Tag Archives: food

Capitol Hill Cooks | Olive oil flatbreads, a.k.a. matzo, inspired by Nagle at Pine

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(Image: Em for CHS)

(Image: Em for CHS)

Certain flavors are inextricably tied to their own seasons: a ripe peach in the height of summer, the springtime crunch of a sugar snap pea, a warm fig from a sunny tree branch in early fall.  And also, for our family, matzo.

It’s been a year since matzo was last in season, which had given my kids time to get excited about it again.  I opened a box this afternoon and handed around crisp cracker shards.  There was a moment of crunching, a wrinkled nose, and then a polite verdict: “It’s ok.”  You probably won’t be surprised to learn that you can make a much better version of matzo yourself.  We got to work right away.

This crisp cracker is welcome year round at our house.  It’s good all by itself, but you can make it even more special by topping it with fancy salts and seasonings.  One of my favorite adornments for this cracker (for many things, really) is SugarPill’s fennel and nigella salt.  I like a generous dusting, which is probably overly salty to most palates if you’re eating the matzo alone—but it’s sublime sandwiching a generous dollop of charoset and horseradish. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill food+drink | Billiards, bowling and Broadway — 18-year veteran Garage building new connection to the street

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IMG_6825, originally uploaded by jseattle.

Sorry for the delay in this week’s food+drink notes. CHS suffered a major disruption thanks to a power outage with our site hosting service. If you’re not a friend of our social media accounts, you might consider making a note of the CHS Facebook page and @jseattle on Twitter to keep in touch during any site outages.

The Garage pre-dates the food and drink neighborhood that has grown up around it — and is coming its way by foot and by train.

“When we opened in 1995, there wasn’t that much going on on Capitol Hill,” the bowling and pool hall’s Mike Bitando tells CHS.

“When they were talking about the patio — back then, they wanted to create a space to get away from Broadway.”

This week, the 18-year Hill nightlife veteran begins an overhaul of its connection to the street with a couple hundred thousand dollar redesign of its Broadway patio that will transform the space into a stage to be seen and see the energy of the street outside — and add a new bar, a sure to be popular fire pit and, of course, a Seattle rain-inspired roof to keep the space active year round.

“Let’s open it up so you can sit out there, be seen, see other people, see the streetcar,” Bitando said about the project. Continue reading →

More changes in store for 15th Ave E: Four-story apartment project replacing Chutney’s

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Screen shot 2013-03-15 at 11.47.01 AMThere are more big changes coming for the corner of 15th Ave E and E Mercer than the impending closure of The Canterbury. A developer already busy on the Hill has quietly filed plans for a four-story, 33-apartment mixed-use building to replace the longtime home of Chutney’s Grille on the Hill on the northwest corner of the intersection.

Details on the project are still hush hush but the planned building will take its turn in front of the Seattle design review board in the first week of April. Chutney’s remains open at the location it has called home since at least 2002 (we’re trying to track down an opening date). CHS recommends the chicken tikka masala.

According to King County records, real estate investors purchased the property in December for $1.4 million. The developer on the project is Steam Real Estate. The company is also behind this Stream Belmont project. The architect Nicholson Kovalchick is also a familiar name on the Hill.

In addition to the 40-foot building, underground parking is planned for 23 to 25 cars. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill food+drink | What’s next for The Canterbury — Plus, Cintli opening, Russian dumplings, etc.

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15th at Mercer in 1957 (Image via Seattle Before & After)

15th at Mercer in 1957 (Image via Seattle Before & After — More great 15th Ave images here)

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Stefanie Roberge, an accidental bar owner, says at this point, she just wants to see The Canterbury live on.

“Basically, Capitol Hill Housing wants a yuppie place,” she says of the news CHS broke Monday that the much-loved dive bar was losing its lease for the 15th Ave E at E Mercer corner it has called home since 1976.

Stefanie and her husband David live on 15th Ave E in a house less than stone’s throw from The Canterbury and the Capitol Hill Housing-owned Fredonia Apartments building that she has owned since the late 70s. Roberge bought the house back when much of Capitol Hill was still red-lined and bank loans — especially for a single woman — were almost impossible to procure.

The couple have owned The Canterbury for more than a decade after acquiring it from its original owner Peggy Clark. At the turn of the millenium, Clark was forced to sell the Fredonia and her bar as she struggled to recover from a judgement over The Canterbury’s unpaid employment taxes. Roberge says it was a tragic situation involving Clark’s son, addiction and crippling debt. A buyer for the bar was lined up but backed out leaving a $10,000 deposit on the table. That sudden discount and Clark’s scramble for a buyer led the Canterbury regulars to new careers as barkeeps. Continue reading →

Demolition begins for B&O building as six-story apartment project digs in

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Thanks to Lauren for the picture. Video below

Thanks to Lauren for the picture. Video below

The big snorts are working and the hose guy is busy where the tracks come together at Belmont and E Olive Way. The demolition of the building that housed B&O Espresso since 1976 is underway.

Before we get too nostalgic for the Spirit of ’76 around here, B&O’s ownership has plans to return to the corner in a few years when the mixed-use apartment project is completed. Meanwhile, you can find B&O chilling in Ballard these days. We used to be friends.

It should be noted, also, that B&O wasn’t the only business to call the building home.

The 1976 history post linked above — and here again! — will also do a good job of telling you about what comes next for the corner.

Continue reading →

After 37 years, The Canterbury’s days at 15th and Mercer are numbered

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It only seems like The Canterbury has been on 15th Ave E since ye olde tymes. By the end of 2013, it will have likely moved on.

Capitol Hill Housing, owners of the Fredonia Apartments building The Canterbury has called home since 1976, confirmed to CHS that the “Ale & Eats” bar’s lease will expire at the end of the year and is not being renewed.

A spokesperson for the nonprofit developer said he could not provide more details citing a policy against discussing “lease issues” with tenants.

The Canterbury remains open and, as of Sunday night, was still doing its thing on 15th Ave E. UPDATE: An employee we spoke with says the plan is to shutter the bar and that staff is not aware of any plans to try to relocate.

We have messages out to The Canterbury’s owners David and Stefanie Roberge to try to find out more about the situation and will update when we know more. The couple celebrated The Canterbury’s long run at the corner of 15th and E Mercer in fall of 2011 with a weekend celebration promising “old school prices, food and drink specials and prizes!” Continue reading →