Opening This Week:
This Thursday, March 12, Jude’s Old Town will open in Rainier Beach. Jude’s promises to be a solid neighborhood bar; it’s owned by Rainier Beach resident Beau Hebert, who has mastered a winning local watering hole formula at his other business, Lottie’s Lounge, in Columbia City. Like Lottie’s, Jude’s will feature fresh pub food, craft beers on tap, wine, and a few cocktails.
Coyle’s Bakeshop, the long-awaited (and Kickstarter-funded) brick-and-mortar bakery from Rachael Coyle (whose résumé includes stints at the Herbfarm, Columbia City Bakery, Le Pichet, and Cafe Presse) opens this Friday, March 13, in Greenwood. Coyle was most recently the culinary director at Book Larder, Seattle’s excellent (and only) cookbook store, where her Bakeshop flourished as a weekly pop-up.
Speaking of pop-ups, this month’s installment of Beacon Hill’s Food & Sh*t on Monday, March 16, is especially noteworthy. Geo Quibuyen and Chera Amlag routinely turn out inspired, fresh takes on Filipino classics, but this month their menu is both admirable and ambitious: five courses of entirely vegan, gluten-free Filipino fare. (I say ambitious because the most famous “vegetarian” Filipino dish, pinakbet, is an assortment of vegetables…cooked with bits of pork and salted shrimp paste.) These dinners routinely sell out; reserve your seats here.
Over the last two years, the growth and popularity of Kickstarter and other community-sourced funding programs has extended into the restaurant industry (see Pizzeria Gabbiano, Sugar Plum, Mollusk, and the aforementioned Coyle’s Bakeshop, among others). While these crowd-funded campaigns have been used mainly to open new restaurants, they’re now also raising money for things like renovations or helping staff with medical bills. Three current campaigns of note:
Willows Inn chef Blaine Wetzel has launched a campaign to help his fiancée, Raquel Ruiz Diaz, who is also the restaurant’s general manager, pay the extensive medical bills she faces after being hit by a drunk driver while jogging in her native Paraguay. (The restaurant is also hosting two upcoming fundraising dinners).
Bar Sajor chef de cuisine Edouardo Jordan, who recently announced plans to open his own restaurant, Salare, in Ravenna this summer, has also launched a Kickstarter campaign. Jordan tells a compelling story of his culinary journey, complete with moving family photos.
And as of yesterday, La Bodega chef and owner Manu Alfau has successfully raised enough money through Kickstarter to fund the building of a patio in front of the Pioneer Square restaurant. Alfau has permits in hand and is ready to begin construction. The recent warm days make it easy to fantasize about lingering over a puerco asado sandwich in the downtown sunshine.
