Now Open
Nue (pronounced, appropriately, “new”) on Capitol Hill, is now serving "internationally inspired street food" using modern cooking techniques (see Vietnamese-coffee-flavored liquid-nitrogen ice cream). The opening menu includes an intriguing mix of wide-ranging flavors such as Indian kale pakora, grilled Barbados pig tails (already "one of our best sellers," says owner Chris Cvetkovich), Romanian mititei (pork sausage), and South African bunny chow, but Cvetkovich says the menu will change regularly. The kitchen is helmed by chefs Joe Swain and Glynn Ward, the latter of whom has cooked at Willows Inn and London’s temple of meat, St. John’s Restaurant.

Paseo
If you care about this, you already know. Fremont's Paseo has reopened under new owner Ryan Santwire, who promised to change nothing. Paul Constant tried the new/old sandwiches this past weekend and reports.

Slab Sandwich and Pie
Slab completes chef Jonathan Sundstrom’s triumvirate of restaurants in Capitol Hill’s Central Agency Building, joining the reopened and revamped Lark and its new resident oyster and charcuterie bar Bitter/Raw. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Slab offers sandwiches, slices of slab pie (both savory and sweet), and espresso.

Now Closed: Moon Temple in Wallingford (home to what was possibly Seattle's strongest pour, it's now slated to become a CVS) and Ballard’s Uma Thai. And, as reported earlier, Capitol Hill institution The Kingfish Cafe.

In other sad, soul-food-related news...
Last week, some seemingly happy news broke: Ms. Helen Coleman, Seattle’s master cook of soul food who fed people for years at various restaurants in the Central District, was back. As reported by the Seattle Weekly, the last restaurant Ms. Helen had cooked at, Rose Petals, had reopened in White Center at 9801 16th Avenue Southwest. I was thrilled to hear this because the last time I visited Rose Petals, on Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Rainier Valley in 2010, the food was disappointing, and I was told that Ms. Helen had retired.

It turns out the news was too good to be true. On Monday, the Weekly's Nicole Sprinkle reported that Ms. Helen had contacted her to make clear that she was not in any way associated with the new Rose Petals. “She’s trying to capitalize on my name. She never even called me. That’s the sad part,” Coleman said.

Other news from kitchens around the city...
Il Corvo chef Mike Easton announced that the restaurant is adding Saturday dinner service. Even better, menus will be a collaboration between Easton and Chef Miles James (of Dot’s Delicatessen, RIP). The dinners ($60 per person, excluding wine and gratuity) will be served twice a month, including Valentine’s Day, when the menu will feature “treasures from the sea.” More information here.

Monica Dimas (whose Mexican pop-up brunch was visited by The Stranger last month) is taking over the kitchen at Capitol Hill bar Nacho Borracho. Dimas has cooked at Spinasse, Monsoon, Le Pichet, and, most recently, mkt. and other Ethan Stowell restaurants, but her heart has always resided in the Mexican food she was raised on. Her menu debuts February 1.