West Seattle food notes: Ripple Café & Chipotle updates, more

Quick bites of West Seattle restaurant news:

RIPPLE CAFE OPEN: The new café at 35th/Henderson, in the former JC’s Deli spot, mentioned here last month, is now open – check it out 10 am-6 pm tomorrow.

CHIPOTLE SIGN UP: For the first time since we reported in February that Chipotle Mexican Grill was coming to the retail space at 4730 California (WSB sponsor), a sign’s up:

We’ll be checking back with the company for any new estimate of when they’ll open; the permit to build out the space was just issued last week.

PATIO TIME: With spring heating up, La Rustica on Beach Drive tells us the patio’s open (and it’s not alone, as you’ve probably noticed at other establishments). The Pellegrini family is also proceeding with its new project at the former La Romanza in The Junction; they’ve applied for a liquor license under the name Pellegrini Restaurant, though the family says there’s still nothing to announce quite yet.

SPEAKING OF PATIOS: The Bridge has opened theirs too and says it’ll be open for brunch on Monday (Memorial Day), 9 am-2 pm, with the all-day menu starting after that. (Anywhere else with special holiday plans/hours Monday? Let us know – editor@westseattleblog.com)

Mr. B May 20, 2015 (9:15 am)

Curious to watch Chipotle and see if they make it? Chains have not had much success in the junction.

WSB May 20, 2015 (9:32 am)

The Ben and Jerry’s saga will certainly go down in history on that point. As for Chipotle, I’ve only tried it once, last year at a food court in a New Jersey mall where there wasn’t much choice, but fwiw, and certainly not a scientific sampling, our first report brought a mostly enthusiastic reaction https://westseattleblog.com/2015/02/west-seattle-restaurants-chipotle-mexican-grill-apparently-junction-bound/#comments (as did the subsequent link post on the WSB FB page). Side note, Great Harvest across the street is a national chain, though certainly not on the Chipotle scale: https://www.greatharvest.com/local-bakery-information – Probably a tutorial in there on how to be a chain but not seem like one.

m May 20, 2015 (9:25 am)

The anticipation of what is actually going into the old La Romanza space is killing me. Love to see the tile on the outside now. What o’ what will you end up being?

skeeter May 20, 2015 (10:05 am)

I can’t decide if I like Chipotle or Taco Del Mar better. They are both pretty tasty.

cj May 20, 2015 (10:47 am)

Woo! Cant wait for Chipotle! Fast food that’s safe to eat!

HelperMonkey May 20, 2015 (10:59 am)

LOL – define “safe” https://chipotle.com/nutrition-calculator#/category/1

J. May 20, 2015 (11:08 am)

‘Tasty’ because it’s not healthy. Saddened by the fact West Seattle is getting chains you can find in a Jersey mall..or any mall.

Courtney J May 20, 2015 (11:22 am)

We tried the Ripple Cafe on Sunday…..VERY tasty! The owner was there making the sandwiches we ordered and is super friendly. Let’s all do our part to keep this lady in business!!

jetcitydude May 20, 2015 (11:32 am)

@ J..I want more local ownership myself that brings something different to the Juntion as well.. We don’t need more Mexican flare there,
there’s already enough. The problem is that the rents are way too high now for a single propietor to open a place in a desired locale. The landlords don’t really care who moves in as long as they have plenty of Capital to have their bills paid on time.

m May 20, 2015 (12:11 pm)

Let’s just hope Chipoodle deliverys across West Seattle.

Jenny May 20, 2015 (2:42 pm)

Ripple Cafe is super yummy! Went there on their “soft” opening and was impressed by everything! Barb, the owner, her daughter Kyle and their counter person, Kate, are the best. That part of 35th just gets better and better!

Diane May 20, 2015 (3:49 pm)

interesting; I never knew Great Harvest is a national chain

Tanya t May 20, 2015 (4:51 pm)

I looked inside a window that had a peak open view during construction. Looked like deli cases for selling items… Maybe cheese, pasta, sauces etc. Also some casual tables.. Perhaps a counter to order take outie eat in Dannie’s and salads. ?? Hope so!

Kara May 20, 2015 (5:15 pm)

Love Ripple!! I work across the street and have already been twice. Yummy sandwiches, delicious goodies, and their tropical iced tea is my favorite!

imelda May 20, 2015 (5:55 pm)

If we must turn into Ballard, can we at the very least get some good food over here too? Done w/ the Mexican and the Pizza. good lord.

ws foodie May 20, 2015 (6:37 pm)

Any good ramen noodle places in WS? What about dim sum?

Noodler May 20, 2015 (6:57 pm)

I vote for Boom Noodle! They just closed their UVillage location (still open on Cap Hill) and they have the best family friendly nutritious food for kids and grown ups. Let them know we want a location in West Seattle!

for the love of food May 20, 2015 (7:41 pm)

Do you think we’ll have enough Mexican restaurants within a two block radius?

Pb May 20, 2015 (8:10 pm)

The awful part is that the terrible burrito you can get at chipotle is going to take tons of customers from the small authentic Mexican shop across the street where you can get a far superior burrito, just as fast.

Pat Stafford May 20, 2015 (8:29 pm)

Am looking for a restaurant that serves breakfast – nothing fancy – bacon/ham and eggs, omelettes, canned hash/eggs, waffles – a normal type menu – West Seattle area.

WSB May 20, 2015 (8:44 pm)

Endolyne Joe’s (one of our sponsors), Easy Street Café, Alki Café … just a few to suggest for breakfast. You might consider asking in our discussion forum https://westseattleblog.com/forum

Sue May 20, 2015 (8:44 pm)

Pat Stafford, have you been to Chelan Cafe? They have the type of breakfast you’re looking for, and it’s in West Seattle. https://westseattleblog.com/chelan-cafe/
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Also check out Luna Park Cafe http://www.lunaparkcafe.com/

Jd May 20, 2015 (11:23 pm)

All I knew about Great Harvest was it began in my hometown in Montana, no idea that it became a national chain!

WSince86 May 21, 2015 (7:53 am)

Pat – Easy Street , but get there early! The bowling alley also has great breakfast as does Christo’s on Alki on the weekend

sam-c May 21, 2015 (9:43 am)

Does Ripple cafe have a menu online somewhere? Like, If we wanted to stop there to get some stuff to have a picnic dinner… how much are things, sandwiches, etc? and do they have pasta salads or some other vegetarian options?

+1 on the vote for a Boom noodle in west seattle. I’ve mentioned it a few times during development discussions here on WSB.

and +1 on Chelan Cafe having the breakfast that Pat is looking for.

jenny May 21, 2015 (11:06 am)

@sam-c, just give them a call, they are still in the process of opening. I know when I was speaking with Barb, she was telling me about these park packs she was going to put together and it sounds like that would be right up your alley

Vanessa May 21, 2015 (2:39 pm)

By the looks of the gazillion apartments and condos currently being built here, I don’t think any good restaurant will want for business.

T May 23, 2015 (8:06 pm)

Great another corporate chain (this owned by McDonalds) Chipotle is terrible. I think the West Seattle of old that said no to Ben & Jerrys in favor and support of Husky Deli is loooooooooong gone. In fact Ben & Jerrys or A Cold Stone could open in the junction again and probably do fine, might even put Husky out.

WSB May 24, 2015 (11:58 am)

Chipotle is not owned by McDonald’s – that was pointed out in earlier discussions:
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http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml
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Also per your note that led me to find and pull this comment out of the spam filter, they are not a sponsor, and per our advertising department we haven’t even been solicited by them, and I don’t expect we will be, because chains generally don’t spend their marketing money with local independent publications. Subway, for example, which has more than a few locations in West Seattle, does its advertising only with “chains” of sorts – TV, billboards. Same goes for many other types of businesses; in the supermarket business, our three sponsors (PCC, Met Market, Thriftway) are all locally owned, while the national chains (Safeway, QFC) have never sought to advertise with us. Just a datapoint. If they *were* a sponsor, they would have been identified as such in the story on first reference, as has been our practice since we became a business. – TR

GW May 29, 2015 (6:29 am)

Admiral Bird has the best breakfast imho – small menu, smaller plates than something like Easy Street, but amazingly good. Small independent shop too. Good stuff.

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