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Friday, February 10, 2012

Now Open on Capitol Hill: Regent Cafe & Bakery

Posted by on Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 4:30 PM

Fancy cakes! Thats one of the owners on the right.
  • Kelly O
  • Fancy cakes! That's one of the owners on the right.

Regent Cafe & Bakery opened yesterday kitty-corner from Artusi (that's the corner bar for Spinasse), where an Online Coffee Company used to be.

The original Redmond location of Regent is such a favorite of software developers that it got mentioned in Valve Software's Portal. The new Capitol Hill branch has brightly lit cases of cakes (green tea mousse!), pastries (chocolate croissant, fruit tarts), and other baked goods, as well as coffee, bubble tea, a full Chinese menu with a sit-down dining area, and a slick bar.

The people there are extremely nice, and I ate a criminally buttery, caramelized-topped sticky-bun-thing that is now going to be calling to me all day, every day. If their chow fun is good, that'll be lunch 19 times a week. And they say they're going to stay open late on the weekends, so yay for that.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Summer in February: Seattle Sheds Clothes at 58 Degrees

Posted by on Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 4:43 PM

That's right suckas, IT'S IN THE FIFTIES! Where's my tank top? And my shorts?**

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** I love Seattle and sun deprived worshipping.

More photos after the jump...

Continue reading »

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Thursday, February 2, 2012

I'm Trying to Work Here

Posted by on Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 5:47 PM

There's a man who every now and then on a winter's evening likes to stop under The Stranger's windows, pull out his saxophone, and serenade us and the passing traffic with an hour or two of smooth jazz. "You Don't Know What Love Is" and stuff like that.

Sorry.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Are You Missing a Stroller?

Posted by on Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 11:07 AM

Did you check the fountain at Cal Anderson Park?

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Friday, January 20, 2012

Anarchist Thinks The Cops, I Mean THE PIGS, Are To Blame For The Snow?

Posted by on Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 11:29 AM

Hooo, and you guys were all whining about some trash on Denny Hill! How about Cal Anderson park this morning?! I guess some very clever anarchist found him/herself a can of spray paint. MORE PHOTOS AFTER THE JUMP.

"Snowpocalypse 2012. Fuck This. Fuck The Pigs. [anarchy symbol]"

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Continue reading »

Friday, January 13, 2012

Last Night's Shots Fired on Capitol Hill

Posted by on Fri, Jan 13, 2012 at 5:38 PM

Seattle P-I:

At 11 p.m. Thursday, police began receiving reports of a man walking near 12th Avenue East and East Harrison Street while firing a pistol at buildings, the ground and the sky, a police spokesman said in a statement.

According to police, the man, who’d continued his stroll into the 500 block of 13th Avenue East, reloaded his .38-caliber revolver and kept shooting indiscriminately.

Patrol officers found the man near 15th Avenue East and East Mercer Street and arrested him. He allegedly admitted to the shootings and told police he just wanted to see if his gun “still worked.”

I heard these random shots last night—from my living room. I listened, they stopped, and I forgot all about them, not thinking that my block (and my living room) was just one stray bullet away from a funeral.

Now I join Charles Mudede in the journalist-who-was-next-to-a-crime-and-did-nothing-about-it club.

(I know, I know—First-World problems. As a friend in Cambodia just wrote me when I told him about this: "There are only land mines in Cambodia.")

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Eating Easter in January

Posted by on Wed, Jan 4, 2012 at 12:33 PM

Dear Broadway QFC,

My cavities are craving conversation hearts, not chocolate eggs. Can we have a little respect for the seasons, please?

Please excuse my shitty cell phone camera.
  • These egg-shitting bunnies have really jumped the motherfucking gun.

Easter isn't until April 8. Trotting out Easter candy this early is like celebrating Halloween in July.

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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Poem of the Year

Posted by on Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 4:37 PM

It goes to the opening Graves' article on the 1st Annual Capitol Hill Ice Rink:

I am from upstate New York, one of those places where a million little lakes freeze over and you pull to the side of a country road on a bleak afternoon and ice-skate. Doing this is like holding hands with the universe. To approximate the transcendence of this experience, I go to ice rinks every year, and every year I am absolutely satisfied, no matter how crowded or dinky the rink, because humans figure-eighting or stumbling and falling with their many-colored mittens as the music plays—punctuated by the clack! of the metal on ice and the fweet! of skaters stopping sideways and sending up sprays of shaved ice—is the most charming thing in the world. Ice-skating is churchless holiday heaven...
This kind of writing is pure music to my ears. As for the fake ice rink thing, I have no opinion. I last ice-skated 30 years ago and so could not tell the difference between real and not real.
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  • Eli Sanders

DAMN IT

Posted by on Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 1:10 PM

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I just ate lunch, and now Eater Seattle says Little Uncle is open in its new take-out space on 15th and Madison, serving until 2 p.m.

I'm going to go out on a limb here—a limb that Dominic Holden will surely saw off—and say that Little Uncle is just as good as or even better than Thai Curry Simple, which only serves curry, no noodles, at its Capitol Hill walk-up window, which means that on the Hill, Little Uncle wins.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Coming Soon to Capitol Hill: The Best Gelato I've Ever Eaten

Posted by on Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 3:53 PM

Coming soon to Capitol Hill!
  • Kelly O
  • Coming soon to Capitol Hill!
According to Capitol Hill Seattle, D'Ambrosio Gelateria Artigianale will be opening on Capitol Hill at 12th and Pine sometime this winter.

BEST NEWS EVER!

D'Ambrosio, which is currently located in Ballard, makes the best gelato I've ever eaten. (Read all about how they make it here.) And their second location will be even bigger, with more flavors and more vegan selections, and I won't have to go all the way to Ballard to get it! (Sadly they opened up shop about six months after I moved out of Ballard. Because the gelato Gods wanted to punish me for leaving Ballard, apparently.)

HURRY UP AND OPEN, I AM HUNGRY.

CHS has the full scoop (ha ha!) on their second location right here.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Pettirosso on Capitol Hill Is Closing, But: Silver Lining!

Posted by on Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 6:42 AM

At Bang Bang Cafe: New Mexico-style breakfast burritos with fresh New Mexico red or green chile. WANT.
  • Facebook / Bang Bang Cafe
  • At Bang Bang Cafe: New Mexico-style breakfast burritos with fresh New Mexico red or green chile. WANT.

Cute, tiny Pettirosso, which serves some of the best espresso on the Hill (from a vintage hand-pulled machine) is closing down—the last day will be December 30. (Poor Anthony Hecht—he loves their meatless meatball subs so much, and he's not even a vegetarian!)

The owner, Robin, sounds a little sad but ready for the change. She's been talking with the property owners for a couple years: "They have a big space they need to rent, and the access is through my space... I was not the one. I'm kind of winding down, not gearing up for a huge project."

The good news? Yuki Sodos (who used to work at Pettirosso—Robin reports that she's "absolutely wonderful") and her sister Miki, who run the very-much-loved Bang Bang Cafe (with actually great breakfast burritos!) are hoping to take over the space. Right now they're working on permitting with fingers crossed.

The larger space would mean a real kitchen with a bakery and a bar—"like Pettirosso, but with more stuff in there!" Yuki says. They're planning to hold onto the name, as well as the niceness—"Pettirosso is a gem... it's welcoming for everyone, and that's the feeling i want to keep," she says. So yay for that!

Robin's planning a party in January for Pettirosso's regulars—stop by for the details.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Overheard in the Office

Posted by on Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 2:40 PM

David Schmader: Here's that film. [Hands DVD screener to Charles Mudede]

Charles: Oh, what's it about?

Schmader: It's about a girl who becomes submissive when she's asleep. Then she becomes a prostitute.

Charles: Oh, that sounds wonderful!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Today in Effective Press Releases: Hot Chocolate Edition

Posted by on Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 4:36 PM

Originally posted at 10:55 a.m., moved up because I can do whatever I want.

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: In light of some top notch crowd-sourced criticism here on slog, Oddfellows is shitcanning the Frost Reviver #1 and either replacing it with Frost Reviver #2 or the disturbingly named Corpse River #2, depending on which part of this updated press release from Oddfellows you're reading: "Unfortunately, we were misguided in choosing to use Branca Menta for our Frost Reviver #1. We tried to be bold, but the people told us what they wanted, and let me tell you, it was not Branca Menta. In light of this, we have decided to try again. The Corpse River #2 is a delicious, more classic, adult hot chocolate with Dr. McGillicuddy's Mentholmint Schnapps."

Original post below, complete with revised chocolate info.

Moments after receiving an email from the local weather psychics predicting snow this weekend, I get this press release from Oddfellows offering not one but three types of hot chocolate:

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  • Oddfellows
To celebrate Cal Anderson Skating Rink, Oddfellows Cafe + Bar will be serving three varieties of hot chocolate this winter:

Classic Hot Chocolate—Guittard chocolate and warm milk, why mess with a classic?

Mexican Style—Our secret spice mix with Guittard chocolate syrup, this cocoa has just enough heat to keep you warm all winter!

Frost Reviver #1—Our classic hot chocolate, a little grown up with Branca Menta, a mint liquor.

Frost Reviver #2—Our classic hot chocolate, a little grown up with Dr.McGillicuddy’s Mentholmint Schnapps.

To make our hot chocolates extra special, we will be topping all three varieties with our very own house made marshmallows!

Sweet giddy God, all I'm getting for Christmas this year is diabetes.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Yogurtland: Where You Can Apparently Have Twice the Something of Nothing

Posted by on Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 12:44 PM

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I do love Yogurtland, the self-serve land of yogurt with about a dozen different flavors and every topping you can imagine. And their new pumpkin pie flavored frozen yogurt is really good! (Especially with some mini chocolate chips and a drizzle of caramel.) But the sign advertising the new pumpkin pie flavor drives me crazy. I walk past it every single day and it makes no sense at all.

Twice the real pumpkin, it says. But twice the real pumpkin compared to what? Other pumpkin flavored frozen yogurts? How can you prove that? Twice the real pumpkin of that piece of pumpkin pie? Twice the real pumpkin of a REAL PUMPKIN? Impossible! It doesn't make sense! What does it mean? It doesn't mean anything!

Anyway, it bugs me. It's been there for a couple weeks now, and it hasn't stopped bothering me. Welcome to my world, where I can spend weeks thinking about the wording on a poster hanging in the window of a frozen yogurt shop.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Would You Like a Free Haircut or a Beard Trim Today?

Posted by on Fri, Nov 4, 2011 at 11:38 AM

A little bird who knows someone who works for the company Creature tells me you can get free haircuts and beard trims today at a makeshift barbershop on 12th, in the storefront next to Northwest Film Forum, which has been transformed to look like this:

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Word has it the stylist is from the salon Seven and she's there now and will be until 6:00 pm. One day only! Free! Get your hair over there! More info here.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Seattle Central, Occupied!

Posted by on Sat, Oct 29, 2011 at 10:37 PM

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About 40 tents are set up right now and a trickle of new campers are arriving on the south lawn of Seattle Central Community College in Capitol Hill, where Occupy Seattle is staking its new base tonight. Here's an absolutely terrible photo of the scene:

There are easily 150 people—but it's dark, so it's hard to count them or take a clear photo—and they've built a pretty groovy little village. Some people are ladling out hot soup and one guy is making tea, while others are drumming and shaking maracas, and other folks are smoking cigarettes in the "designated smoking area." I made the mistake of setting up my tent in the designated smoking area and failing to set up my tent in the designated "do slugs of whiskey from a flask" area, because there is no such area, unfortunately. Drinking isn't allowed. In other news you probably won't find surprising, I'm not very skilled at setting up a tent.

They've scattered lots of straw about so it's sort of like being on the set of a play that takes place in a medieval barn, only the cast is wearing Gortex and tight denim.

The sentiment I've heard from campers is that, while a community college isn't what they're protesting (it's an icon of what many of them support), this a good place to send down roots. From here, they can focus on protesting banks, exposing runaway corporate control, and focusing on what matters—instead of expending energy on a squabble with cops down in Westlake Park. As for how they settled here, college president Paul Killpatrick has given his tepid welcome to the Occupiers, and today the American Federation of Teachers-Seattle, Local 1789 (AFL-CIO)—the local teachers' union—declared its support. Protesters give the teachers a lot of credit for cranking cogs behind the scenes to neutralize opposition. I saw a couple cops earlier, but they seem to be on low alert.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Overheard in the Office

Posted by on Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 12:14 PM

Me: "Ugh, I finally got around to figuring out why iTunes hasn't downloaded the rest of the season of Doctor Who... you have to buy the last six episodes separately! Bastards!"

Shena: "Nerd world problems?"

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Three Restaurants Open Tonight on Capitol Hill

Posted by on Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 1:36 PM

While our fair city recently saw a rash of closures, hope springs eternal, and it's springing bigtime on Capitol Hill tonight. Officially grand-opening (click through for more information/speculation):

· Momiji on 12th between Pike and Pine, where Dawson Plumbing used to be

· Bako on Broadway, where the Jade Pagoda used to be

· Altura, also on Broadway, across from Bako

Then tomorrow, Capitol Hill's new distillery Oola opens with a party (free tastes!).

Outside the two-block-ish radius, on Friday, the new incarnation of fancy Campagne—the less fancy (but still probably damn good) Marche—opens down in Pike Place Market with a party, too, with free hors d’oeuvres and sabered bubbly on the patio. What the hell is sabered bubbly? Allow Seattle barman Andrew Bohrer to charmingly demonstrate (listen up, Internet: no one wants to hear you talk!):

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Found in the Office

Posted by on Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 12:01 PM

So I went over to the Information Superhighway Office™ to complain about something not working (again), and no one was there (as usual), except for Anthony Hecht, who was apparently so enthralled by specs on the new iPod Nano, that he didn't even look up from his screen. Joke's on them, though, because they left an unguarded piece of pizza with some interesting new type of mushroom or something on it. I grabbed it and ran back to the safety of the editorial office where I will now devour it. Score!

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Monday, October 3, 2011

Overheard in the Office

Posted by on Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 2:30 PM

Charles Mudede: "Slog is Charles's Tickle Machine." (And yes, he referred to himself in the third person.) I sit next to Charles, and this makes me uncomfortable.

Monday, September 19, 2011

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch?

Posted by on Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 3:12 PM

Right now at the QFC by our office, there's a sample dome of ham-and-cheese sandwiches!

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I, for one, welcome our new grocery overlords.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Ballet Restaurant... Moving?

Posted by on Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 4:23 PM

Capitol Hill staple Ballet may soon leave its digs at 914 E Pike Street after over a decade in the space, if this craigslist ad, which describes the entire battered brick building as "available with 30 days notice," is to be believed. It prompts the question: Is the belovedly cheap Vietnamese restaurant moving or going out of business?

"We're definitely not going out of business," says Dzung Nguyen, a long-time Ballet employee. Nguyen says the restaurant would like to stay in its space but the landlord won't renew the lease, "which means after December, we'll be month-to-month."

In the meantime, Ballet is looking for a new space on Capitol Hill to call home. Nguyen says the owners are currently considering two locations, "both within 30 yards of where we are now."

"We're trying not to leave the hill—that’s our mission," he says.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Another Fire Near Stranger HQ

Posted by on Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 7:43 PM

First the fire at Cafe Vita, then the blown transformer and the power outage, and now another fire—all in our handy two-block radius.

Fire trucks and police cars are out at Broadway and Pine. Everyone's working, but unhurriedly. An officer at the scene says it's a small fire in an apartment or condo unit next to the Egyptian: "It's small, everything's under control."

As a city hall staffer said about the power outage just minutes earlier when I passed him on the sidewalk: "Infrastructure is king." Spoken like a true city staffer. I wonder what our infrastructure has in store for us next.

Six Fire Trucks Block Pike for Rooftop Fire at Caffe Vita

Posted by on Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 1:08 PM

Posted by news intern Paul Holmes.

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Six fire trucks, an ambulance, and several police cars blocked East Pike Street while emergency responders dealt with a rooftop fire at Caffe Vita moments ago, one block away from The Stranger offices. According to Seattle Fire Department Chief Woodbury, the fire was successfully extinguished, and caused limited damage. The fire probably resulted from an incinerator affiliated with the roasting operation behind the retail front on the roof, he said.

A Caffe Vita employee, Jason, says that the coffee shop will hopefully be open later today. Expect an update when Caffe Vita owners are done dealing with, you know, the fire on their roof, and are available for comment.

UPDATE: Caffe Vita owners clarified that the incinerator on the roof was not affiliated with the roasting operation, and declined further comment, citing how minor the event was.

Friday, August 19, 2011

This Has Been Bothering Me for Three Months Now

Posted by on Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 7:09 AM

This W magazine has been in The Stranger's lavatory since May.

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What is "ice-hot"? Is that like when you go to Pettirosso and they forgot to brew the iced tea and they give you hot tea in a glass full of ice—i.e., ice soup? January Jones is the ice soup of blondes?

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

What a Fucking Awesome Sandwich I Just Ate

Posted by on Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 2:12 PM

Grubwich, hot and steamy.
  • Hot and steamy SW Turkey Grinder.

Allow me to introduce you to the brand-spankin' new Grubwich sandwich joint on Capitol Hill.

Continue reading »

Monday, August 8, 2011

Grubwich Is Open

Posted by on Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 1:36 PM

Where the Pita Pit (don't fall in!) used to be on Broadway, Grubwich is a promisingly un-prettied-up, mostly-from-scratch sandwich shop. Choices like the El Gaucho steak with chimichurri sauce, the Bomb(ay) eggplant, and the GrubBurger are listed in a wall-menu format that's clearly low-budget but also pretty great. Also, hand-cut fries, a jukebox, and Tetris. Down with market research and graphic design, up with sandwiches!

I already ate lunch, so I didn't get anything, but it looks good. Also: free fries with any sandwich today. Has anyone partaken?

Friday, July 22, 2011

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

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