PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.

 

A new food and drink venture with Capitol Hill roots and centered around inclusivity and non-alcoholic enjoyment is under construction just downhill in Madison Valley. Its 2022 opening in the area around Madison and MLK will hopefully be part of a pulse of recovery for blocks that have been recently hit by food and drink shutterings and shutdowns.

Business and life partners Marceil Van Camp and Katy Knauff say the opening of Kamp later this year along E Madison will be the first of many for a concept the experienced restaurant consultants know their Capitol Hill, Central District, and Madison Valley neighbors are looking for.

“It shouldn’t be an ask — ‘Do you have non-alcoholic options?,'” Van Camp tells CHS.

Kamp will be a bistro providing cocktails, beers, and wines — with alcohol and without — with daytime and nighttime aspirations of serving Madison Valley. Kamp will gracefully serve everyone, Van Camp says, whether you want your Negroni wet, damp, or dry.

The new project will launch from an alcohol-soaked and sugar-coated base. CHS reported here on the short-lived stay of cocktail confetti and decoration maker Snowy River in the former home of Thierry Rautureau’s longtime Madison Valley favorite Luc.

For Van Camp, Kamp will bring her work supporting sobriety and “NA” trends into the physical world. Van Camp started The Dry Year as a social media and information outlet to support the “sober curious” as she set out to find a healthier, less indulgent path to food and drink entertainment.

“I found that this past summer I was over indulging, and I was just starting to think about giving myself a break,” Van Camp told the Seattle Times about The Dry Year earlier in 2022. “I was talking about it with a group of friends who are in the drag community in Capitol Hill. I learned most of them were dry. They really were my first advocates to show me that you can still be sober and social.”

Now Kamp is being readied to take shape. Van Camp says they began “breaking down the walls” as construction started on a full overhaul of the space earlier this month. Capitol Hill design firm Awful Good is helping with the look and feel for the first Kamp venue.

Kamp will hopefully be a boost for Madison Valley which has suffered a few notable losses in its food and drink scene in recent months. The old Essential Bakery space remains shuttered after the Love + Flour cafe that replaced it as the pandemic hit folded. Across the street, Aglio e Olio also remains shuttered after a fire damaged its strip mall home but ownership at the Italian favorite with legendary meatball subs tells CHS it plans to reopen after insurance issues are settled and the building can be fully repaired. Its neighbors Teriyaki Seven and the fire-damaged Madison Cleaners are also hoped to return.

The addition of new energy from Capitol Hill residents Knauff and Van Camp will also help. Van Camp says they both are “big bike riders” so know Madison Valley well and consider it part of their neighborhood loop. And soon they’ll be able to serve the neighborhood — whether you want a sandwich or a non-alcoholic mai tai.

Kamp is planned to open this summer at 2800 E Madison. Follow @kampseattle for updates.

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.