West Seattle food: Eness making way for Blackboard Bistro

Saw the name on the liquor-license application lineup recently but couldn’t get the scoop – the name Blackboard Bistro, attached to new liquor licensees for 3247 California SW, the Eness/Beato/O2/Ovio/etc. spot. But this afternoon, Nancy Leson at the Seattle Times (WSB sponsor) has the full story – she reports that Eness is making way for Blackboard Bistro to open next month. Its proprietor worked most recently at Olivar on Capitol Hill. Read all about it here. 6:21 PM NOTE: We went over to the restaurant to look for signs of the transition, and to see if anyone was around to talk to. Aside from the “Blackboard Bistro” liquor notice, there is no sign of the impending change; a flyer taped to the window just says the restaurant will be closed July 1-12. THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE: A spokesperson for Blackboard Bistro says Eness is definitely “closed for good” and that Blackboard plans to open “mid-August.”

coffee July 7, 2010 (2:31 pm)

ah, how long was Eness open? I didn’t even realize it was gone! Based on the Times write up, I cannot wait to try them!

wsgolfer July 7, 2010 (2:32 pm)

Dang! Eness didn’t last there a long time at all, did it? That location must have some bad karma!

All the best to the new endeavor. Looking forward to trying it out.

MJ July 7, 2010 (3:06 pm)

I have a good feeling about this one. I’m pulling for you Blackboard Bistro! I’ll be in to try those sliders…

sam July 7, 2010 (3:19 pm)

sweet- I am excited they will offer child-size portions of good food, a change from noodles with butter and chicken fingers. I can’t wait.

rw July 7, 2010 (3:52 pm)

Blackboard? My first thought was that Blackbird was reopening in a new location and changing vowels. Ovio was very good, but the others never really established a market identity. Good luck to Blackboard on accomplishing this task (even if the names does sound a bit too much like Blackbird).

onceachef July 7, 2010 (4:02 pm)

We loved the owners of Eness…very personable. But the “concept” wasn’t right for that neighborhood. Unfortunately the color they painted it was also…not right, to say the least. But I wish them well as they were extremely humble and nice people. Good luck to Blackboard Bistro…his menu sounds very appealing (such as it is right now) and should do well in that neighborhood.

Meghan July 7, 2010 (4:05 pm)

Someone FINALLY seems to have a winning formula for that restaurant space! If the food is as good as it sounds (and it’s great at Olivar!) and priced right, it should be a big success. This will be the 9th restaurant in that space since I’ve lived in W. Seattle. And ever since O2 closed (and for years before Les Tamales opened/moved/closed… and prior to Ovio/O2 opening/moving/closing), that space had a long list of restaurants that were either terribly medicore (Black Cat, Cafe Mez, Alfred’s, and Enness – no offense :-), or very good but just too ambitious for the location (Beato). This really sounds like a potential success.

Cjboffoli July 7, 2010 (4:05 pm)

It wasn’t location karma that doomed Eness. It was the menu.

JanS July 7, 2010 (4:10 pm)

I keep hoping for a moderately little bistro to establish itself in this location. Maybe this will be it. It sounds good. I was just looking at the menu for Olivar’s this weekend, and we will be lucky to get fare like that at Blackboard. Welcome to West Seattle :)

JBL July 7, 2010 (5:40 pm)

What kills the businesses here is the space. WAY to big. Someone needs to redesign the space and make a winning formula to fill that space up. I wish Blackbird all the best.

AnotherIdiotInWS July 7, 2010 (5:54 pm)

Little kids will able to eat there? Bummer. I love kids, but I just don’t want to spend money eating dinner listening to everything that goes along with having them 8 feet away from me. Still, best of luck. The menu sounds pretty cool.

grr July 7, 2010 (6:08 pm)

actually..the size of that space is just fine. Ovio did great there..and I sure do miss Tamales.

Tho..It’s probably time to gut the joint and start over. Sorry to hear about Ennes..there were indeed nice people…It sucks to watch your business go under.
–
I can’t figure out how Table 35 is still open.

JayDee July 7, 2010 (6:21 pm)

Aside from Bakery Nouveau French cuisine seems to have a hard time in West Seattle. Chez Millionaire being doubly cursed by having French food and not enough millionaires in the ‘hood. I will try Blackboard and see how loud the chillun’ are — Circa is slightly smaller and louder, coupled with the food stare from the waiting patrons. Good luck Blackboard.

grr July 7, 2010 (6:46 pm)

I think the right kind of French Bistro (ala Voila in Madison Park) would do just fine here. But I’m glad Blackboard is going in. Then again..I’m a new fan of The Bohemian…Not enough $$ to eat out ALL the time..damnit. :D

Ed July 7, 2010 (7:28 pm)

Everytime we walk by Eness during prime dinner time, they are empty. I don’t want to try them out just because no one else is there. That, and the
Place seems a bit too expensive. I wish they would have sent out some coupons to get people in there!

JanS July 7, 2010 (7:59 pm)

Well, Eness didn’t even put up a website. It seemed like they kept their day jobs, and this was a hobby, and simply not run very well. I’m sorry they spent all that time (and money) remodeling, for it to go under so quickly. When you’re new you have to at least advertise. Websites are not difficult to build…we wanted to know more, and never got it. A shame.

closet food lover July 8, 2010 (12:26 am)

Would somebody please explain who they think the folks of West Seattle are? Why is it we can’t get and retain high quality, innovative restaurants in this neighborhood? Yes, we have a few… but others come and go quickly. Neighborhoods like Madison Park, etc. seem to do just fine.
I’m curious. What is it about West Seattle that has this unusual quality about it? We have folks living here who have TONS of money … yes, folks… SERIOUS money and yet we can’t support our local merchants. Why does this occur?
Do folks who live here just want their privacy and want to be left alone?… and don’t eat out?… and don’t participate in our community? … Or is it the economy? Everyone is reluctant to spend money on eating out and having a good time?

Tori July 8, 2010 (12:43 am)

Looking forward to some ham loaf in W.S.! See you soon Jacob!

Meghan July 8, 2010 (7:52 am)

Closet Food Lover: I would argue that for the population, W. Seattle has quite a few good restaurants. If you count them all up (from Alki/North Admiral to Fauntleroy/White Center north to south), it’s quite a big list (well over 50, not counting fast food, in fact). Considering we don’t have a single hospital, decent hotel, etc., I would say our dining scene is not bad. Personally, I think the main reason so many restaurants in W. Seattle come and go is that so many are either not very good (to extremely mediocre) or just not the right fit for the neighborhood. The reality is that W. Seattle is realtively very family-oriented (lots of kids), relatively working class (not a whole lot of extra spending money for most households), and scews older (lots of senior citizens). Keep in mind that because many of us are so close to downtown (less than 15 mins. to be sitting in a restaurant in Belltown in normal traffic from my house!), many professional/more urbane people go downtown to dine out. But the long-term success of places like Spring Hill, Jak’s, Buddha Ruksa, Fresh Bistro, LaRustica, Endoyline Joe’s, Cactus, Bakery Nouveau, and several others shows that if a place offers something really exceptional (in food, value and/or overall experience), people will stay in W. Seattle and embrace it. But if you open a place like, for example, Enness or Table 35, it’ll eventually fail.

Tom Walters July 8, 2010 (8:24 am)

Predicted Eness’ tenure to the day, check out older posts if there’s any doubts. Stay tuned for Blackboard prediction. Gotta see it up and running first; however, gonna be hard to top Eness’ longevity, or lack thereof.

sam July 8, 2010 (8:58 am)

closet food lover- I do agree with you. even though there are a lot of great restaurants with great food, there aren’t a lot of the sort you are referring to. when I want to pick a restaurant for date night, I end up thinking of places downtown or capitol hill. Lark, Quinns, etc, and I really want to try Bastille in Ballard. but from the list that Meghan provided, the only one that fits into that certain category (in my opinion) is Springhill, an interesting place with creative chef using unique, fresh ingredients. Jak’s is good, but I don’t really think of steakhouses in that category.
I guess the problem is that there are so many good West Seattle restaurants that people can go to frequently, as opposed to a special occasion. If you can get a lot of good food all of the time at a variety of places, it hardly leaves an incentive to try a unique place less frequently. I don’t know if I am making sense. maybe with the denser development and more apartments in West Seattle, there will be more young professionals (DINKs- double income no kids) who DO go out to eat at these types of places more frequently, thus sustaining this type of cuisine.

villagegreen July 8, 2010 (10:49 am)

@ sam – Well said. Your theory makes total sense to me. West Seattle is so family oriented – I can’t think of a neighborhood in Seattle with fewer single people (maybe Magnolia?) – that ‘date night’ places aren’t that common. West Seattle can feel a little isolated sometimes when you spend so much time here, so when I want to go out to a nice place with a fun atmosphere, I often times find myself thinking of places in Capitol Hill, Downtown, or Ballard.

Shadowland tried the ‘interesting and creative’ route, but it failed. They’ve now gone with a more traditional type menu (which is actually pretty good). It seems that West Seattle can only support one destination restaurant at a time – used to be Ovio, now Springhill.

The population here does skew older (think what restaurants Ballard had to offer before the massive influx of young people). As the density increases here, maybe West Seattle will eventually be able to sustain places like Bastille, Lark, Quinns, Cafe Presse, etc. Sounds to me like Blackboard Bistro is a step in the right direction. Can’t wait to give them a try!

sam July 8, 2010 (12:19 pm)

(edited to add)… I realize Meghan included Fresh Bistro. IMO, they are in that ‘category’ too…I’ve only been once so I’d like to try them again.

stb July 8, 2010 (12:37 pm)

As someone who spends plenty of money dining out, both in West Seattle and downtown/Belltown, I think one thing that is very much lacking in the West Seattle dining scene is really good bartenders who can craft fine cocktails in a nice atmosphere. Add some imaginative small plates and all the better. Feedback Lounge is okay but the atmosphere & food is definitely too young/hipster for my demographic. West 5 is okay but the food is mediocre at best. Matador & Cactus are fine if margaritas/mojitos are your thing. The bar food at Fresh is lovely but the drinks are uninspired. Phoenicia is fabulous but only has beer & wine. Ama Ama had good bartenders but alas they are gone. So my advice to anyone hoping to make it in the restaurant biz here is Hire A Great Bartender.

publicadministrator July 8, 2010 (5:33 pm)

As far as the lack of destination restaurants in WS, keep in mind that only a fraction of Bastille diners actually live in Ballard. For many Seattle residents our neighborhood is far out of the way with next to zero night life.

Donna July 9, 2010 (3:12 pm)

Our family dines out frequent and we look forward to welcoming Blackboard Bistro to the neighborhood. The owner’s comment about a healthy kids menu struck a cord and if the food is as good as it sounds, we will become regulars.

grr July 11, 2010 (6:34 pm)

I don’t know where some of you are getting your info, but there are actually more Dual Income/No Kids families in WS than you think, as well as well-to-do single professionals that work downtown (and on the east side)
-.And the ‘elderly’ popluation has declined significantly. And, next to Cap Hill, WS has the largest gay community. It’s certainly not just ‘families’.
–

Dave July 31, 2010 (11:01 am)

West Seattle has a few great restaurants and a bunch of good one, the bad ones leave quickly. Ennis was in the last category, the food was not good, or imaginative, had we not had to pay the service would have been laughable.
There are only a few things that a restaurant needs:
Good ingredients, great chef, good service and a nice interior.
Yes we love to eat out.
Blackboard looks like a winner