taps will be for beers (including, she hopes, a gluten-free beer and definitely one beer on nitro), there will be ciders and likely a house-made ginger beer. And if you don’t want to stick around, she plans to fill growlers to go. She also plans to serve wine, likely also on draft, but will not have cocktails.
Nestor said the design will be as simple as the menu, with recycled wood features, solid surface counter tops, brushed aluminum stools and a pressed tin ceiling. While there will be a communal table, there will also be booths and other seating options, for those that prefer to keep more to themselves.
She expects to have two TV screens, but she says they will not be on all the time. But come football season (in both the American and European sense of the word) the Seahawks and Sounders games will be on.
Once the new place gets rolling, she hopes to be able to run some of the food up to the Bottleneck, though that won’t happen right away, she said. Also in the cards is some sort of counter-brunch service, once the place finds its feet. Until then, she plans on hours from 11 to 11 daily, with the possibility of staying open a bit later on weekends.
Two Doors Down is planned to open some time this summer at 2332 E. Madison Street.
Capitol Hill food+drink notes
- Breaking patio news update from Monsoon:
Just in time for summer, Sophie and Eric Banh are excited to announce the opening of Monsoon’s rooftop patio! The open-air space is the perfect place for cocktails and dinner, enjoyed out in the sunshine. The roof officially opens today at 5:30pm!The roof, open daily from 5:30pm to 9:30pm, has seating for 25—no reservations, just first-come, first-served. The full menu will be available on the roof—drop by for an afternoon snack of or stay for a full dinner. There will be a small bar topside: two draft beers and two draft cocktails will be available, as well as a selection of wines: two each or red, white, and rosé. Bar manager Jon Christiansen will be coming up with the tap cocktails, and they’re sure to be perfect summertime sippers.Just to make to sunny deck even more enticing, Christiansen will also be relocating Ba Bar’s infamous slushy machine to the roof to churn out icy, boozy slushies! There will be two chilly cocktails available for your brain-freezing pleasure.CHS wrote about the longtime 19th Ave E restaurant’s expansion — and hillside removal project! — here. - Natural pairing: Seattle food trucks and Uncle Ike’s. Meanwhile, a few blocks away Chuck’s also features an outstanding schedule of mobile chow providers.
- Why is she smiling? Rachel’s Ginger Beer 12th Ave is now open.
- Why is she smiling? Chophouse Row is now open (but it’s restaurants and bars are still coming soon)
- Why is this guy smiling? He built a retractable dome patio for his new Broadway bar, Herb and Bitter.
- Now serving lunch: Rumba.
- Now serving Rumba: Lamar Neagle.
- Now serving a “large-format cocktail” that “serves four” and “comes in a fountain”: Canon.
- Now raising community funding to expand its Central District cafe: Broadcast Coffee.
- Expanding to Tacoma: Rhein Haus.
- Expanding to South Lake Union: Meat and Bread
- Apparently every Seattle neighborhood will have every Seattle (and Vancouver BC!) food+drink concept.
- So, which amazing restaurant project will lay claim to the old Harvard Exit?
| This week’s CHS food+drink advertiser directory | |
This will be a welcome addition to the neighborhood. Bottleneck style plus burgers = hoorah!!!
I look forward to more $18 dollar hamburgers.
I doubt they’ll have $18 burgers. Erin and Rachel are wonderful and I was a big fan of Tommy Gun, which sadly is now closed. Their food and especially their drinks were affordable.
I’m looking forward to what will hopefully be a great burger in an area that doesn’t have too many family-friendly restaurants. Tommy Gun always touted “white collar drinks at blue collar prices”, so I trust that this place will be similar. I’m really glad that the tv won’t be on other than a few major games and looking forward to watching the Sounders there! Also a bonus that this place is run by a nice couple that lives in the neighborhood. We need more queer women owned local businesses!
If their burgers are great, then, I’ll be a regular.