Chop Shop, housed in the new Chophouse Row complex on Capitol Hill, specializes in local, seasonal dishes, with plenty of vegetables.
Chop Shop, housed in the new Chophouse Row complex on Capitol Hill, specializes in local, seasonal dishes, with plenty of vegetables. Jim Henkens

• Chop Shop Cafe and Bar, from chef Ericka Burke (who also owns Volunteer Park Cafe) is now open in the new Chophouse Row complex on Capitol Hill. The food is very Pacific Northwest: well-sourced, local, and seasonal, with plenty of vegetables. A signature meat chop (pork, lamb, etc.) will always be on the menu. Chop Shop currently serves dinner (mostly small plates), and will offer breakfast and lunch (from the in-house juice bar, which will offer fresh juices, housemade pastries, and other grab-and-go items) in the coming weeks.

• Jackson's Catfish Corner has opened on Rainier Avenue, just south of Hillman City, in a little plaza that is also home to Karibu, an Ethiopian-owned barber shop, and Auto Fitness Detail, a hand car-washing business. Since May, Terrell Jackson, grandson of Woodrow and Rosemary Jackson, founders of the original Catfish Corner in the Central District, had been serving his family's recipes of fried catfish, hush puppies, and tartar sauce out of a tent on South Henderson Street. When I stopped by the new restaurant one morning last week, Jackson's wasn't open yet, but an older man polishing the tires of a very large and shiny truck in the parking lot told me to come back soon because the place would be "cracking." He added that, "On Wednesdays, they have gumbo." Then he gave me two thumbs up.

Jacksons Catfish Corner: Serving fried catfish, hush puppies, and homemade tartar sauce in Rainier Valley.
Jackson's Catfish Corner: Serving fried catfish, hush puppies, and homemade tartar sauce in Rainier Valley.

• Kirkland's beloved Cafe Juanita, helmed by James Beard award-winning chef and owner Holly Smith since 2000, has reopened after a substantial, six-month renovation to the 70-plus-year-old house. Along with structural changes to strengthen the old building, the renovation also included a more open kitchen, a lounge, a chef's table, a private dining room, and new restrooms. According to Eater Seattle, Cafe Juanita's menu, which is devoted to Northern Italian cooking, includes new items such as crisp veal sweetbreads with turnip and spot prawn crema, casoncelli of guinea fowl with Italian summer truffles, and risotto with squash blossoms and aged Parmigiano Reggiano.

• The building housing the Old Spaghetti Factory, a Seattle waterfront institution since 1970, has been sold to developers for $9 million, according to the Seattle Times. While the exact fate of the restaurant is unknown, it will likely close in the near future. For now, writes Sanjay Bhatt, it "will remain open as the developers noodle with ideas for redevelopment." (Yes, yes he did.)

• West Seattle blog reports that after ten years, Eats Market Cafe in Westwood Village will close at the end of July. The good news is that owner Toby Matasar won't be gone for long, as she already has another business, NICHE, an entirely gluten-free cafe and bakery, in the works for Capitol Hill (and plans to offer at least two Eats favorites, the spinach salad and veggie burger, at the spot). Matasar hopes to open NICHE later this summer.

• As I reported last week, Malaysian street-food walk-up Kedai Makan is moving around the corner into the old La Bête/Spaghetti Western space in September. When it does, Monica Dimas, who serves her Mexican street fare at Neon Taco, located inside Broadway's Nacho Borracho, will be moving in. In the new space, the name of which is still TBD, Dimas will focus on hearty, stuffed tortas. Seattle Met has more details here.

The Pantry in Ballard is expanding.
The Pantry in Ballard is expanding. Dan Fromhart

• Also expanding: The Pantry, Ballard's extremely popular community kitchen, whose cooking classes routinely sell out the day they are announced. In September, owner Brandi Henderson and crew will begin an expansion into the space next door to add a second kitchen to "offer more classes, dinners, potlucks, and food swaps." To help raise money, they're running a gift certificate fundraiser for the rest of the month.

• Some unexpected and interesting news: Jason Stratton, formerly the well-known chef and face of Italian restaurants Spinasse, Artusi, and Vespolina, has been named the general manager at Capitol Hill's Mamnoon. After abruptly leaving his restaurants in February, Stratton took time off and traveled to Spain, but is now back in Seattle and overseeing day-to-day front- and back-of-house operations for the Lebanese/Syrian restaurant. Owners Wassef and Racha Haroun created the GM role for Stratton as the couple turns their focus to other projects. The Harouns also recently announced that opening executive chef Garrett Melkonian has moved away from the daily kitchen operations and into a "creative culinary development" role.

• Gastropod owners Cody Morris and Travis Kukull are opening a new restaurant, Mollusk, later this fall in South Lake Union. Kukull will take over the kitchen at the new restaurant. To find his replacement, Kukull and Morris had two chef finalists cook a week's worth of dinners and had diners vote for their favorite. The winner, according to Eater, is Kim Sturts (Dahlia Lounge, Harvest Vine, and the late Spaghetti Western). Sturts will cook at Gastropod occasionally for the rest of the summer, then take over for Kukull in September.