(Image: Captain Black’s)

Sorry, no pancakes until the move to Capitol Hill Station… or the original Glo’s reopens (Image: Glo’s)

Still working through the aftermath of a damaging fire that has left its original cafe debilitated and faced with an indeterminate wait for construction to wrap up on its new Capitol Hill Station home, Glo’s Cafe and neighboring bar Captain Black’s have found a way to bring brunch back to E Olive Way.

With an official launch Labor Day weekend after a test run this weekend, the Belmont bar and its glorious patio deck has begun hosting Glo’s for an ongoing weekend pop-up featuring a limited menu of the cafe’s favorites including eggs benedict, waffles, and plenty of coffee. Black’s will have its bar open for drinks including a new menu of breakfast cocktails. Breakfast will be served “until we run out of food,” Glo’s Julie Reisman tells CHS.

“I’m so grateful our staffs have forged relationships,” Reisman said. “Black’s is being so generous by hosting us there.”

CHS reported here on the June fire that started on the outside of Glo’s E Olive Way building and damaged the cafe space so badly it has remained closed since. The blaze happened as Glo’s was already preparing for a move that will put the 35-year-old Capitol Hill institution in a new, much larger restaurant space amid the new apartments and businesses above the busy Broadway light rail station.

(Image: Captain Blacks)

Reisman said the fire’s aftermath could mean customers may never step inside the old Glo’s again.

Instead, it is time to look ahead. The new Friday to Monday pop-ups at Black’s will be a preview, of sorts, of the new Glo’s where the expanded venue will allow the restaurant to have a liquor license for the first time and a “breakfast cocktail sheet.”

It will also present a new challenge for the Glo’s kitchen staff on the logistical side of things as Reisman says popping up at Black’s will mean operating “kind of like food truck style.” She said Glo’s will have “extremely limited storage and refrigeration space” meaning the menu will be kept simple and quantities, limited. Moving from Glo’s crowded but efficient kitchen adds to the challenge. “Well, they’ve got a griddle,” Reisman said of her first tour of the Black’s kitchen facilities.

The thing the pop-up will have is space for diners. There will actually be more seats available than the original Glo’s — all of them outside on the Black’s decks. For the under 21 crowd, kids and families can sit on the front deck.

“We have families that like to eat at Glo’s,” Reisman said. “We just need to make sure we do it right.”

For Captain Black’s, making space for Glo’s will bring new activity to the 2009-born Belmont Ave bar on its back porch above the original Go’s space. Owned by Add3 founder and nightlife entrepreneur Brian Rauschenbach, the pop-ups will also provide the bar with “market research,” Reisman said, for what could be a future with an expanded world for the 13-year-old bar.

The pop-up menu

For now, Glo’s at Captain Black’s will be a fun but temporary solution. Reisman hopes the new space at Capitol Hill Station will be ready soon enough to make a smooth transition from the pop-ups and, if not, there could be a small chance of reopening the damaged cafe space for one last burst of brunch activity before the move.

“We just want to keep some Glo’s going, Reisman said.

The Glo’s pop-ups will take place Fridays through Mondays, 8 AM to noon or until the food runs out. Captain Black’s is located at 129 Belmont Ave E. You can follow @gloscafe on Facebook for updates or check out captainblacksseattle.com for more information.

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