Thanks to Alex in the CHS Facebook Group for the neighborhood reporting

The corner of Melrose and Pine’s next culinary legacy will be established by a restaurateur who has already brought the finest meats to Capitol Hill.

Now, Heong Soon Park is bringing us his finest cheeses.

The good folks over in the CHS Facebook Group broke the news this week. The food and drink venture taking over the space left empty by the exit of neighborhood favorite Ristorante Machiavelli will be a cheese-y new project.

Liquor and business license paperwork filed for the address shows that work is beginning to transform the classic Italian joint into a new Cheese Room restaurant from the Meet Korean BBQ food and drink family.

What shape and form the cheese-inspired project will take is yet to be seen. Anything from a cheese bar (RIP Culture Club) to a fondue joint that echoes the attendants and prepare-at-your-table vibe of Meet BBQ could be in the works. Popular Seoul restaurant Melting Shop and its Italian leanings could also be an inspiration. There is also the possibility Cheese Room is just a temporary project name for the final food and drink project. We’ve reached out to Meet to learn more.

(Image: Meet)

Meet has been part of Capitol Hill since its inauspicious opening in the winter of 2020 only weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns hit. CHS talked with Park here about surviving that tough start and growing Meet’s refined approach to Korean barbecue on E Pike.

Park is also the driving force behind downtown’s Chan Seattle.

The Cheese Room project, whatever shape it takes, will be replacing a legend on a changing block. CHS reported here on the challenges owner Suzette Jarding faced with rent and staffing as she decided to shut down the 36-year-old favorite to focus on her Machiavelli expansion in Edmonds.

San Francisco-based real estate company Prado Group, which acquired the property for $5 million in 2022, is transforming its tenant mix on the block where Portland’s Voodoo Doughnut will open its first Seattle location later this year in a new shop created out of the spaces currently home to Pho 4 U and Lan Hand-Pulled Noodles.

CHS stopped by for pictures of one last night of Machiavelli on Capitol Hill last month.

Now, it is time for something new — and cheese-ier.

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