West Seattle, Washington
12 Thursday
The new Pegasus sign is up at the ex-Coyotes, ex-Chez Million, ex-Lighthouse, ex-Point:
Further east, new colors are painted on Slices (whose front fence was shown in the Craigslist version of this ad last month; we wrote to the listed e-mailbox but got no reply) and in the background, the ex-Alki Mail turned future Pioneer Coffee Company:
TUNES: KUOW profiled the West Seattle Big Band today. Jim Edwards sends this link.
TREATS: Free “Deathcake” tasting 1-3 pm tomorrow @ Cupcake Royale. (Hat tip to C Ro.)
Ever wonder where West 5 got the big lit-up crown that graces the back wall? This week’s Stranger tells the tale.
A few weeks after we reported on the appearance of that sign in the long-awaited Spring Hill restaurant space (ex-In Bloom) that we’ve been watching for more than a year on the north end of The Junction, we have just heard from Mark and Marjorie Fuller, owners of the restaurant-to-be — who want you to know they’re looking for a maitre d’:
Spring Hill restaurant will be opening in March, maybe April and for now, are looking to hire one good person for our Maitre d’ position. We were wondering if the West Seattle Blog would help by posting our craigslist ad.
Sure thing. Here’s the link; and here’s the text of that ad, which reveals a little more about Spring Hill:
SPRING HILL, Chef Mark Fuller’s contemporary/casual restaurant is seeking an experienced Maitre d’ to work evening dinner shifts.
This is a full-time position with good pay and many benefits.
We are looking for enthusiastic and professional people with a genuine feel for hospitality and attention to detail.
The restaurant will be located at 4437 California Ave SW in West Seattle and will open this Spring. This is a brand new 74-seat restaurant. Expect the food and wine menus to reflect the Pacific Northwest.
Please email a resume and brief cover letter to springhilljobs@gmail.com.
We have follow-up questions out to the Fullers to see if we can get a bit more info to share with you about what Spring Hill will be like.
After a worried Thai-food fan e-mailed to ask why they’re closed and not answering the phone, we found the building permit for their remodeling work, then went by and saw a note on the door says they’ll reopen for dinner 1/15 and for lunch 1/22. (2 other concerned would-be customers came by just during the few minutes we were checking!)
… including tomorrow’s West Seattle Farmers’ Market fresh sheet and 2 deals at upscale West Seattle restaurants; posting it all after a jump since we sense people are still catching up on today’s news, post-game, and don’t want to push all that too far down the main page:Read More
Thanks to Bill for e-mailing us with news this sign had gone up in the window at the future Spring Hill restaurant (the sign says “restaurant & bar”) next to Seattle Fish Company on the north edge of The Junction; we subsequently snagged this photo while Christmas shopping (very busy in The Junction, watch out for crazy drivers like the 3 who almost ran us down). We have been following the progress of Spring Hill for more than a year now, since first word of its impending arrival came in the form of a liquor-license application; most recently, we noted a building permit last month, five months after the architects’ sign went up in the corner of the window.
Another sign the store planned for the remaining space in the ex-Alki Market building (next to All the Best Pet Care and Cactus) is getting closer to reality – the proprietors-to-be of Alki Urban Market have just applied for a liquor license, under the “grocery store/beer and wine” category.
First, the food. Happened to notice this on the windows at Alki Crab & Fish at Seacrest – “all you can eat” nights, Tuesday for fish and chips, Thursday for prawns and chips. Since it’s Tuesday, thought we’d mention it, for anyone seeking dinner ideas. While taking the pic this morning (before AC&F was open), we also noticed a sign instead inviting people to be there for New Year’s Eve — “fireworks and fun”!
Now, the wine. Two items:
First, a liquor license has just been approved for “cheapwinestore.com” at an address in a Gatewood residential neighborhood. The website at that address isn’t up yet, so we tracked down the e-mail address of its proprietor, Patrick Collins, who tells WSB they’re hoping to be up and running within a month or so, elaborating:
My wife Brandy and I though it would be a great idea to be able to offer good, really tasty wines at inexpensive prices. Wine appreciation really is on the palate of the “beholder” but we are putting together a selection of wines that we think really stand up to what most people will really appreciate. We will be shipping wines to all of the places that allow, and as we get into this a bit more, we will start to really focus on the great wines that Washington and Oregon have to offer. It has been a great project that my wife and I have really been able to have fun with!
Second West Seattle wine note — WSB talked this week with the folks at West Seattle Cellars about what ever happened to their plan for a wine bar next door (the space that’s still covered with plywood). They say it got hung up in red tape, but they’ve got some other plans for the space now, including office expansion and possibly some additional retailing that complements wine (chocolate? cheese? etc.).
Checked in with Charlestown Cafe owner Larry Mellum today, after a few recent e-mails from WSB readers who had heard reports of a lease extension. He says they’re still officially month-to-month, but not expecting to be leaving any time soon, since the proposal to tear down the building and build a new Petco store seems to be moving slowly, with no official action since the August public meeting at which the Design Review Board turned thumbs-down on the design for a second time (detailed WSB coverage here). Meanwhile, we received an e-mail comment on the subject of Charlestown’s fate and West Seattle’s direction in general, and wanted to include it in our next followup, so here it is:Read More
Latest step in the remodeling of West Seattle’s one ‘n’ only KFC, er, Kentucky Fried Chicken (part of the new decor involves reviving the full name) — sign shown above says it’s shut down till Friday.
It’s open. One comment’s already come in on last night’s thread so we wanted to put up this post before anybody else came to the site looking to comment. Did you go? What’s it like? Discuss!
Exterior work is under way right now at the ex-Coyotes, finally confirmed firsthand to be the future home of Pegasus Pizza (whose original location next door will be torn down for a new building). The beige-ish panel actually features marbling much like the current Pegasus decor. Meantime, we talked to a worker outside the future Alki Urban Market – he said he had no clue when they’ll be opening; and down the street at the ex-Alki Mail/Dispatch, future Pioneer Coffee Roasting Co., someone’s inside working on a huge PIONEER sign. As for the water side of the street, a couple scenes from our breezy, chilly walk:
So says e-mail we just received from Lessie. Won’t be able to confirm in person for a while, so if you’re anywhere near The Junction, more reports welcome.
WSB contributing photographer Christopher Boffoli spotted the last piece of the Shadowland sign now in place — the moon. As for when they’re opening – still waiting to hear.
Drawing a lot of gawkers in The Junction today: The menu and wine list for Shadowland are now posted in its front window (NE corner of California/Oregon). Sample from the “small plates” lineup: Cassie, $6, ingredients listed as “white cheddar, macaroni, love.”
We signed ourselves up to be notified when Amazon‘s new grocery-delivery service came to our zip code – haven’t gotten a note that way yet, but the official WSB inbox just yielded this:
My name is Vincent and I’m a PM on the Amazon Fresh team. We’re part of the Amazon.com family, and we’re the Seattle area’s newest online grocery. We recently launched in July, only delivering to Mercer Island, but we’ve been expanding our coverage areas and now we just began delivery to West Seattle! I was wondering if your readers would be interested in the following news:
Beginning today, residents living in zip codes 98136, 98126, and 98116 can enjoy our pre-dawn delivery service: Place an order online as late as midnight, and we can deliver next morning as early as 6AM  free.*(minimum $25 order) This even includes Thanksgiving Day!
All you have to do is to browse to AmazonFresh.com and enter the address where you’d like to have your deliveries. Visit us and browse our selection of over 20,000 specialty and everyday itemsâ€â€Âget your milk, fresh fruit, and much more.
Much as we personally prefer to shop in our local West Seattle grocery stores and will continue to do so, we may place a test order just to report back on what happens. 8:45 PM UPDATE: Well, we tried. But then we hit the explanation of “pre-dawn delivery” – sometime before 6 am, the order is left by your door. Just not comfortable with that; not that we don’t trust our neighbors, but there’s a lot of wildlife around here. They would have had a field day with the turkey. Some interesting pricing in there, though, especially for produce and fresh herbs.
Since work on Shadowland started to pick up speed, we’ve received questions about the restaurant project across the street and a bit north — the ex-In Bloom space, first heralded one year ago as Spring Hill (not to be confused with the Spring Hill mixed-use building plan that recently emerged south of The Junction), to be opened by a local chef named Mark Fuller. This morning, we found a sign of life on that project, first one in months: A 30-day “get started” permit just issued by the city. Before now, the last major update on the Spring Hill restaurant came in June, when its design emerged on its architects’ website. Another link we found at the time (which doesn’t work any more) described Spring Hill as seeking to “redefine the French bistro in Seattle.” Guess we’ll see soon!
The latest touch on the much-watched sign for Shadowland in The Junction is neon — as photographed today by WSB contributing photographer Christopher Boffoli. He went by shortly after we sent a note to Shadowland co-proprietor Joe to ask a question we’ve heard from a couple people — what’s going in the circular space in the middle of the sign? Joe says, “A moon. The face is being painted now. Still a mystery on how we will get it up there but we have a team of engineers working on it :) …” Joe says they’re expecting to open the week of the 25th, depending on how city inspections go next week. No detailed menu scoop yet but we’ve had hints here and here. (Joe added in a later note that it’s exciting to finally get so close to opening after all this time – and the birth of a business can take a long time indeed — we looked back into the WSB archives and found our first mention of this project was more than a year and a half ago.)
Exactly 4 months after its opening, the Junction pie shop is featured in The Stranger today. We haven’t been there in a while. You?
There are several important things happening in, and pertaining to, West Seattle tomorrow. You can find them right now on the WSB Events page; we were going to put together a preview post for tonight, but we think we have a better way to conclude the “holiday” night — asking you to help a fellow WSB reader with this recommendation request:
The people we normally spend Thanksgiving with are not having a gathering this year, so we’re on our own and are looking for a restaurant. Does anyone have any recommendation for a nice place for a couple to have Thanksgiving dinner that doesn’t cost a small fortune? Our favorite restaurant is closed on Thanksgiving. I checked with Salty’s online and their buffet is almost $50 a person – I’m thinking I’d like to spend a little less than that for dinner. It doesn’t have to be a buffet, and not even necessarily “typical” Thanksgiving food. Doesn’t have to be in West Seattle, but within half an hour or so would be fine. Any thoughts?
Post your recommendation(s) in the comments; previous WSB Reader Recommendation Requests and responses are archived here.
Veteran West Seattle photojournalist Matt Durham, from MattDurhamPhotography.com, has agreed to contribute photos and reporting to WSB from time to time, and we couldn’t be more pleased – his excellent work fits so well with our mission of bringing you West Seattle news, information, and discussion 24/7/365. Here are three of Matt’s photos from today, with his captions below each:
Japhy Witte (with Sign Savant, a West Seattle business) puts the finishing touches on the marquee that will welcome patrons to the new tapas restaurant Shadowland, slated to open around the week of Thanksgiving. Shadowland will offer tapas, small plates, and entrees in a variety of cuisine types, according to owner Ben Jenkins.
With a steady gaze, a loyal lab waits for its owner to exit Capers Sunday afternoon.
The cold, blustery Sunday weather did not deter shoppers from purchasing their fresh produce and organic groceries from West Seattle’ Farmers’ Market.
We look forward to more from Matt in the future. (Prints of these photos and his other work, by the way, are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)
Looks like we have a name for the store coming to the last remaining space in the ex-Alki Market (next to All the Best Pet Care, two doors down from Cactus): According to a construction permit just granted by the city, it will be “Alki Urban Market.” A little further east, the windows at the former Coyotes on Alki (former Chez Million, former Lighthouse, former Point Grill, that’s as far back as we go) are now brown-papered (photo below) — no construction permit for this site so far, and no revelations are to be had for a peek through the window — though it’s been widely speculated that might be where Pegasus Pizza could/would move when the construction project on their site begins. (Or maybe this mystery restaurant?)
| 10 COMMENTS