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Because certainly you can't get too many updates on Pony (CHS reviews) and news about bars with decks on Capitol Hill: The observant and/or Madison-traveling may have noticed that not only does the soon-to-be new home of Pony have a new sign, there's also some construction going on. The DPD permit describes the work thusly:
The $34,000 project will add yet another new outdoor drinking option on the Hill for our sunnier-than-typical Seattle summer. Pony was born as a temporary replacement for the doomed Cha Cha space on Pine. You can read many odes to its past glories, here. Its new location was previously the home of Acacia Florist. The new Pony is slated for an early August opening.
Below is a clip of Chef Jerry Traunfeld of Poppy doing a cooking demo at the Broadway Farmers Market today. Even though he is wearing a microphone, you will have to turn up the volume. The weather was overcast and a light mist of rain fell for periods of time, but over thirty people showed up to see Traunfeld.
The last time we checked in with Rancho Bravo owner Freddy Rivas way back in April, we were trying to track down whether the dream of cheap, good Mexican tacos in Pike/Pine was too good to last. We learned Bravo has plans to stick around awhile. Now it looks like the taco joint is making a few more investments in its space at the corner of Pine and 10th. From Rivas:
Meanwhile, we've heard Rancho Bravo also has plans to start offering beer but haven't confirmed with Rivas yet and couldn't yet find record of an application. 
We interviewed Josh Reynolds, the entrepreneur behind Bluebird Homemade Ice Cream and Team Parlor opening today at 5 pm. Josh has taken over the space at 1205 East Pike Street (formerly home to the Church of the Undignified). The space is much larger than Molly Moon's and Old School Frozen Custard, and one can envision that once the free wi-fi is installed (happening this Friday we're told), visitors can lounge and enjoy the ice cream, sandwiches and tea at their leisure. The renovation of the space has been done mostly with reclaimed materials (the counter for instance was once a high school gym floor). There is also a small stage where musicians and authors can perform. Bluebird currently has eight icecream flavors and intends to keep this number pretty consistent - though flavors will rotate based on season. They have collaborated with neighbors in the Elysian Stout (delicious - especially paired with a scoop of the peanut butter) and the Stumptown Coffee flavors. The ice cream has between 12 and 15% butterfat...
Original Post: Marination Mobile, wheeled provider of 4-star SPAM musubi, has been pushed out of its location in the Shell gas station lot at Pike and Broadway. Here's a note we received from MM partner Roz Edison:
Marination Mobile is on the move because of complaints from residents and nearby business owners, the Stranger reports:
New York Magazine's Grub Street blog released the list of Top Chef Contestants and Capitol Hill's beloved ex-Crave Chef Robin Leventhal is on the list. In February, CHS learned that Leventhal had auditioned for the Bravo reality show. You can now follow Robin on Twitter. Another Seattle chef who made the Top Chef cut is Branzino's Ashley Merriman. I have only been to Belltown's Branzino once but had an exceptional meal. Good luck to both contestants - can't wait for Season 6.  BBQ Puller Originally uploaded by bkraai2003 Capitol Hill is a pretty diverse place so you probably know a person or two who eats meat. Even though they soil their bodies consuming flesh, the carnivores probably care about where that steak came from. And though the farmers market has a few vendors providing fresh beef and poultry, there is another option for putting meat on your table. One group of hungry Capitol Hill families is turning to the east side of the state for their local meat needs. For a little more tha a year, Linda McElroy, has been buying her meat from Thundering Hooves, a family farm and ranch in the Walla Walla Valley, and having it delivered to her Capitol Hill home. She's the 'hostess' for a buying club that purchases meat from the farm. What started as a small group has turned into 85 families from Capitol Hill and surrounding areas going through McElroy for their carnivorous needs. While only about a fourth of the members order meat for the monthly delivery, that still amounts to a large... 
Get your gluttony on! As promised, Cupcake Royale is opening its store at 11th & Pike near Boom Noodle (1111 East Pike) in time for the Capitol Hill Block Party. Opening date will be 7/22. 
There were rumors about the future occupant of the florist shop on E. Madison; today I biked by and beyond the unfriendly cyclone fence was the silhouette the hill hasn't seen since the bulldozers came to Pine St... 
But you may have noticed WW hasn't been in the park much lately. Owner Andrea Utley said her little business is struggling but not because people don't want to buy hot dogs from the park's sole licensed food vendor. "We've dissolved the partnership behind the business," Utley said. This article from the Seattle University student newspaper tells some of the story of how WW came to be. Utley brought her experience running Wandering Wieners in Montana to the big city of Seattle. She decided to partner, she said, to help run the business and create a work schedule to allow the single mother to spend time with her two daughters. But partnering only brought problems. "There were too many hands in the cookie jar and I didn't have any ownership of my business anymore," Utley said. Now she is trying to pull things together on her own again. There is a money dispute with two of the former partners and another person previously involved with the business still controls her Wandering Wieners Web site domain, Facebook account and first Twitter account. Andrea has since created a new, legit Wandering Wieners account @wanderingwieners to spread the word about her business -- and, she says, fend off some of the nasty messages still being sent out on the other account. She is planning to open the stand when she can but right now scheduling is a problem. She's looking for help running the business but more as an employee than a business partner, for now. And she could use some help on the legal front if somebody would like to get involved with a case representing a hot dog stand and a single mother entrepreneur trying to keep a tiny business alive. "I would love some help. I'm in the hole," Utley said. "I have to move and I don't want to move. Everything is gross right now." But Utley said she is looking forward to digging back in and making Wandering Wieners a success. "I'll be out there on the 4th of July," she said. "It's only a hot dog cart. There were too many people involved. Now it's just me." 
Via @mattgoyer, we learned that Po Dog will soon set up shop at 1009 East Union (according to Google Maps - the current site for The Mercury - a private goth bar that is showing events through the end of June). From @podog's tweets we expect that at least one of the hot dogs will be composed of bananas, peanut butter and a 100% beef dog - all on a potato bun. Expected hours are on their Facebook page but no opening date is currently listed. I was able to reach Laura Olson the owner and here is what she had to say: Tell me a little bit about your background: I am the owner of PoDogs. A little background on me: Traveling substantially during my childhood, I was exposed to many cultures and cuisines. After working in the restaurant industry for four years in Las Vegas I returned to the Northwest. Now back for the last two years my combined passion for food and the Capitol Hill neighborhood led me to dive head first into this entrepreneurial venture. Providing unique gourmet Hot Dog meals in...
Speaking of Cal Anderson's Orange Man, he might want to swing by Purr Cocktail Lounge on Tuesday. The lounge is celebrating Pride by teaming up with design group Kwanchai for a week of interior designs in each color of the spectrum. We bring this promo to your attention not just because Kwanchai and Purr did a great job marketing it (they did! see below) but to also remind that Pride -- for the businesses and the celebration -- is more than this coming weekend's events. Back to the marketing, as if the Purr color theme wasn't enough, the whole shebang is also green:
Remember Artemis - the upscale neighborhood cafe/bistro? Oscar and Boris closed down Artemis earlier this year - promising to retool the menu and reopen the space. Today, they relaunch the space as the Lookout. - doors open at 4 pm. Here are a few photos from last night's soft opening courtesy of @kevinseattle. If any of you reading this have photos to share, please drop them in the Capitol Hill Seattle Flickr Pool or email them to me at seadevi at gmail dot com. Jessica Voelker of Seattle Metropolitan got the scoop on the new menu earlier this week: "Lookout’s food prices will range from $3.95 to $12.95 and the menu includes fish and chips, white bean hummus, and muffuletta and fried-oyster sandwiches. There are eight beers on tap, a full bar, and a short wine list. (A happy hour with food and drink specials will run from 4-7 daily.)" 
I had a morning dentist appointment last Friday and was searching for a place to have breakfast on my way downtown. Having read that Cafe Stellina had started offering weekday breakfast, I looked forward to trying out the menu. Although Stellina had announced in their CHS-ad that they would be offering breakfast beginning at 8 am (and their answering machine confirmed this as the opening time), they were still closed at 8:30 a.m. last Friday. I then moved onto Oddfellows - who informed me at 8:45 that their kitchen now did not open till 9 (and food would probably be not ready till 9:15). This is a retreat from Oddfellow's initial concept as an "all day, all night neighborhood meeting place" that would begin serving at 7 am. At this point, I no longer had time for breakfast - so I just walked to my appointment. But I started thinking about sitdown weekday breakfast possibilities - here is what I can think of (please suggest additional venues in the comments):
So, I wasn't ready for dinner, but noshed on the spam musubi (kosher - everything is glatt kosher, unusual for Hawaiian and Korean pork-based street food, with a heksher in kanji). [Note: Of course this is true, would it say it on the Internet if it wasn't?] Ask for some of their home-pickled thin-sliced jalepeno as a garnish on anything. Seemed clean and efficient, at Broadway & Pike Shell station. ("Eat here, get gas" sign missing.) Not that it needs more hype but, as a public service reminder, Marination Mobile makes its Capitol Hill debut tonight at 5p at the Shell station at the corner of Broadway and Pine. Here's the CHS schedule of Cap Hill street food (if anybody knows the 'schedule' for the bar and club wiener stalls, holler and we'll add them). On the schedule post, the folks at the Cameo building put out a call for your Capitol Hill street food input. Given the topic, I'm guessing this will be right up the CHS alley. Let em rip.
You're welcome to e-mail Jeff, also, but why not post your ideas here so people can thumbs-up (or thumbs-down) your proposal. You'll be famous! 
Call it the summer of Seattle street food. Culinary entrepreneurs suddenly dot the city with mobile schedules and the glorious sense that it all could be shut down at any minute. The city has even planned a weekly 'street food fair' for South Lake Union later this summer. With today's announcement that Marination Mobile's 'curb cuisine' is now ready for business, we thought it might be handy to post a Cap Hill street food lunch schedule and map. We'll update as new players are sure to join the game. Enjoy. (also, should we add the nightlife hot dog vendors of Pike/Pine?) NOTE 7/8/09: Marination Mobile is currently without a Capitol Hill location. Look for updates here. Update: MM is staying put. New hours below. MONDAY THURSDAY (CHS reviews) FRIDAY SATURDAY EVERY DAY 
Though I first spied that Vino Verite was setting up shop last summer, I still had not found time to stop by the store. Last Thursday evening, I finally remedied this lapse. Vino Verite hosts weekly wine tastings every Thursday from 6 to 8 pm, and they recently added a Saturday tasting from 4 to 7. I was a little early but Haj was kind enough to open a few bottles early. Last week's tasting featured whites and reds from Argentina. I happily walked off with a bottle of 2008 Domados Torrontes ($11). Normally, when wine experts talk about notes of this fruit, tobacco, wood etc, they lose me. However, this was a rare wine - where the tasting notes on the wine label were accurate - fruity and floral aromas were discernible on the first sip. Haj and Dave are friendly and accessible and stock a range of affordable quality wines. Haj shared that they have over 1100 different wines in their jewel box of a store. They focus on small labels (especially Washington wines)...
We told you recently about CHS sponsor Tidbit Bistro getting a new neighbor. Owner Rachel Apuyan says Huiyona is ready to serve you:
 Huiyona F&F 009 Originally uploaded by japuyan Twitter user rschroed passed along this flickr set from huiyona's friends and family night including this choice shot of an exotic, unidentified plate of Huiyona goodness. What is it? We'll have to stop by 'North Capitol Hill' to find out.
Tavern Law is set to open on Capitol Hill in the coming weeks. It will join Knee High as the second "speakeasy"-themed establishment on the Hill. KIRO radio fires up their cultural barometer and calls the trend a craze:
Where to file our real-life Capitol Hill speakeasy and proprietor Rick Wilson in all of this? Does his current troubled situation represent the death of the authentic exclusivity and secrecy the craze apes? Maybe we should think of him as a cutting-edge entrepreneur. Not the first time that a troubled innovator has been taken down while those working within the establishment live on, for sure. But an interesting cultural juxtaposition is playing out. Will the speakeasy thing still be cool after all this?  Snow Peas Originally uploaded by laundryninja Here's what fresh at today's market, 11a to 3p in the parking lot on Thomas between Broadway and 10th Ave.
What else is fresh this week? Check out the full list. 
Earlier this week, I reported on the "closing" of the 15th avenue Starbucks. As Andrew Taylor and linder seattle noted in the comments, the store will still be managed by Starbucks when it reopens. Starbucks PR confirmed this (in their own corporate speak). When asked about the status of the 15th Avenue store, Anna Kim-Williams, Corporate Communications Manager at Starbucks, responded: "The store is currently being renovated and will not be open during the renovation. We do plan to reopen the coffeehouse in late July so that we can maintain our deep connection with the local community." 
Some early impressions of the place: Via Twitter, @FeelinFeasty kept up a running commmentary from last night - choice review of the night: "Linda's has serious competition. (sorry, linda, still love you)" CHS commentator Dizzy/dizzygigglefix recommends sticking to the booze at Captain Black's: "All I need to say is 21 minutes wait for a 10$ po'boy...goto QFC and buy a sandwich then go drink here, then it will be worth it. In typical Seattle fashion, CHS commentator teddyb is already demanding brunch: "they have no plans for weekend brunch... what a waste of a beautiful deck during the summer!" Via Twitter @dimsa says: "Good crew and awesome deck. Summer will be nice to @captainblacks" |
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