The French Guys started hanging out on Capitol Hill in 2023

We’ll start this year’s look back at the year that was in Capitol Hill food and drink with the goodbyes. You will note that many of the dozen most prominent Capitol Hill and the nearby restaurant, bar, and cafe closures are also part of 2023’s “hello” stories. When it comes to the economy of food and drink, we suppose you can look at every loss as an opportunity. CHS sees it more as a continuum as the buildings and street corners change and shift through the years with some spaces continuing their place as neighborhood gathering spaces for decades even as a rotating cast of characters puts them into motion, shutters, gives way, or settles in for long, fruitful stays. Remember what we had and enjoy what is new.

Thanks to Silver for this picture of the Rancho Bravo sign’s ignoble end

SAD GOODBYES

1. Witness: Brothers and sisters, Broadway once had a Southern-flavored cocktail bar that served mint juleps, waffles, and fried chicken. It passed from this earth at the tender age of 10 in 2023.
2. Rancho Bravo: Like many of our goodbye notes, Rancho Bravo’s adios story is also a hello. Owner Freddy Rivas told CHS the costs had added up and, after nearly 15 years of business, Rancho Bravo wasn’t penciling out anymore. Teto’s Cantina has stepped into the breach. Vaya con dios.
3. HoneyHole: We’re making the call. HoneyHole — after inexperienced management under new owners and downright irresponsible management in its final days of business — died in 2023. Sometimes legends come back to life.
4. Kimchi Bistro: Just as the Hill has been hit by a wave of new Korean flavors, this 21-year-old veteran of the neighborhood’s food and drink scene shuttered. Its replacement? A Korean hamburger joint, believe it or not.
5. Ben and Esther’s: The Portland-based vegan Jewish deli chain shuttered its only Seattle location on E Pike with a swipe at the city and Capitol Hill. “Rent and labor have been double what they are in our other shops, but we’re only seeing half the amount of business,” the deli folks said on the way out. See you in Stumptown.
6. Marmite: The retirement of Seattle farm to table veterans Bruce and Sara Naftaly opened new opportunities in Chophouse Row.
7. Crumble and Flake: Sometimes the changes for our favorite food and drink spots feel like the changes a good friend might make. For the tiny 2012-born E Olive Way bakery, 2023 was a year of change as C&F left Capitol Hill for the suburbs.
8. Bounty Kitchen: The Queen Anne healthful eating concept never hit its stride on 19th Ave E as it opened into the teeth of the pandemic and never recovered. Bounty’s end of year closure will way for a new restaurant already in the works for the space.
9. Karachi Cowboys: “We take liberties, pick from here and there. We pick from all over India and Pakistan,” Nasir Zubair said about his 12th Ave restaurant. The adventurousness carried the Cowboys for only two years of business.
10. Blotto: After only three years of business on 12th Ave, the hyped pizza joint closed down over issues with its lease by holding a weeklong slice party. RIP.
11. Optimism Brewing: The eight-year-old Capitol Hill brewery decided to empty its vats and make room for Stoup at Broadway and Union
12. Marjorie: Donna Moodie’s joint ended 13 years at 14th and Union with a plan to reopen in 2024 nine blocks away in the Central District
13. Vivace coffee bar: The popular walk-up is already back in motion but the coffee maker who made it famous decided to consolidate its efforts on Broadway. In a springtime gathering, Vivace employees from across the years gathered to say goodbye to the institution. Nearby, baristas at the Vivace Brix cafe continues to pull shots like they have for 35 years.
14. Kaladi Brothers: The small Alaskan coffee chain packed up after 16 years on Capitol Hill. The E Pike building it has called home has long been lined up for mixed-use development that may finally be taking shape.

HAPPY HELLOS

1. OOLA Capitol Hill’s summer debut came in the home E Union neighborhood for Kirby Kallas-Lewis and KT Niehoff. Their OOLA distillery was born at 14th and Union before relocating to Georgetown. As Marjorie made way for its new start in the Central District, the debut of the new OOLA bottle shop, cocktail bar, and restaurant marked a 2023 homecoming.
2. Coché Valley Dessert Cafe’s creations at the corner of 15th and Pine are almost too pretty to eat. Almost.
3. Sakana under chef and first-time owner Paul Kim was ready to stand out in Seattle’s sushi scene at 15th and Madison
4. Cafe Suliman: Part of a collaboration between Ahmed Suliman and Marc Papineau who started working together back in their days with Bar Ferdinand and Sitka and Spruce, the Arabic eatery and its Levantine food joined Melrose Market in 2023.
   

   Imo Pocha

5. Xóm brought elevated Vietnamese to fill the core space in Capitol Hill’s Chophouse Row.
6. Imo Pocha’s Korean flavors gave new life to the old Glo’s diner space after a kitchen overhaul and renovation
7. MariPili kept moving up in its sophomore year with the addition of a MariPili Cafe at First Hill’s Frye Art Museum
8. Cap Hill Kitchens: How to count Capitol Hill’s new 14th Ave ghost kitchen? There’s the Brick’N’Cheese grilled cheese place, an American Jacks Vegetarian Restaurant, both a Mother India Cuisine, a Bengal Tiger, as well as a Goan Host Cuisine, Venezuelan at Cocina Casera, Yummys Shawarma, and, apparently room for more. It is filled with a dozen or so restaurant concepts all vying for your delivery dollar and pocked with TikTok’s latest food and drink obsessions. French tacos anyone? It is also filled with challenges for the small businesses trying to find their place in the ghost kitchen economy. Hello?
9. Donna’s: Oh, Donna’s. More than the spirit of Vito’s lives on at the 2023-born E Olive Way cocktail joint. You’ll find some familiar fixtures including a few of the now permanently shuttered First Hill classic’s staff now part of the Donna’s family. You’ll also find drinks and bar pasta.
10. Otherworld Wine Bar brought new life and lots of corks to the revival of 114-year-old Pike/Pine building
11. Bequest Coffee opened on E Madison replacing a Queen Bee Cafe location
12. The Jilted Siren made space for the heartbroken — and the hungry and the thirsty — in the former Kedai Makan space on Bellevue Ave
13. Kedai Makan was reborn at 15th and Pine
14. Lao Burger was born in the spot where Taurus OX first launched
15. Dave’s Hot Chicken: Fried chicken joints are on nearly every corner of the Hill’s core. Nashville hot chicken by way of Pasadena joint Dave’s Hot Chicken joined the flock on 12th Ave in 2023.
16. 

    Basecamp at Gearhouse

    Mt. Joy: More poultry in motion came on 11th Ave where Seattle-based pasture-raised chicken sandwich startup Mt. Joy launched with the opening of what it hopes will be hundreds of locations offering its more sustainable take on the popular chicken sandwich trend.

17. Basecamp: Part of outdoor gear and community concern Gearhouse’s E Thomas arrival on Capitol Hill, Basecamp serves coffee and beer for a mix of adventurers and laptop jockeys just off Broadway
18. Plantiful Superfoods brought plant-based “superfood” to students and more on 12th Ave
19. Coping Cookies also joined 12th Ave with its recipe of sweet treats and philanthropy
20. Stoup Brewing Capitol Hill took over the former Optimism brewery and beer hall at Union and Broadway
21. The Neighbor Lady returned triumphantly with a brand new space at 23rd and Union after a tiff with Uncle Ike
22. Jerk Shack Kitchen neighbored The Neighbor Lady as Trey Lamont brought his Caribbean creations to Midtown Square
23. Sodam Chicken is now resident at 19th and Madison marking the second stateside location for the U.S. subsidiary of the popular South Korea chain. It’s big in Shoreline. Its arrival marked the goodbye for Thai joint Thudsuan.
24. The French Guys had been Seattle’s most popular mobile french bakery. In 2023, they opened their first cafe and bakery counter in Capitol Hill’s Loveless Building replacing the dearly departed Joe Bar.
25. Tandoori Flame & Indian Grill makes for another hello/goodbye entry. Its arrival above 15th Ave E marked the end of Bamboo.
26. Meliora fused “vibrant Pacific Northwest vibes with a touch of medieval influence” in its overhaul of the former Canterbury space on 15th Ave E
27. Galbi Burger added hamburgers to Capitol Hill’s rich menu of Korean restaurants
    

    Bar Bayonne

28. Teto’s Cantina will look to start a new tradition of affordable Mexican food — and cheap margaritas — in the long ago KFC on the edge of Cal Anderson Park
29. Christmas Dive Bar was a temporary addition to Pike/Pine’s holiday offerings — but we think the idea might catch on
30. Cafe Haslla brought Korean bingsu and sweet waffles to Broadway
31. Fuel Broadway: The old Vivace coffee bar relaunched in December as part of the Fuel coffee family
32. Bar Bayonne and its “train station-style baguette sandwiches” by day, cocktails and jambon by night debuted next door to sibling L’Oursin.
33. Glo’s Diner reopened in its bigger, better location above Capitol Hill Station

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