The busy final weekend of Cafe Presse on Capitol Hill is a prelude. Even as the beloved 12th Ave cafe was bidding adieu to the neighborhood it has comfortably fed since the summer of 2007, there were preparations for what will come next.
The final days for Presse, then are a different kind of wrapping up. CHS stopped by to be part of the procession through the cafe that has seen a busy flow of customers come in for a last croque madame or croque monsieur following its December announcement that the restaurant would close down with owners Jim Drohman and Joanne Herron deciding to sell as they wind down toward retirement. They’re 1st Ave Le Pichet is also hoped to find a new buyer.
Cafe Presse has had a rich, long life as far as restaurants go.
“In Seattle, a restaurant that lasts 15 years is really an oddity,” Drohman told CHS in December. “It is gratifying and amazing that people like what you do.”
First-time owner chef Grayson Corrales will refresh the 12th Ave space with MariPili, a Spanish-American tapas restaurant with influences from Spain’s northwest Galicia region in a revamped venue that will shift away from the all-day, all-night ambience of Cafe Presse.
“I am hoping to bring the most beautiful and relatable culture I can from Galicia,” she told CHS last year about her plans.
The focus in the beginning will be dinner before eventual expansion to weekend brunch. Happy hour will arrive and signal things are flowing well in the new venture. The central bar will not go to waste. MariPili’s focus will be on gin and tonics, and a sherry menu. The tap will switch out to Estrella Galicia and there will be exclusive Spanish and Washington wines.
There is hope for an April opening for MariPili. The block will also add Anchorhead Coffee with plans for a new cafe and bakery in the former Stumptown space next door.
For now, Capitol Hill cafe goers are experiencing their second 2022 bout of crying over delicious food in an about to close favorite hangout. CHS stopped by for the happy final days at 11th Ave’s Cafe Pettirosso here last week.
Cafe Presse, meanwhile, is planning to serve its final customers on Sunday, February 13th.
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