(Image: Cheese Room)

With one end of the block going Voodoo pink, the other is going Cheese Room red.

Restaurateurs Heong Soon Park and Scott Han have announced details and a planned opening next week for their new dinner venture set to keep the corner of Pine and Melrose part of the neighborhood’s food and drink community.

“Capitol Hill has been my second home since opening my first restaurant with Chef Park. The community, its people and our fellow businesses in the area are all so special. I’m proud to bring another restaurant to the neighborhood,” Han says in the announcement.

A soft opening is planned for May 15th.

The duo behind Meet Korean BBQ say they hope to acknowledge the history of the corner where Machiavelli became a neighborhood staple before moving out to focus on a new Edmonds location earlier this year after being unable to arrive at an agreement on a new lease with landlord the Prado Group. A visit to Cheese Room will, the owners hope, feel familiar, — the reopening of the space comes with no major redesign or overhaul with the new restaurant “wanting to keep the same spirit and charm of its former predecessor alive.”

But there will be changes behind the freshly painted red door.

Cheese Room will feature an Italian menu but cheese will take center stage. “Guests should expect a rotating selection of cheese and wine – both international & domestic – to indulge in, as well as an Italian-inspired dining menu, connected by a global theme of cheeses from around the world, including the USA, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland. and France,” the announcement reads.

Veal ragu bianco with “fresh pappardelle and five-year aged Gouda from the Netherlands,” a grilled cheese sandwich made with “house-made Ricotta and served with a creamy tomato bisque,” and a Dungeness Crab ravioli “filled with Camembert from France,” will be launch menu highlights.

Wine and classic cocktails with Italian inspirations will also be part of the draw.

Cheese Room will bring to an end Capitol Hill’s eight long, hard years without a dedicated cheese bar.

The new Cheese Room will also be part of this changing stretch of Pine after Prado Group acquired the building for $5 million in 2022. A connective point between the Hill and downtown, the western corner is being covered in a coat of doughnut box-pink this week in preparation for the first Seattle expansion of Voodoo Doughnuts set to open soon replacing Pho 4 U and Lan Hand-Pulled Noodles.

As much as Park and Han hope Cheese Room appeals to the neighborhood, there is also the downtown opportunity and tourist business to consider. Up around the corner on Melrose, a steady flow of visitors passes through the massive Starbucks Roastery every day, still massively popular even ten years after its debut. There will also be llines at Voodoo.

With cheese as its hook, Cheese Room hopes to carry on the “approachable and affordable” spirit of the corner with appeal to visitors, everybody in line, and the neighborhood allike.

Cheese Room will open soon at 1215 Pine. Learn more at cheeseroomseattle.com.

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