[Seattle] Farewell & Welcome: Closings, Transformations, Openings (Part 2)

[GourmetLight$]

I looked at Nona Maria before I bought the new place I will be opening in December.

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Hi all: this is my first post on eGullet, but I just have to ask about chefturnedbum's new venture! We've really missed eating at your old Blue Onion Bistro (especially the gourmet mac-n-cheese, even tho I have the recipe). Where and exactly when will you be?

Cheers,

Carolyn

Edited September 12, 2005 by GourmetLight$ (log)

[tsquare]

By dimpled cook are you talking Laurie Allen. I looked at Nona Maria before I bought the new place I will be opening in December. The kitchen a gymnasium and the rent is so high that it better do great or it will sink like a lead boat.

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Yup. Gulp.

[Peter Johnson]

Noooooooo!!! Say it ain't so...Laurie, don't leave, we like being able to walk two blocks to get your cooking...

By dimpled cook are you talking Laurie Allen. I looked at Nona Maria before I bought the new place I will be opening in December. The kitchen a gymnasium and the rent is so high that it better do great or it will sink like a lead boat.

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Yup. Gulp.

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[chefturnedbum]

Man Laurie is good. Sje is also Seattles' most beautiful chef. She is a looker indeed. Well if anybody can pull it off there she can. Man is that gonna be a big money project. For me I always have to do the poor mans route. New place will be in the first hill/cap hill area. The food will be absolutely different from BOB. More experimental and more upscale. I already got my cardboard signs ready if I fail (lol). Will work for foie gras!

[BaconFat]

Sooo.... 

One of my purveyors let me know about Sam Hassan's new place. He was the owner of the Rio Brazillion Grill in the U-District. His new place will be called Samba, and is located near the corner of 94th and Roosevelt, up near Judy Fu's. After I finished screaming his ear off with excitement, (Thanks, Greg!) I decided to stop by on my way after work. Luckily for me, Sam was there working on getting the place open. Samba is in what used to be an old japanese place, I think it was called Satchi. In any case, wow....I have not met a nicer guy in a long, long time. I let him know how thrilled I was to be meeting him and was ecstatic that he was getting his new place in shape. I asked him if it was ok for me to post about our conversation and he had no problem with that.

(Can I say again what a nice, gracious guy Sam is?)

So. Family style Brazilian food. Interior will be bright, blues and oranges. It will not, repeat NOT be a churrasceria. The menu will be relatively simple to start with. The beef will be Australian Free Range, and the coffee will be Organic, Shade Grown Free Trade.

He'll have some Brazilian beers, and the wine list will draw mainly from Spain and Argentina. There will be about 20 wines, and Sam wanted to stress that he will strive to keep the markup down, because it is his opinion that wine should be approachable and that it adds to the enjoyment of the meal. (Amen, brother, Amen.) Also, he is making it a point to match the wines to the food that he will be serving. I'm glad to hear that personally, 'cause I am an idiot when it comes to wine. 

He's shooting for an early August Opening.

<snip>

See ya!

Jason

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I've been watching this place (live two blocks away) and noticed as I drove by that by the looks of things, Samba is now open. Has anybody ventured in yet or heard anything?

[elswinger]

I noticed more work being done on the Wallingford Tutta Bella. a peak inside shows little progress has been made.

[Fay Jai]

Samba is open. I made a promise and will not say more, but Samba is open.

Ummm...BaconFat...What say you go in a give us a report?

~Jason

[tsquare]

Sid's (not very) Italian Deli at 4th and Wall is undergoing a renovation. The sign was being taken down yesterday. To reopen or something new (one can hope)?

Work also in progress at Starlite Lounge (Avenue One space).

[jlax]

I noticed more work being done on the Wallingford Tutta Bella.  a peak inside shows little progress has been made.

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I heard from Joe, plans for a 3rd location.

[chefturnedbum]

Sid is being reopened as something new. I talked with the owner and they were going to send me some info but they are pretty busy so I am not holding my breath. They have cleared out all of the deli crap and such so I am thinking full blown eatery. Also they are giving away the sign for free. Anybody want their own sids in the backyard?

[cburnsi]

Cafe Moose in Ballard will be expanding their hours in October to dinner but will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.  Oh and two more bars are opening in Ballard (one a cocktail longue across from Matador)

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Yum. I had bfast there this morning (we were the only ones there) they were out of chorizo but the sopas were fantastic.

[cburnsi]

Oh no, now I have to drive by there and see exactly what a 'weirdly cartoon like place' looks like.      I can't think to which place you may be referring.

It's really just because of their sign, and the fact that it's day-glo bright inside because of a ceiling full of flourescent lighting. Ick, sorta the same colors as a Baskin Robbins. One door south of the Home Street Bank, in fact, I think it's the same building.

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Good comparison, actually. That's "Scoops" an ice cream and candy place from Seattle Center. It smells too sticky sweet, so I haven't been in, but I think they do a decent kid business in the summer.

[BonfireCuisine]

Stars restaurant in Langley on Whidbey Island appears to be shuttered.  The sign on the door at the bottom of the narrow stairway leading up to the dining room said something like, 'restaurant is closed', which I took to mean closed in a permanent way.  No more menu outside or posted hours.  I had some great experiences there, although they had more to do with the drinks and the view than with the food or service.  Still, it wasn't bad and I was sorry to see it go. 

With the recent discussion on this thread about how difficult it must be to operate a business in Wallingford, I wonder what the situation is like up in Langley or Coupville (or a dozen other small towns around here).  I found it hard to get a good bite to eat when I wandered around town yesterday, which should have been one of their busier times of year.  The Inn at Langley is definitely a destination place.  I have recently heard some bad things about the Captain Whidbey Inn, I think on this board, which is disappointing after they had such a promising rebirth a few years ago.  I'm not going to link to their website, which seems to support the recent claim (menu page - yikes).

Hopefully the next mention of Whidbey Island will be about new restaurants opening!

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Yes unfortunately they are officially closed since February so I'm told. It was a nice place. Hard to have places on islands when everyone knows your name. You almost have to be on your game more then in the bigger city where they are more forgiving. Their website is still up but their phone number still rings but now goes to the FishBowl. I haven't been there yet - yet being the key word.

Old Star Bistro Website: http://www.whidbey.com/starbistro/

FishBowl Restaurant Website: http://www.fishbowlrestaurant.com

[rockdoggydog]

Samba! As Jason has been counting down, Sam Hassan's new new location in Maple Leaf is now open. A friend and I went there for dinner last night, and for the second night in operation, everything was amazingly smooth. The room is still a little bare but the lighting and the colors are warm. Good solid wine list heavy on Portugal, and four beers on tap and several more by the bottle. There were three other tables occupied about half filling the place. We started with the steak and onions appetizer and I ordered the honey lime pork, which came with collards and potato salad. The pork was a little on the well done side but had a really nice flavor, the collards were shredded and still had a littlte crunch to them but good. My friend had the Fejoada Carioca, and as she is not very adventurous in her eating I had to ask the waiter if the fejoada was made traditionally with the salted ears, snouts, tails, and feet to make sure. The waiter sighed a little wistfully and said that because people here are not into the traditional meats they don't use them, he said even in Brazil many places no longer use the traditional meats. He said that he himself still makes his fejoada with the traditional meats and laments their passing.

Having said all that the fejoada is very good and thick, and came with the yucca flour fried rice stuff that I can't remember the name of right now. For dessert I had a dulce de leche flan and my friend had a dulce de leche crepe. The flan was very dense and had an almost cheesecake consistency to it with a wonderful caramel flavour. I had a Xingu beer with dinner, which is a dark Brazilian beer with a sweet finish and very malty and smooth, you could almost have it for dessert. Every now and then you could hear Chef Hassan instructing his cooks about the finer points of Brazilian cooking and meat quality. The service was excellent and cheerful and it seems that overall that Samba has hit the ground running. Get here when you can, it's worth going to, I'll miss the churrascaria, but that's ok.

Rocky

[malarkey]

Opening late this year - Moxie - in Nonna Maria's space on Queen Anne. Look for the dimpled cook from Matt's in the Market, doing her own thing.

This is indeed good news for Queen Anne!

[tsquare]

Having said all that the fejoada is very good and thick, and came with the yucca flour fried rice stuff that I can't remember the name of right now. 

Rocky

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manioc? (seasoned cassava flour, farofa)

[rockdoggydog]

Having said all that the fejoada is very good and thick, and came with the yucca flour fried rice stuff that I can't remember the name of right now. 

Rocky

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manioc? (seasoned cassava flour, farofa)

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Farofa, thanks.

Rocky

[jlax]

Getting kind of quite in here!

Anybody know about new bar on Aurora yet to open, St.Andrews Bar & Grill?? Right at 70th I think, greenlake, PCC.

[tsquare]

Getting kind of quite in here!

Anybody know about new bar on Aurora yet to open, St.Andrews Bar & Grill?? Right at 70th I think, greenlake, PCC.

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A couple of brothers- with accents from Scotland, I suspect. One a contractor, building, the other a barkeep. Waiting for health department pre-opening inspection, then ready to go. They say, non-smoking, will try to keep it compatible to PCC, as in organic beef hamburgers, simple bar food. Looks fresh - they built new booths and a bar. Oh yeah, they still need to stain the concrete floor.

It's at Winona (approximately 74th.)

[Eden]

Up at 105th & Evanston there's a divey looking chinese place that's rotated owners fairly regularly for a while (last round was a thai/chinese combo) and the new sign says something like "North shore hawaiian food" coming soon. If they bring malasadas with them (and don't look like they violate any health codes) I'll be a happy woman!

[cburnsi]

A new burger joint opened on Queen Anne this weekend. Of course, my mind is a blank this morning and I can't remember the name , either Flame or Blaze. Looks fine, no dynamic decorating or anything. I saw some families in there this weekend, maybe I'll check it out mid-week. The menu is burgers (beef and garden), BBQ (pulled pork, etc) and salads.

cburnsi

[little ms foodie]

A new burger joint opened on Queen Anne this weekend.  Of course, my mind is a blank this morning and I can't remember the name  , either Flame or Blaze.  Looks fine, no dynamic decorating or anything.  I saw some families in there this weekend, maybe I'll check it out mid-week.  The menu is burgers (beef and garden), BBQ (pulled pork, etc) and salads.

cburnsi

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Where on QA is it?

[kayswv]

In the Wall Street Journal's new Saturday (9/17-18) edition, a feature on "Chefs Gone Wild" forecasts that "Veil" will open November 1 at 555 Aloha St. (206-216-0600). Quoting from the article sidebar, "Chef Shannon Galusha, a French Laundry alumnus, will give his inventive American food a twist, with Kobe beef-style beef cheeks and marinated watermelon."

posted by Al w/ indulgence of Kay

[jbonne]

Quoting from the article sidebar, "Chef Shannon Galusha, a French Laundry alumnus, will give his inventive American food a twist, with Kobe beef-style beef cheeks and marinated watermelon."

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unmentioned in the resume is a stint at the ill-fated 727 Pine. more here.

[dandelion]

The facade of Veil looks nearly complete, and they're definitely getting serious about the interior... the drywall is finally up! Peeking in the windows, there's still quite a lot of work left to be done for them to be opening in less than a month and a half! Also, parking in this neighborhood is very limited -- I wonder if they've thought about that?

All in all, however, I'm excited about this place, and hope they do well. I can't wait to check it out.