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Capitol Hill food+drink | El Mestizo on the move, SBUX Broadway rumor, E Pike taxi stand

That pledge you made to never eat again? Bullshit. Here are some tasty tidbits to get you going. Want to help lard us up? Tip us via [email protected].

  • Just when you were taking the Capitol Hill area’s Mexican food-rich restaurant scene for granted, we lose two in a row. First, Broadway’s Galerias has been knocked out of commission for the foreseeable future by a $800k fire. Still no official cause from SFD on that one, by the way, but we’re told the investigation continues. Last week, we got the sad news that Broadway’s El Mestizo has shut down earlier than expected.

    We are officially closed for business. Thanks to all our loyal patrons for a great two years! We are hoping to relocate next year to a better location so stay in touch! 


    We knew the Broadway and James location for El Mestizo had numbered days — Mestizo’s Sarah Groome-Carrillo told us about her plans back in June:

    Yes our building was sold earlier this year and the new owner plans to redevelop the lot.  At the moment the owner is planning to honor our lease until May 2012.  We should be in the same location until then unless we find a more suitable location before then.  We will be looking for a new home for El Mestizo starting the end of this year.  Hopefully we can find something a little closer to Capitol Hill proper, but if not we are also looking at Madrona.  With a little luck we won’t have to move that far and can continue to serve all our amazing local customers who have made our restaurant such a success! 

    We’ve asked her about the earlier-than-expected closure and if it means El Mestizo has already found a new home but haven’t yet heard back. The development that will demolish the building the restaurant called home since January 2010 will be back in front of the Capitol Hill Design Board on Wednesday night, by the way. (Thanks to Ginger for the early tip!)

  • No time like the present, then, to make haste to Tacos Chukis and help preserve Capitol Hill’s proud taco heritage.

    (Image: Tacos Chukis)

  • Mexican-Taiwanese mash-up Chino’s hit their soft opening goal over the Thanksgiving weekend. We visited for a preview. Have you gone yet?
  • Bleu Bistro’s closure on Broadway has re-started the Starbucks moving next to American Apparel rumors. No paperwork we’ve found with the city indicates such an unholy pairing is in the offing and Starbucks told us previously that it had no additional Broadway plans. Though that was way back in January so maybe plans change.
  • The Broadway UPS store has moved. Five Fish Bistro’s arrival is imminent.
  • Homemade marshmallows *and* sex toys. Heaven? No. Capitol Hill.
  • More holiday joy. Sun Liquor has begun the aging of the egg nog.
  • Lil’ Woody’s — “Seattle’s favorite burgers and shakes” the presser reads — is now open until 3a on Friday and Saturday nights. We see many late night efforts on the Hill fade away pretty quickly but we’re thinking that being backed by nightlife businessman Marcus Lalario probably means Woody is serious about this.
  • Po Dog says it’s serious, too, muscling in with a Friday and Saturday 2:30a closing time. CHS? We go all night.
  • A plant and gardening retailer’s demise opens up the retail space adjacent Anchovies & Olives. Time to expand?
  • Nothing. Just Bar Ferd’nand Coffee’s pretty picture. And, yeah, it’s open now. We Sprudge first told you about the cafe back in August.
  • Cafe Arabica now does brunch
  • And cooks crazy brownies inside an egg shell
  • “So what does The Hunt Club’s wedge salad teach us about sex?
  • 8oz Burger Bar says December 12th is its target for opening at Broadway and Union. Here’s our write-up on the burger venture destined for the former TidBit Bistro space.
  • We totally did a double take when we saw this headline.
  • Two of Seattle Times critic Providence Cicero’s top 10 restaurants for 2011 are Capitol Hill entities.
  • Mayor will announce details Tuesday of new late night taxi stands across the city. One is destined for E Pike. Where, exactly, it ended up located will be interesting to see after some bickering between business owners on the block.
  • CHS advertiser Big Mario continues his march to world domination with expanded delivery zone that now includes downtown Seattle.

This week’s CHS food+drink advertiser directory

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10 Comments
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Charlie
12 years ago

Tacos Chukis is amazing. I wish they had a better location so more people would know about them. Their simple Mexican fare blows away every similar option on the Hill easily. Too bad they go unnoticed.

--MC
12 years ago

I guess we’ll miss them, but really, there’s Puerta, there’s Cocina, there’s Guaymas, there’s Chukis, there’s Bravo, there’s Farol … so many places without so much Frida Kahlo in the food.

aaronbrethorst
12 years ago

Chino’s sounds a heck of a lot like Chino Latino in Minneapolis ( http://www.chinolatino.com/)…but without the meatheads, I hope.

Neighbor
12 years ago

You’re lumping them together as if they’re of similar quality. They are not.

Chukis is the most exciting thing to happen in Mexican food in Seattle since Esperanza opened in Ballard way back when. The chicken in their chicken tacos is over cooked and dry however. Stick with carne asada or pork.

I tried Cocina for lunch a few months back (first time in years after experiencing very mediocre food there in the past). My chicken burrito wasn’t even warm!

Puerta and Farol are in the Cocina vein. They load you up on Spanish rice, refried beans, and tortilla chips. This is a bland, bastardized, cheap-ingredients take on Mexican cuisine targeted at the obese person on a budget.

Bravo is pretty darn authentic truck-style Mexican…sometimes too authentic. My last carne asada burrito there had grease dripping out the bottom.

Poquitos is terrific if you can stand being around chatty 20 somethings. The pork tacos are a terrific deal at $7 for three.

Barrio is a little too cool for school for my taste. The $10 burrito featured very tasty steak. But ten bucks?

Bimbo’s has a non-traditional take on the burrito. I kind of lost interest though after I read about their wait staff dissing a customer on FB.

JimS.
12 years ago

…venganse a Madrona.
We’ll give you a good home!

Jay
Jay
12 years ago

Yep, Chukis is really, really tasty, and cheap! The owner is friendly (and super cute), too bad he never gets a day off. Chukis beats Rancho Bravo all to hell, as the atmosphere is about 1,000 times more calm, with a bit of a view, and no riff-raff spilling in off PIne St. And yes, I know I will catch hell about using the words ‘riff-raff’, but the drunks and tweakers get to be a bit much…

BFree
12 years ago

Blue Bisto’s “move” off Broadway (forced), would be more apt than Bleu Bistro’s “closure” on Broadway…

--MC
12 years ago

What a coincidence, since I AM an obese person on a budget, and I really just want to eat something, and not every meal has to be oh so authentic or oh so special. Anyway, I trust you’ve gone off the taco / burrito selections on the menus in all these places and tried the poblanos and pibils and such? Try the Cochinita Pibil at Puerta.

duh
duh
12 years ago

If you want to go on about authentic, why are you even talking about burritos? They’re not even all that popular except mostly in Northern Mexico. And rarely do people serve them made the way people eat them here. In that sense, they’re not very authentic.

saha
saha
12 years ago

Chukis has the best tacos in town! Odd location aside, it seems like people are finding it, liking it, and returning for more. They’ve also been getting a lot of good press + word of mouth, so I’d hardly say they’re going unnoticed. Maybe overshadowed a bit by the Rancho Bravos and Marinations, but they’re definitely building their own loyal following.