That’s an eight-second peek inside The Bohemian (3405 California; map) from our visit a few days ago. At the time, proprietor Jason Todd Rice wasn’t ready to speculate on when they would finally be able to open — but we just called to check before posting this story, and he told us the health inspector’s given thumbs up, so they’re expecting to open their daytime cafe operations as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, with the nighttime/bar operations a week or so later, pending state signoff on that. Read on to see what else he told us about how things are shaping up:
First, a bit of background: The Bohemian’s been almost a year in the making — here’s our first report from early September of last year. Watching and reporting on the process that these types of establishments have to go through, we’ve noted it’s not unusual for a year or more to elapse between first word and grand opening – Spring Hill in The Junction, for example, took about a year and a half.
Over the months, we’ve been keeping an eye on this one, including signage that went up in October, our first e-mail reply from Jason later that month, and various other updates, including the launch of their website.
If you want to hear more about what The Bohemian will be like, as told by its proprietor, here’s what he told us on camera when we were there a few days ago (with wonderfully atmospheric music in the background):
Again, he’s hoping they’ll be able to quietly open for coffee/tea etc. by the middle of next week, then they’re planning a friends/family opening a week from Friday, and hoping that within two weeks they’ll have the state clearance to fully open, bar and all. You can read a lot more about their plans on their website; one entertainment-related side note — Jason’s wife Adriene Rice is director of a local belly-dance group, Troupe Hipnotica, and they’re planning to be a big part of The Bohemian’s entertainment scene – here’s a photo shared by a troupe member:
(Photo courtesy Donnelly Images; left to right, Lisa Donohue, Julia Demarest, Jen Rothrock, Carmel
Drage; front: Siobhan Wright, Adriene Rice)
Overall, The Bohemian is quite the family affair; Jason’s brother Eirik Rice is in charge of the bar (that’s the subtitle under his name on their business cards — he’s The Bar, Jason’s is The Food). P.S. In the space next door, the future Prost West Seattle just got another permit; we expect to have another update on this project soon.
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