- www.bisato.com
- Bisato: Extremely promising.
Brand new for your stomach’s and/or liver’s enjoyment:
• HEARTLAND CAFE in West Seattle: It’s Midwestern home-cooking plus the return of the city’s best nautical-themed bar, the Admiral Benbow, now known as the Benbow Room. Ahoy!
• BISATO in Belltown: In place of the super-excellent (and super-stuffy, and super-spendy) Lampreia, perfectionist chef Scott Carsberg has installed this casual bar and restaurant serving Venetian-style small plates priced from $4.50 to $12. All signs point to greatness: It’s the crummy economy, working for you. Carsberg says: “In my kitchen, the best of the carrot stays as a carrot… Minimalism puts a creative person in a state of nakedness and reveals the true artist.” Yes, Chef!
• SEATTLE BURGER COMPANY in Ballard: This locally owned place flame-broils fresh chuck from Oregon and offers black-bean veggie burgers as well. Also: hand-dipped shakes and hand-cut onion rings. Of note in the increasingly rarefied burger environs of Ballard: Prices range from $4 to $7.
• HUE KY MI GIA in the I.D.: Chow tipster Lei Ann (who runs the I.D. shop Momo) says this Vietnamese place is “super yummy, clean, and cheap”; she especially loves the braised duck noodle soup. HKMG could be a new favorite on the order of magnitude of Thai Curry Simple.
• THE CALF & KID, RAIN SHADOW MEATS, and MARIGOLD & MINT on Capitol Hill: A cheese shop selling great cheeses, a butcher shop selling great meat, and a florist selling pretty flowers (and potted herbs, tomato starts, etc.) in the open-market area of the newly renovated triangular block at Pine and Melrose. Re: a cheese shop and a butcher on the Hill: It’s about damn time. More info over here.
• BILL THE BUTCHER in Madison Valley: This is the fourth in a rapidly growing chain of upscale butcher shops. On the Bill the Butcher website, it says, “If you’ve met me in the store you know I’m passionate about organic grass fed beef. It’s not just that the quality is dramatically better, it’s the health benefits and the benefits to the environment and farmers. But don’t just take my word for it.” We’ve never met him in the store.
• MADHU CUISINE OF INDIA in Belltown: This austere restaurant has a small bar in the back of its single room that, according to tipster audio robbin, is home to a happening scene: “One of the best dj’s on second ave for a dive barrish feel and homey people. I would like to support this new bar because of the vibe of the people during fridays and saturday nights.”
- www.thecobralounge.com
- The Cobra Lounge: The gentlemen, newly inked.
• THE COBRA LOUNGE on Capitol Hill: Brought to you by some gentlemen from Bellingham, a private hookah club (membership: $5 a year) where the paint store used to be, behind Barista Boyz (aka the all-male topless drive-through espresso stand).
• HUNTER GATHERER LODGE on Capitol Hill: The bar and club also known as HG Lodge, formerly known as the War Room.
New iterations of existing places:
• GUANACO’S TACOS PUPUSERIA on Capitol Hill: The U District Salvadoran favorite is now on Broadway in the Alley building (where Hana Sushi is); of the original, reader-reviewer Grace says, “If you want real Latin food, this is the place.”
• PO DOG in the U District: The Capitol Hill upscale hot-doggery (which David Schmader endorses) has opened a second branch on the Ave. Will UW students want to spend $8 each for fancied-up frankfurters? Only time will tell.
• SINBAD EXPRESS in Fremont: Here you’ll find Mediterranean cheap eats from the same people as the well-loved Aladdin Gyrocery in the U District.
• CAFFE VITA & PIZZERIA NAPOLETANA in Pioneer Square: Replacing All City Coffee on the corner of the Tashiro Kaplan building, this is a Vita cafe combined with a Neapolitan-style thin-crust pizza place.
• THE ESSENTIAL BAKING COMPANY in Georgetown: Enough said.
A name change:
• 22 DOORS on Capitol Hill is now to be known as just two numeral twos, like this: 22 (which probably isn’t the most Googleable name).
And now closed:
• CAYENNE on Capitol Hill: More information here.
• CHEZ GAUDY on Capitol Hill: More here.
• CHISO KAPPO in Fremont: But set to reopen on Eastlake.
• KING FALAFEL GRILL in Greenwood: Despite the fact that reader-reviewers liked it.
• NERVOUS NELLIE’S in Ballard: But now part of the Lockspot.
• SQUID & INK in Georgetown: More here.
• SZECHUAN BISTRO in Greenwood: Despite the fact that reader-reviewers liked it.
• TXORI in Belltown: More here.
• UNICORN CREPES in the I.D.: No one knows why.
Time for lunch!
Close the tag!
Oh god, I stayed at an Admiral Benbow Inn in Memphis, once. One of the most frightening experiences of my (admittedly pretty tame) life.
Didn’t Cafe Zhivago close recently?
King Falafal hasn’t been there for quite some time. A ramen place moved in over the summer.
Szechuan Bistro was burned down in October and never re-opened. This is very sad.
Nothing on the Varsity Inn in Wallngford?
Why do you hate diners that also serve authentic Mexican meals and are even owned by Mexicans?
“If you’ve met me in the store you know I’m passionate about organic grass fed beef. It’s not just that the quality is dramatically better, it’s the health benefits and the benefits to the environment and farmers. But don’t just take my word for it.”
That is complete BS. Local grass fed beef is MUCH worse for the environment than factory farmed beef. Instead of taking up a sliver of land for a gross factory farm and soy/corn production, the free range farms bulldoze MASSIVE swaths of land (thousands of acres) for pasture. Remember how the rainforests in South America were getting destroyed at a ridiculously alarming rate? It was almost exclusively for “grass-fed” livestock. The problem still exists, but it has lessened greatly in recent years because a lot of South American farms have converted to factory farms.
If you buy “local, free-range” livestock, you are just destroying our local environment instead of the environment in Iowa or South America. There is no such thing as “sustianable” beef, pigs, or lamb, unless you cut down your consumption to nothing or almost nothing. “Sustainable” beef and other sustainable livestock products is probably the biggest greenwashing fraud there is right now.
RIP, Szechuan Bistro. I wish you were moving into the abandoned McDonald’s on Greenwood Ave instead of the Coffee Bean. I do not need a Christian coffee shop. I do need hand-shave noodle.
Is this Heartland related to the Heartland found in Rogers Park Chicago? I wouldn’t suspect so except that you refer to it as “Midwestern”. Maybe they’re stalking Dan.
@3: The closure of Zhivago’s was noted in the last edition of New Etc.
@5: What about the Varsity Inn? I like that place. It didn’t close, did it?
What admin password should I use for the first “Bill the Butcher” link? Also, there’s a Bill the Butcher outlet in Bryant/UVillage/Laurelhurst, on Sand Point Way.
@9, do not attempt to communicate with it.
@10: Fixed the link, and we have them all listed there for your stomach’s convenience.
I have to say that bill the butcher the original in woodinville has spoiled me for life – i happily have driven to woodinville solely to purchase their insanely good jerky, ham, brats, cheese dogs, and bacon and i’ll never be able to have ordinary deli meat or sub-par brats again. my cholesterol has no doubt skyrocketed since i discovered them last october and my gas bill is twice it’s normal amount. thank goodness for their newly opened shops – now i can bike to go buy their meaty goodness and hopefully offset all the delicious goods i’m ingesting. PLUS: cricket cola. how come no one else sells cricket cola?! it’s mighty fine.
@13: You can buy Cricket Cola at the Mezza Cafe in the Starbucks Headquarters building. Sub-par food and terrible hours, but hey, Cricket Cola.
Botticelli Cafe, on Steward between 1st and 2nd, carried Cricket Cola as of a year ago or so. The owner is great, and in addition to drinks, offers very tasty breakfast sandwiches and panini for lunch too.