7 Restaurants to Watch

>>Modern comfort food (with menu consultation by Poppy’s Jerry Traunfeld!) makes Grace Kitchen at the U Village intriguing. Great food at the mall? Here’s hoping.

>>Former Canlis chef and cookbook author Greg Atkinson will take the plunge later this year and open his first restaurant, Marché, on Bainbridge Island. Northwest bistro is the genre; seafood, local produce and foraged foods abound.

>>Oh, and don’t forget the other Marché: Campagne, the French restaurant we’ve adored for years, is scheduled to reopen in December or January. And just to keep you on your toes, its new name is Marché, too.

>>Vancouver, British Columbia, native Keeman Wong opened Bako, a “modern Cantonese restaurant,” promising upscale, ingredient-driven Chinese, on North Broadway earlier this fall. We can’t wait to taste the “wok hay.”

>>It only took, oh, an extra year for Tamara Murphy (Elliott Bay Café; the now-shuttered Brasa) to open Terra Plata in the Melrose Market. At press time [for the November 2011 issue], it was expected to debut in October with a farm-to-table focus. And expect pig in all its glory—it’s Murphy’s signature.

>>After 11 years in Belltown, Scott Staples is in the midst of moving Restaurant Zoë to Capitol Hill. Few details of Zoë 2.0 were known at press time, but it will be on the corner of 14th Avenue and Union Street; fewer tables and a year-round patio will only add to the allure.

>>Chef Ethan Stowell, who brought us Anchovies & Olives and How to Cook a Wolf, is going down-market with five new “fast food redefined” concepts in the next year. He’s planning to open one each specializing in fish and chips, hot dogs and burgers, fried chicken, sandwiches and pizza. With eyes on Fremont and Wallingford, the first location is expected to open in the coming few months.

>> Stay glued to the Restaurant Insider blog for updates on these openings and more.