Category Archives: Food & Drink

Can do? City working with two Capitol Hill clubs after big trash and recycling bills

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Seattle Public Utilities says it is working with two Capitol Hill clubs that have racked up big garbage charges after a program to remove dumpsters from Pike/Pine streets was rolled out this fall.

Ownership at Neumos and Chop Suey have complained about large bills, SPU says, after joining other area businesses in the change to three-times-a-day garbage, and twice-a-day recycling pickup using plastic bags in an effort to remove dumpsters from sidewalks and streets to make the neighborhood, officials hope, cleaner and safer.

For some, the program is also more expensive. Neumos co-owner Jason LaJeunesse has complained of what he says is a 255% jump in the club’s garbage bill under the new system which puts the 10th/Pike establishment on pace for more than $4,000 per month in trash and recycling pickup fees. “Have you guys heard any grumblings from business owners about the extreme financial hikes in the city mandated garbage program?” LaJuenesse asked in an email sent to media earlier this month. “Neumos is 35-40k a year more, when we were guaranteed it would be a 17% hike in cost.”

While SPU says Chop Suey has also complained of a big jump, other business owners around Pike/Pine CHS spoke with said the costs were high but in line with past charges. Continue reading →

Expect a line on E Pike as holiday hype boosts demand for Sun Liquor’s aged eggnog

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(Image: Sun Liquor)

(Image: Sun Liquor)

Here is why you are probably going to see a long line in front of Capitol Hill’s Sun Liquor Bottle Shop Thursday afternoon. Their aged eggnog is really, really good.

Another reason: The hype this year has grown as thick as the nog thanks to Seattle Times writer Tan Vinh’s obsession with the drink as the paper teased the arrival of the Capitol Hill creation in area chain Total Wine’s stores.

Thursday, locals will have a small advantage as the E Pike distillery will put a portion of its remaining 2016 inventory up for sale “first come, first served” —

Egg Nog Pop Up Shop
Thursday at 2 PM – 8 PM
516 E Pike

We will have a limited # of bottles of our Sun Liquor Aged Egg Nog available for purchase at the Bottle Shop! First come, first served.

In addition to possibly scoring a few bottles of the coveted drink’s 2016 incarnation — a little more brandy, we hear — you can look at the hype as a celebration of Sun’s success on Capitol Hill including its expansion to create the bottle shop earlier this year and its ramped up production capabilities across the street on E Pike.

If eggnog isn’t your thing, Thursday night also brings a Pre-Chanukah Party- Latkeh Cook Off with community group Chabad of Capitol Hill. Or maybe both nog and latkeh can be your things. It’s the holidays. Enjoy.

Clever Cook Weaver: Now hosting nightly Capitol Hill ‘dinner party’

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The “inauthentic Eurasian” tagline isn’t the only thing clever going on at Cook Weaver, newly opened in Capitol Hill’s historic and really quite lovely Loveless Building.

“We’ve been in here every day for three months,” front of house guy Nile Klein tells CHS. “When I see people walk by, I go out, introduce myself, tell them what we’re up to, and give tastes.”

One by one, Klein and chef Zac Reynolds — the back of house guy — have already won the neighbors in the slice of Capitol Hill including the dense cliffs of I-5 Shores and the stately avenues of the Harvard-Belmont district.

The new restaurant opened for business Saturday with hopes of creating a new dining experience north of the Broadway core that is just clever enough to be intriguing to draw in the increasingly competitive Capitol Hill food and drink scene while still giving neighbors a place to call their own. Continue reading →

The great Capitol Hill pizza boom of 2016: Southpaw makes it five

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https://twitter.com/FreeRadical73/status/807317913342341120

The margins are good — “We can make this into something that is a little more entry level that can still have my stamp when it comes to quality level,” longtime Capitol Hill chef John Sundstrom told CHS earlier this year about the plans for his new Lark sibling Southpaw.

The new restaurant is opening this weekend as the fifth new pizza joint to debut on Capitol Hill in 2016 — sixth if you count Italian Family Pizza’s move to Boren and Madison. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s Raygun Lounge rolling out barcade expansion, espresso

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(Image: Gamma Ray Games/Raygun Lounge)

(Image: Gamma Ray Games/Raygun Lounge)

Fans of Gamma Ray Games and Raygun Lounge have likely noticed some changes and can expect a few more in the coming months.

A grand reopening to celebrate the overhaul including new lighting, and some layout changes for the combined Capitol Hill retail/gaming/eating/drinking space is planned for Saturday. More arcade games, coffee and beer taps are on their way.

“The neighborhood has changed a lot and the market has changed a lot so we’re kind of adjusting,” owner Eric Logan told CHS. “…What we used to do worked seven years ago. It doesn’t work today.” Continue reading →

Capitol Lounge joining the Comet on E Pike

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screen-shot-2016-12-07-at-10-46-58-amAfter sitting empty for two years, the lounge space formerly home to the Lobby Bar has cracked back into motion in recent weeks with the bang bang bang of hammers and the whir of saws and sanders. Japanese hot dog king Shinsuke Nikaido is at work on E Pike again.

No, he’s not building a cat cafe.

Nikaido tells CHS the under construction Capitol Lounge will be a bar and night spot with booze, music, and dancing. It will neighbor his Ikina Sushi which debuted this summer in the madness of the main stage crowd at the Capitol Hill Block Party.

Nikaido knows the area’s nightlife well. His business has been serving Japanese-style hot dogs from his Gourmet Dog Japon carts since 2010. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill food+drink | Elysian plans ‘brewing amphitheater’ overhaul on Capitol Hill

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After 20 years of making a name for itself, Elysian Brewing can now focus on other goals, like a complete overhaul of its Capitol Hill location to keep up with the neighborhood’s increasingly impressive craft manufacturing investments.

Elysian cofounder and CEO Joe Bisacca tells CHS there will be some major changes throughout the E Pike brewery, but the main objective is to make the craft the focus.

“We want to bring the brewing aspect to the forefront in that space,” Bisacca said.

Bisacca said plans include tearing down a wall, opening up and reconfiguring the brewery portion and adding five fermentors. The vision is to create a “brewing amphitheater” with stadium seating and comfortable tiers of tables so customers can enjoy the brew while they cheer on the brewmaster.

“The idea is when we’re brewing customers can sit and have a beer pretty much right in there with us,” Bisacca said. Continue reading →

On Broadway, Pho Cyclo is now The Pho

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In the biggest Broadway pho news since Than Brothers moved across the street, Pho Cyclo is gone. Welcome, The Pho.

The new sign went up Thursday. The deal, however, went down way back in October of 2015, a representative for new owner Sam Cho tells CHS. We expect many didn’t notice the new ownership which is good news when it comes to hot soup “starting at $4.99.”

In 2013, CHS spoke with Pho Cyclo’s Taylor Hoang about her near decade at the Broadway favorite and her approach to creating food and drink ventures in the city. “Seeing how hard they worked in restaurant business — seven days a week,” Hoang told CHS back then. “I didn’t want that for myself. So we put in time and effort to develop procedures.” In the run-up to the approval of Seattle’s $15 minimum wage plan, Hoang joined a chorus of business figures opposing the measure. “You ask why if we’re not profitable we keep going. We keep going in the hopes that tomorrow will be a better day,” Hoang told the council.

Though Capitol Hill’s food and drink scene swings more and more toward the midscale and up, Broadway continues to make a home for pho. In 2014, the retreat from Broadway of chain restaurant Qdoba made way for Than Brothers to upgrade with a move across the street.

Unlike the Than Brothers chain and Hoang, who has been part of multiple restaurants in the city, we’re told Cho is more of an investor than a restaurateur. Fans of the relatively giant pho joint are likely happy about the investment.

The Pho is located at 406 Broadway E. You can learn more at thephobroadwaycapitolhill.com.

CHS Pics | Let it Bean, Let it Bean — When the Vivace line is too lonnnng, Let it Bean

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You’ve probably already seen the news rocking the coffee world.

Yes, Capitol Hill’s only drive-thru coffee stand has a new owner.

Candace Smith took over the former TNT Espresso this fall. With a new trans flag-colored paint job and under a new name — Let it Bean — the 80-square-foot coffee stand in the teriyaki restaurant parking lot at Broadway and Harrison continues to serve Capitol Hill customers on the go. Its presence presents one of our favorite choices on Broadway — stand in the Vivace walk-up line, or get a move-on and visit the shack. Continue reading →

Sugar Hill ‘Thai chicken and rice’ restaurant and bar ready to join Capitol Hill 2016 openings

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UPDATE 12/8/2016: Following a VIP pre-funk party last week, Sugar Hill has been open for drinks and plans to kick its kitchen into gear Thursday, owner Guitar Srisuthiamorn tells CHS.

Sugarhill, not open quite yet, at 414 E Pine

Sugar Hill, not open quite yet, at 414 E Pine

The waves of new openings across Capitol Hill have definitely slowed — but not by much. A few more Capitol Hill joints might make it in under the 2016 wire including E Pine’s Sugar Hill.

It hasn’t been an easy sprint to the finish for the “contemporary Thai chicken and rice restaurant and bar” from restaurant veteran Guitar Srisuthiamorn. The buildout of the former Bauhaus space — and onetime Capitol Club — has stretched out longer than planned but she tells CHS an opening is in site with hopes to begin service in the next week or so. The liquor license for cocktails, beer, and wine is in place. The permit for a new sign out front has been issued. The buildout is nearly complete. The plan is to be open from 11 AM to 2 AM, every day.

UPDATE: They’re open.cyokx95viaawp9r

Continue reading →