This week, the Seattle restaurant scene welcomes the return of some beloved institutions, including Local 360, Vito's, Cafe Presse, Like List Le Pichet Like List , and Ray's Cafe Like List . Plus, the newsstand and bottle shop Big Little News Like List hits Capitol Hill, Monica Dimas's restaurant Little Neon Taco Like List has closed for good, and actor and musician Jamie Foxx has purchased Heritage Distilling's Brown Sugar Bourbon brand. Read on for all that and more culinary updates. For more ideas, check out our food and drink guide.
NEW OPENINGS AND RETURNS
Aki Kushiyaki
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The team behind Arashi Ramen
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is opening this swanky Japanese kushiyaki destination, which was originally slated to open in summer 2020 but was delayed due to the pandemic, in Madison Valley today. The restaurant provides a 13-course omakase experience centered around skewers with deluxe ingredients like wagyu beef and sous vide duck breast.
Madison Valley
Limited indoor seating
Big Little News
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Pop some champagne! This newsstand and bottle shop had its grand opening in the former space of the vintage store No Parking on Pike in Capitol Hill on Wednesday. The store stocks magazines, newspapers, tabloids, beer, champagne, wine, gifts, puzzles, and various other sundries. According to their email newsletter, the shop will also soon stock subscription boxes and gift bundles.
Capitol Hill
Pickup
Cafe Presse
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and Le Pichet
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Jim Drohman's classic French bistros both reopen today for limited indoor dining, outdoor dining, and takeout and delivery, according to their websites.
Capitol Hill, downtown
Pickup, delivery, outdoor seating, or limited indoor seating
Local 360
Belltown's farm-to-table favorite Local 360, famed for sourcing the majority of its ingredients from within a 360-mile radius, has returned with a new chef. The restaurant was previously one of the first to close indefinitely due to the pandemic in March 2020 and faced an uncertain fate.
Belltown
Pickup or limited indoor dining
Ray's Cafe
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According to a press release, the waterfront seafood staple Ray's Cafe re-opened for limited indoor service, outdoor dining with a covered and heated patio, and takeout on Wednesday. The restaurant's popular happy hour is also returning. The cafe's sibling Ray's Boathouse
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remains closed.
Ballard
Pickup, delivery, outdoor seating, or limited indoor seating
Vito's
First Hill's moody, sexy cocktail lounge posted on Instagram last week that it was getting ready to reopen its doors in early March. The old-school Italian bar previously posted in January that it was working on building an outdoor patio space.
First Hill
Pickup, delivery, outdoor seating, or limited indoor seating
FUTURE OPENINGS
DeLille Cellars
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The Woodinville winery DeLille Cellars is getting ready to open a lounge in the former space of Teatro Zinzanni's restaurant Wheelhouse
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next door sometime this spring or summer.
Woodinville
CLOSURES
Little Neon Taco
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Chef Monica Dimas announced on Instagram this week that her First Hill restaurant Little Neon Taco closed permanently after service on Sunday, February 28. Dimas originally started Neon Taco
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as a window slinging tacos and nachos inside the boozy-slushie emporium Nacho Borracho
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, then later opened the pint-sized brick-and-mortar Little Neon Taco (her first full-fledged restaurant) in 2018. The restaurant suffered from decreased sales due to COVID-19. All is not lost, however—Little Neon Taco will migrate to the trendy wine bar La Dive
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for a temporary pop-up residency
Past Event
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from March 11-27. After that, Dimas is considering the idea of a ghost kitchen and hopes to find a new permanent location or another space to share long-term, like she did with Neon Taco inside Nacho Borracho.
First Hill
OTHER FOOD NEWS
Salare chefs launch new sandwich pop-up
Salare
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chefs Kayla von Michalofski and Spencer Kuhlman have launched the pop-up Sandwich Sandwich, which serves jalapeño popper-inspired grilled cheeses, a banh mi sandwich version of nem mi (a popular Vietnamese fermented pork dish), and deep-fried kimchi potatoes, plus the Dutch confection stroopwafel (a wafer sandwich with caramel) for dessert. The pop-up
Past Event
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debuts at Taurus Ox
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on Monday, March 15. Orders are available now from their website.
The Neighbor Lady secures new location
The comfortably divey hangout the Neighbor Lady, which closed last year, has locked down a new home in the Central District's upcoming Midtown Square development, across the street from its original location. The bar was previously ousted due to issues with its landlord, Uncle Ike's owner Ian Eisenberg. Like the old location, the bar will offer vegetarian-friendly bar fare. The new spot will also have copious outdoor seating.
Actor and musician Jamie Foxx has purchased Heritage Distilling's Brown Sugar Bourbon
Actor and musician Jamie Foxx announced on Instagram this week that he has acquired the popular BSB (Brown Sugar Bourbon) brand from Seattle-based Heritage Distilling. According to Rolling Stone, the Django Unchained star first tried the liquor at a party and will be involved in helping re-launch the brand and overseeing its art direction.
POP-UPS AND EVENTS
SMASH & Dash
Past Event
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Several Snohomish breweries, including Spada Farmhouse Brewery, Haywire Brewing Co., Audacity Brewing, Snotown Brewery, and Sound to Summit Brewing, will create the same beer, but each with their own choice of hop. Grab a stamp card at any participating location, then taste all five beers and compare and contrast the differences. If you fill out your stamp card, you'll get the chance to be entered in a drawing for a basket of brewery swag.
Snohomish, Friday-Sunday
Virtual Author Talk: My Shanghai by Betty Liu
Past Event
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Author and blogger Betty Liu will discuss her new cookbook My Shanghai, a love letter to the Chinese city, with local food writer Hsiao-Ching Chou.
Book Larder, March 11, 5-6 pm
Field to Table
Past Event
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Lumen Field will be transformed into an open-air dining room catered by local chefs and restaurateurs, seating two to six people (from the same household) per table. The dining spaces are covered and heated, but you're invited to bring blankets.
Lumen Field, Wednesday-Sunday through March 18
Puffy Jacket Pop-Up Dining Series
Past Event
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This new pop-up series from Columbia Hospitality is making the best of winter al fresco dining by encouraging local diners to bundle up in their most voluminous outerwear for outdoor meals with cozy cocktails at 12 different venues in Washington and Oregon. The menus are inspired by the Pacific Northwest—for example, Copperleaf
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will serve a seafood beach boil alongside a 2bar Spirits
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whiskey flight, while Hearth
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will feature foraged ingredients like mushrooms, oysters, and lamb and a pine whiskey sour playfully named the "Socks and Sandals."
Various locations, Friday-Saturday through March 27
Taste Washington
Past Event
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Billing itself as "the nation's largest single-region wine and food event," Taste Washington will get even larger this year by filling out the entire month of March (instead of its usual five days). Rather than in-person tastings, though, they'll offer weekly kits that you can enjoy at home, as well as recipes you can make on your own.
Various locations, March 5-31
Everett Restaurant Month
Past Event
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Restaurants across Everett, like Anthony's
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and Jetty Bar & Grille
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, will be offering bargain three-course prix-fixe meals for $30, exclusive "unicorn" specials, and affordable value menus with $1, $5, and $10 options.
Everett, March 5-31
SPECIALS
Cupcake Royale
Seattle's original cupcake bakery is getting ready for St. Patrick's Day with cupcakes bedecked with four-leaf clover sprinkles and adorned with lucky charms like rainbows and horseshoes. They'll be available for pre-order through March 18.
Various locations
Pickup or delivery
Frankie & Jo's
The plant-based creamery has revealed its trio of March flavors: mint cookie crunch, lemon chia seed (made with the Instagram-trendy women-owned olive oil brand Brightland), and rhubarb yuzu yogurt.
Ballard, Capitol Hill, and University District
Pickup or delivery
Molly Moon's Ice Cream
For Women's History Month, Molly Moon Neitzel's local ice cream parlor chain is paying tribute to four women from the nonprofit Mary's Place
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with special ice creams inspired by them. The four seasonal flavors include a vanilla orchid ice cream made with butterfly pea powder for Mary's Place founder Rev. Dr. Jean Kim, a milk chocolate toffee flavor for intake line manager Sherry Tillman, a vegan candy bar flavor for former Mary's Place guest Tanya Rinker, and raspberry oat bar for shelter and services manager Tanita Horton.
Various locations
Pickup or delivery
Trophy Cupcakes
The gourmet cupcakery and party supply good store is selling mesmerizingly shimmery green cocktail and mocktail kits for St. Patrick's Day, with a choice of True Colours Cava or the non-alcoholic beverage Töst. They're also offering Thin Mint cupcakes in honor of Girl Scout cookie season.
Various locations
Pickup or delivery