Tag Archives: chophouse row

Buoyed by community support, The Seattle Grind expands to Capitol Hill

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(Image: The Seattle Grind)

It has been a busy season of new additions and change in the cafe scene around Capitol Hill. The latest will come this weekend along 11th Ave where a coffee shop familiar to Space Needle visitors is expanding to Capitol Hill’s Chophouse Row.

Owner Mehmet and Ezgi Gültekin say they are excited to expand The Seattle Grind from across from the Seattle Center to a center of Capitol Hill commerce and community.

“We’ve had the idea of opening a second location in mind for a long time, but we specifically wanted a space with real character and soul — like Chophouse Row,” Mehmet Gültekin said. “As soon as the opportunity came up, we jumped on it immediately because we knew it was the perfect home for The Seattle Grind.” Continue reading →

At Sea’d In, the wood fire is burning again in Capitol Hill’s Chophouse Row

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Two of the most important names in the Pike/Pine business community are behind the creation of Sea’d In, a new Capitol Hill restaurant that treats fish like fine steak.

Chef Heong Soon Park said the spark for the wood fire-powered concept came in a call from Chophouse Row developer Liz Dunn, who Park credits with keeping Capitol Hill’s character intact as the neighborhood changes and grows. She had a showcase restaurant space open and one question for him up front: Did he like cooking with fire?

Park had already been circling an idea for a seafood restaurant, something he had originally pictured closer to the water, but that concept never found the right home. When Dunn reached out, he brought the idea to her instead, and the two of them worked out the shape of it together. “She inspired me, and then I filled in the blanks,” he says.

While Dunn — Chophouse Row, the Piston & Ring Building, Melrose Market — is the shaper of many of the core commercial spaces of modern-day Capitol Hill, Park is responsible for a growing fleet of neighborhood restaurants.

Park’s first venture in Capitol Hill’s restaurant scene was Meet Korean BBQ which has been part of Capitol Hill since its inauspicious opening in the winter of 2020 only weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns hit.

In 2024, Park took on the reinvention of a space that had been home to a deeply rooted Capitol Hill food legend with the transformation that saw his Grana Padano and Parmesan-laden Cheese Room take over the longtime Melrose at Pine home of Machiavelli as its ownership decided to focus on its Edmonds location. Continue reading →

Treating fish like fine steak, Sea’d In brings ‘dry-aged seafood’ to Capitol Hill

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(Image: Sea’d In)

Heong Soon Park’s approach to “dry-aged seafood” and “open-fire cooking” is now on display at Sea’d In, the chef’s newest addition to the Capitol Hill food and drink scene.

Bringing a technique traditionally reserved for fine steak to fresh seafood, the Sea’d In kitchen dry-ages fish to draw out moisture, intensify umami, and create a richer texture before finishing it over open flames using a wood-fired hearth and grill.

“At Sea’d In, we believe that the finest seafood isn’t just caught—it is crafted. We have stripped the modern kitchen back to its two most honest foundations: Time and Fire,” the Sea’d In pitch reads. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s Tailwind Cafe is keeping the cycling culture as sibling bike shop Good Weather Bicycles pedals off for new start

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(Image: Tailwind Cafe)

(Image: Tailwind Cafe)

After seven years as a staple of Capitol Hill’s Chophouse Row, Tailwind Cafe is beginning a new ride under new ownership as its sibling bike shop Good Weather Bicycles makes its own way in a new location.

Originally moving into 11th Ave’s Chophouse Row development in 2017 as a hybrid bicycle shop and cafe, the business celebrated its five-year anniversary in 2022 by expanding its food menu and cocktail efforts. To allow both concepts room to grow, co-owners Brandon Waterman and Jason Marqusee moved the bicycle repair and shop operations a block away to 1423 10th Ave last October. The move separated the “dirty work” of bike maintenance from the community cafe space, paving the way for the cafe’s latest evolution.

This summer, Waterman and Marqusee finalized the sale of Tailwind Cafe to new family owners Tushar and Vivek Gupta. A central condition of the sale for the founders was preserving the existing team and culture. Waterman says the entire staff is being kept on as the new investors take over. Continue reading →

Next week, a first-ever ‘Spring Fashion Walk’ will connect 50+ Pike/Pine businesses

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“An immersive art experience by LA Wiltbank in the freight elevator” will be part of the Chophouse Row end of things (Image: LA Wiltbank )

Capitol Hill developer Liz Dunn, Chophouse Row, Melrose Market, and the crew behind event organizers On The Block are leading a new effort around Pike/Pine fashion and small businesses. CHS is giving you some early notice to give you time to work on your outfit.

The inaugural Pike/Pine Social: Spring Fashion Walk will take place Saturday and Sunday, May 17th and 18th at Melrose Market, 11th Ave’s Chophouse Row, and up and down Pike and Pine at the neighborhood’s shops, restaurants, and “creative spaces.”

“What makes Pike/Pine special is its texture and grit—the layered history you feel in both the physical architecture and the spirit of the shops and restaurants,” Dunn writes in a guest editorial in Seattle Business Magazine (PDF) setting up the new event.

“Seattle’s culture is not something that exists just for us to consume; we are all participants in shaping it.” Continue reading →

With Sea’d In, Heong Soon Park is becoming the biggest name in Capitol Hill food and drink

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It’s not Ethan Stowell or Renee Erickson.

The biggest restaurateur on Capitol Hill is chef Heong Soon Park who is preparing to open his fourth food and drink venture in the neighborhood with Sea’d In inside Chophouse Row.

Park’s newest concept will bring fresh Pacific Northwest seafood to the Row’s inner restaurant space and courtyard, replacing wine bar Light Sleeper after its closure earlier this year.

Sea’d In will join a mix of food and drink in the 11th Ave development including the elevated Vietnamese of Xóm and the comfortable Tailwind Cafe at Good Weather Bikes.

The refined seafood venture is a prime example of Park’s continued growth in the neighborhood as he takes over a fantastic space in a grade “A” location and fills it with thoughtfully rendered concepts and farm-fresh ingredients. Continue reading →

Born into the pandemic, Chophouse Row wine bar Light Sleeper is closing

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Light Sleeper was born with a mask on into the teeth of the pandemic and made the best of things with takeout and bottles to go

Honey, wake up, Chophouse Row’s “vins sans intrants” and “roast chicken, fries & pizza pies” hangout Light Sleeper is closing.

“Opening a spot as an independent operator is very personal. Lots of dreaming and sacrifice. Lots of fear and joy. The costs to do this in Seattle are insane… some can pull it off, others can’t,” sommelier owner Ezra Wick said in the announcement that wine-focused restaurant is set to close in February after six years inside 11th Ave’s Chophouse Row.

“I started my career in restaurants on Pike/Pine, cooking breakfast at the Puss Puss Café over 30 years ago. I’ve been pouring wine on this block for 16 years, Osteria La Spiga, Bar Ferdinand, Sitka and Spruce – I met and fell in love with my wife on this block. Shit, I was born seven blocks away. It’s personal.” Continue reading →

‘If your gut is healthy, your mind is healthy’ — Anbai is growing bento by bento from the Chophouse Row counter

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(Image: Anbai)

Another Capitol Hill counter expert has helped Anbai’s start — Rie Otsuka, right, has lended some of her experience growing Sankaku Japanese Onigiri Cafe and Bar to Mukohata (Image: Anbai)

By Emily Riehl

The mix of small spaces for shops and restaurants inside the warrens of Capitol Hill’s Chophouse Row have provided homes for some of the neighborhood’s most interesting businesses.

One of those spaces is currently host to one of those ventures you — and your tummy — should check out.

Meanwhile, another food and drink project benefitting from Chophouse is ready to strike out for a new start away from the challenging and expensive environment of Seattle.

Tummy, meet Anbai, the latest resident of perhaps the most interesting space inside this 11th Ave collection of interesting spaces — the Chophouse Row counter.

“Focusing on improving your gut health through fermented delicious healthy food” is the guiding mantra of Anbai. Run nearly single-handedly by owner Fumiyo Mukohata, the eatery is just getting started, serving up a variety of bento boxes and nutrient-packed dishes designed to boost digestion, fight inflammation, and protect your gut from toxins.

About 20 years ago, Mukohata moved from Japan with expertise in the “the inner beauty diet” emphasizing fermented foods rich in probiotics that support digestion and gut health. After her daughter developed multiple allergies, Mukohata became deeply interested in how certain foods can benefit health, eventually discovering that traditional fermented Japanese foods like miso, and shoyu koji were particularly helpful.

“The gut and the brain are connected. If your gut is healthy, your mind is healthy,” says Mukohata. Continue reading →

Xóm’s elevated Vietnamese now open in Capitol Hill’s Chophouse Row

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Of all the spaces on Capitol Hill that feel deeply ingrained in the neighborhood, few were created in the last decade’s waves of redevelopment. Some will eventually weave their way into the fabric but the new spaces tend to be larger and more separated from the Hill, designed to fit a variety of possible commercial tenants. A rarity in this mix, the now eight-year-old Chophouse Row development’s core restaurant space a has new start this autumn and is full of neighborhood-ful life with the opening of Xóm, a new “elevated” Vietnamese joint from an under-30 restaurateur who already has multiple openings under his belt.

CHS reported last month on the plan for Cuong Nguyen to take over the space formerly home to Marmite as Seattle food and drink veteran Bruce Naftaly planned his retirement from the industry.

Nguyen’s new restaurant has now moved in and added a few personal touches including new plants and indoor trees in the food and drink space at the core of Chophouse Row. The name was chosen to express the idea of a tight-knit neighborhood, Nguyen says. Continue reading →

Xóm ready to create a new Vietnamese food+drink ‘neighborhood’ in Capitol Hill’s Chophouse Row

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A young Seattle restaurateur will be filling big shoes — and big bowls — with his latest project Xóm set to take over the space left empty by the closure of Marmite in Chophouse Row.

To add to the challenge, Xóm won’t even be the first new restaurant 27-year-old Cuong Nguyen has opened this year.

It is a fitting changeover. Seattle restaurant veteran Bruce Naftaly created Marmite around his soup and broth creations. Nguyen’s Xóm has his family’s contributions to the Seattle area pho scene at its base.

Nguyen was born in Vietnam, moved to Seattle in 2005. By 2008, his parents opened Pho Ha in Shoreline and he began working there as a teenager. While it was first seen as a task, he found his passion in the family-owned business. While managing Pho Ha, Nguyen opened Ong Lam Bistro in Greenwood in January.

“I can’t go back home too often. I wanted to make something like home work here, especially for a lot of the elder immigrants that got here in 1970-80. Because of the political issue, a lot of them still avoid trying to go back, even though they miss home because that’s where they are from,” Nguyen told CHS.

Continue reading →