(WSB photos by Christopher Boffoli)
The Admiral District’s next new restaurant is days away from opening: 4 months after first word that Brickyard BBQ was moving into space just south of Admiral Pub (map), WSB Forum members have been wondering when they’ll open. So Christopher Boffoli stopped by this afternoon on behalf of WSB to check, and reports that this Wednesday (August 26) is expected to be its official opening day. He reports that the activity spotted there in recent days has been “soft opening” activity for friends and family, as is traditional in the restaurant business. For our last report in late July, the owners told us they’d be serving Texas-style barbecue, likely 11 am-10 pm.

After being on the market more than a year (here’s what we reported last August) – Angelina’s Trattoria in Admiral has finally found buyers. They’ve applied for a new liquor license, and the names on that application led us to Allison Rich, who confirms that she and her husband – who live in West Seattle – are taking over next month. As part of their plan, she says, they will close Angelina’s at the start of September to put in a bar and new bathrooms; they’re hoping that will only take about a month. They’ll keep the name Angelina’s, Allison told us, and the menu will remain focused on Italian food, though she says they also “will be doing what we will call ‘the NOT so Italian menu’ where we will have specials from all over!” After the renovations, she says, Angelina’s will have the bar on one side and be “family-friendly” on the other. (Admiral is suddenly jumping – in addition to this and last week’s Porterhouse opening, the Shipwreck — a tavern planned for the old TNT space — has applied for its liquor license, and Brickyard BBQ is expected to open soon.)

New information tonight from William Khazaal, son of Phoenecia at Alki restaurant owner Hussein Khazaal, who died suddenly over the weekend at age 63 (here’s our Sunday report, with dozens of memories and tributes in its comment section). William says his father’s funeral will be at noon tomorrow at House of Mercy in Covington (15004 SE 256th; map), and there will be a memorial celebration on Alki — with food — in the grassy area by the Bathhouse, right across from Phoenecia, this Friday night at 6:30; the family says the public is welcome at both events. Friday is a day when Mr. Khazaal’s family had hoped to be celebrating something very different: William says that would have been his father and mother’s 40th wedding anniversary.

That photo is above a note on the door of the popular restaurant Phoenecia at Alki, telling this sad story: Owner Hussein Khazaal has died unexpectedly, and the restaurant is closed until further notice. This is a transcription of the unsigned note from his family – it is dated August 8th (yesterday):

To our customers:

This morning, West Seattle lost one of its finest residents.

Hussein Khazaal, my father and best friend, passed away in his sleep of natural causes.

While this loss is devastating to our family, we know how much he meant to the community as well.

Words cannot express the sorrow in our hearts in losing someone to whom we were so close. He was far too young to die but we are grateful he went peacefully.

Dad lived for his family, which included his patrons. The restaurant along, with his wife, children and grandchildren, were everything to him.

Anyone who ever had the pleasure of knowing him can vouch for me when I say, he never had a selfish moment in his life. You, our dearest customers, were what made him happy. The looks on your faces as he took you to paradise with his culinary masterpieces brought him great pride and joy. We thank you for indulging him and letting him “prepare something special” for you.

We are not sure where we will go from here. There is a possibility we will reopen Phoenecia. We are confident we can prepare the food; we are just not sure how we have it in us to run the business he built without him by our side or if we can provide the same magical atmosphere our beloved Hussein did. Our decision will take time, thought and discussion.

Regardless of the fate of Phoenecia, we know Hussein will live on. Whenever one person performs an act of kindness to another, Hussein lives on. Wherever there is generosity, Hussein lives on. Wherever there is beauty in the simplest of things, Hussein lives on.

A memorial will be held within the week. We have not yet determined the location. However, if you would like to attend, you may e-mail me at wkhazaal@hotmail.com and I will send you information regarding the time and place.

Lastly, if you are wondering if there is anything you can do for us … there is. If you have any warm thoughts or stories you would like to share with us about Hussein or Phoenecia, please e-mail them to me at wkhazaal@hotmail.com. Your words will be of great comfort to our family.

We will be in touch soon regarding our decision as to the fate of Phoenecia.

Till then we thank you so much for your patronage over the years, as did Hussein. We consider you part of our family. Thank you.

Just this summer, Seattle Metropolitan magazine hailed his restaurant as one of the Best of 2009. Mr. Khazaal first opened in The Junction in the ’70s, and also operated in Queen Anne before bringing Phoenecia back to West Seattle at its current Alki location.

He was 63 years old. (Thanks to those who called and e-mailed this afternoon to let us know about Mr. Khazaal’s death.) MONDAY NOTE: Here’s our followup story with funeral/memorial information.

We mentioned this briefly as a side note in yesterday’s West Seattle Farmers’ Market update, after WSB’er John reported what he’d found out – but now we have confirmation directly from Skillet Street Food‘s Josh Henderson that West Seattle is off their schedule “for the foreseeable future”:

We are pretty swamped with private events, and Aug and Sept are just crazy…so we are leaving Sundays open for the foreseeable future…could change..but for now that is what we have to do… but thanks so much for checking in, we love the West Seattle folks and hopefully they can track us down in other parts of the city.

Elsewhere on the street-food beat, Marination Mobile is in its second month of Saturday 11 am-2 pm visits to High Point (35th/Graham; map). P.S. Since food is perennially one of the hottest topics in the WSB Forums, it now has its own section – West Seattle Food. It’ll take a while to recategorize all the archived discussions that belong there (previously they were part of Open Discussion) but from hereon out, if that’s what you want to talk about – and reviews are welcome as long as they are labeled as such – go here. (And to find archived coverage of West Seattle restaurants on WSB – go here.)

The question came up in the WSB Forums this week – when is Brickyard BBQ opening in Admiral (2310 California)? We brought you first word of the planned restaurant back in mid-April. To answer the WSBF question, we checked back with co-owner Don Kriley, who says that – like nearby Porterhouse – they’re hesitant to set an exact date, because they’ve still got some inspections to go through, but they’re hoping to open in “two, three weeks” or so. Another Forum question: What style of barbecue? Answer: Texas. Hours will be 11 am-10 pm for the restaurant, lounge open later. No website to point you to yet, but it’s “in development.”

They “don’t want to disappoint” by setting an opening date yet, but the people working to open the Porterhouse restaurant/bar in the former Blackbird space next to the Admiral Theater told us today during a quick sneak-peek tour that they are getting closer. For one, the new taps are in — “We added 21” (to the pre-existing 4), smiles co-owner Silas Reynolds, a West Seattle native, shown above with co-owner Linda Libby, posing with the 25-in-all taps in the background. That’s just one of the changes they’ve made to the space – they say they’ve made it more open, from the kitchen through the seating area: here’s a quick Flip-cam pan:

For two, they’re about to finalize the menu, which — as discussed in our earlier story about the Porterhouse — is described by Reynolds as “gastro-pub,” though he’s not a huge fan of the term – pub food but with a twist, yet “approachable” and, as Libby puts it, “affordable and tasty – our goal is to create a nice neighborhood restaurant for people who live here.” (Both Reynolds and Libby are chefs, but Porterhouse has its own chef – Katy Lauzon, who previously worked with the two in a Skagit County enterprise.) They’ve chosen their coffee – Vashon Coffee – and desserts will include Molly Moon‘s organic ice cream. They’ll be emphasizing “fresh, local, organic food as much as possible” and as little “processed food” as possible — they’re even hoping to make their own fries and onion rings. And many dishes, they say, will have a bit of a twist, like a tuna sandwich with pickled hopvines. (If we get a copy of the menu before the night’s out, we’ll add it to this story; otherwise we’ll publish a separate update.) Number three, they’re about to start hiring — next Monday (July 27), they’re inviting anybody who’s interested in working at the Porterhouse to come by between noon and 3 pm, and bring a resume. The restaurant hours will be 11 am-11 pm for starters, with the bar open later; they’ll probably add brunch in the not-too-distant future, and they’re working to add outside seating as well – for starters, they’re enhancing the space’s ties to the patio space on the south, with a new openable window added to that end of the bar. (Here’s our previous story about Porterhouse, explaining that the team runs a restaurant of the same name in Mount Vernon — see its website here, but take note that the West Seattle venue will be all-ages.)

(photo by Christopher Boffoli)
Following up on our report last night that Ama Ama is closing after this Saturday, Seattle Times food writer Nancy Leson has just published a story with quotes from proprietors at two other Junction restaurants — Spring Hill and Fresh Bistro. Both tell Nancy they’re doing OK. As for what’s next in the Ama Ama spot, we spoke with building owner Leon Capelouto earlier this afternoon; he says his understanding is that they’re trying to sell the business, and he says their lease has not expired, though he would not comment on how much longer it runs. We still have a request out to Ama Ama’s owners for comment. They are closed on Mondays but posted earlier today on their Facebook page: “Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone for your kind words, e-mails and phone calls!…we want our last week to be a party, so come on in so we can say goodbye in person …”

(Photo by Christopher Boffoli, added 11:37 pm)
Thanks to everybody who’s just sent us word of Ama Ama Oyster Bar and Grill‘s closure announcement. Last day: July 25th. It’s posted on the Ama Ama Facebook page, and this is what was sent to the Ama Ama mailing list:

Well, we are very sad to announce that Ama Ama will be closing its doors for good on Saturday, July 25th. Economic conditions, being what they are, have reluctantly forced our hand.

Thank you to all of our customers, from West Seattle and beyond, we truly enjoyed serving you and hope you enjoyed your time spent at Ama Ama. To all of our employees, both current and former, we thank you very much for your hard work and dedication. We are lucky to have had the chance to know and work with you all. Special thanks to our Chef, Jared Wentworth, whose menus are both creative and fantastically well executed. We are very proud he has been a part of our restaurant – we are now several pounds heavier because of him – but we will try not to hold that against him!

We hope you will come by in the coming week, have some oysters, a few drinks, say goodbye to the staff and fill up on Jared’s incredible food one last time. Thanks again, for your support and encouragement. We will miss coming to work at Ama Ama and miss seeing our West Seattle neighbors!

Rob Coburn
Paige Crandall
Co-Owners Ama Ama

Ama Ama opened in October 2007. Before that, Ovio Bistro had been there (following its move from the location further north on California where Beato closed last year); previous incarnations included Guppy’s and a national-chain pizza parlor.

Siam Pura, the Thai restaurant over Casa Feliz, between Pepperdock and Homefront, is listed on CL for $130,000. Other West Seattle restaurant spaces still listed for sale (the links point to their listings): Angelina’s, Beato, Garlic Jim’s and Yoshio’s Teriyaki.

Confirmed via Twitter (@freshbistro): As of July 11-12 – same weekend as West Seattle Summer Fest – The Junction’s newest restaurant, now in its second month of operation, adds brunch.