The old Olmstead and former Broadway Grill has new owners

(Image: Paradise)

Welcome to Paradise. The story of the next Capitol Hill food and drink venture hoping to keep the spirit of the old Broadway Grill alive is the story of the changes — and non-changes — underway on the 300 block of Capitol Hill’s main drag.

Paradise is a new Mexican joint also hoping to put the location’s reputation as a diner back into motion with a menu ranging from burritos to burgers. It is now open and testing out what customers will be most interested in. Its liquor license and other additions like DJ and music nights, and game parties in the space’s large TV area are still to come.

Fabian Muñoz says his co-owners know the neighborhood and hope Paradise will grow into its place on the block.

CHS reported here last month on the plans for Paradise and its connection to Rainier Ave’s La Herradura and its “Tacos, Burritos, Botanas, and more” approach that also includes daytime hours and breakfast.

It turns out, the neighboring Teriyaki & Wok next door on the corner is also part of the restaurant business family after they acquired the takeout joint earlier this year. They also run Antojitos Jalisco which has made the teriyaki joint’s parking lot and former coffee shack its food truck home.

Paradise and its 300 block Broadway E food and drink family growing in this core of Capitol Hill are the kind of thing you see around prolific neighborhood real estate investor Ron Amundson. CHS reported here in 2019 as Amundson purchased the former Broadway Grill property and set about fixing it up to find a new tenant. “It definitely will be kicking back into life,” Amundson told CHS then. “Paint, lights, a clean-up. It’s time.”

Amundson already owned the neighboring corner parcel home to the teriyaki joint.

The restaurant project that ultimately grew in the overhauled grill space lasted five years. CHS reported in September as Olmstead held a going out of business garage sale as it shuttered after.

As we reported five years ago, Amundson belongs to a generation of independent, smaller scale real estate investment that have hung on despite the increased presence of national investors. Much of Amundson’s holdings are dedicated to “buy and hold” and making space for neighborhood businesses. He also has backed development of some of his properties over the years with some plans playing out over years.

Next to Dick’s Drive-in, The one-time Del Teet furniture building was designed by Frederick Anhalt long before a preservation incentive-boosted development from Amundson converted it to mixed-use in the last decade. Capitol Hill’s location of the Hollywood Video chain shuttered suddenly there in 2009. The new version of the building includes the chain’s old neon sign. CHS reported here last month on a new small grocery store called Neighborhood Market lined up to join the building’s street level along with the Don’t Yell At Me bubble tea chain that opened there in late 2022 below the building’s floors of apartments above.

Someday, the 300 block of Broadway E could get a similar treatment. The north end of the Broadway core already has one new six-story development in motion destined to demolish and rise above the block where Bait Shop stands today.

A few blocks south, the Amundson properties home to Paradise and its food and drink brothers remain in “buy and hold” mode.

Given the pace of change at other Amundson properties, Muñoz and his partners will have plenty of time make Paradise a successful part of Broadway.

Paradise is open at 314 Broadway E and expecting to add its liquor license soon.

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