April 2013

Interior Designer Carrie Hayden's Custom Window Dressing Creations

Interior Designer Carrie Hayden’s Custom Window Dressing Creations

The Great Jones Home owner shares how she created this custom window statement

What’s the story behind this recent Capitol Hill projectThe client wanted us to put together a living room plan, as well as to finish off her dining room…[for which] she needed some window treatments. She wanted to bring out the beautiful value of the Gracie hand-painted wallpaper graciestudio.com that she had on one wall…something that…

Seattle's Restaurant Empire Builders

Seattle’s Restaurant Empire Builders

Seattle restaurateurs, it seems, have found comfort in numbers—numbers of restaurants, that is. Tom Douglas currently employs 650 people in his 10-plus businesses across the city. Sitka & Spruce’s Matthew Dillon and his partners have taken on the Pioneer Square neighborhood, with three new businesses opening along tree-shaded Occidental Plaza. Meanwhile, Renee Erickson—whose aesthetic hinges…

Mise en Place: Local Dining Trend in 2013

Mise en Place: Local Dining Trend in 2013

Putting it all in place.

Mise en place is the French kitchen term for all those chopped shallots, bacon bits and minced herbs a cook uses to assemble meals on the fly. These elements have traditionally been tucked away from diners’ sight. But in Renee Erickson’s airy new restaurant, The Whale Wins, mise en place is part of the picture….

Earthenware: Local Dining Trend in 2013

Earthenware: Local Dining Trend in 2013

Dish Network

Like a proper frame sets off a fine painting, a handmade serving bowl or rustic earthenware plate is a showcase for your dinner. Several distinctive, locally made serving pieces caught our eye this year. From top: Two small bowls from Mamnoon made by West Seattle potter Akiko Graham, who works with stoneware clay (akikospottery.com); chunky…

Allison Narver Directs Boeing Boeing at Seattle Rep

Allison Narver Directs Boeing Boeing at Seattle Rep

Seattle director Allison Narver finds something fresh in a 1960s time capsule.

Boeing-Boeing will remain forever a 1960s set piece for two reasons. First, the acrobatic machinations of the plot hinge on a printed timetable of airline schedules, whereby the main character, Bernard, juggles his painstakingly timed liaisons with three hoodwinked fiancées, all flight attendants on different airlines. Second, the lothario’s deceitful world begins to collapse thanks…

Burger Bummer at Sam's Tavern

Burger Bummer at Sam’s Tavern

The burgers and fries underwhelm at this new Pike Street joint.

If, going in, you knew that Sam’s was named for the original Red Robin—which was first called Sam’s Tavern, then Sam’s Red Robin before the owners dropped the “Sam”—and that it is owned by the son of one of the first Red Robin franchisees, you’d likely expect a pretty impressive burger. But at James Snyder’s…

Long Queues for Kukai's Ramen

Long Queues for Kukai’s Ramen

Kukai's first stateside outlet delivers delightful ramen.

Among Seattle’s food set, there is much debate over which restaurants—if any—make the city’s best dim sum, bagels, pizza and ramen. And so, soon after Kukai Ramen & Izakaya, the first stateside outlet of a popular Japanese chain (“Kookai” in Japan), opened in December, the local ramen-ati lined up to judge for themselves. The crowds…

Bread of Life

Bread of Life

I love a great meal at a great restaurant (the evidence: our Best Restaurants feature). But sometimes, what I crave for dinner is simple: very good bread, very good butter and a glass of earthy, dry red wine. Lately, when I practice this simple ritual, it’s with the incredible sourdough from Sitka & Spruce. The…

Gone Fishin': The Bait Shop's Midwest Charm

Gone Fishin’: The Bait Shop’s Midwest Charm

Kick back at the Bait Shop on Capitol Hill

Nestled in the calm northern curve of Broadway on Capitol Hill, Bait Shop conjures a cozy lakeside lounge in the 1970s Midwest, a spot where you might grab a beer—and worms for fishing—but this update has far better offerings. ZOMBIES AND PAINKILLERSFrom the old beer signs to the stuffed marlin adorning the wood paneling—and even…

Seth Damm's Deconstructed Rope Jewelry

Seth Damm’s Deconstructed Rope Jewelry

Fine artist Seth Damm creates wearable art from cotton rope.

Fine artist Seth Damm (sethdamm.net) knew he was on to something early in the creation of his Neon Zinn rope necklaces. “There’s just something about them that makes people want to touch them.” And wear them. Using 100 percent organic cotton rope made by a small family business in Pennsylvania, Damm dyes, deconstructs and reforms…

Give Back with Miir Bikes

Give Back with Miir Bikes

Buy a Miir bike, and this Queen Anne company donates one to someone in need.

Since 2010, Queen Anne–based water bottle company, Miir, has built nine wells that supply clean water to some of the 1 billion people worldwide who do not have access to it. Last September, spurred by a desire to benefit underserved people in other ways, Miir CEO Bryan Papé added a line of bicycles to the…

Death and Taxes: Chanel Reynolds' End-of-Life Planning Website

Death and Taxes: Chanel Reynolds’ End-of-Life Planning Website

Chanel Reynolds helps take the terror out of end-of-life planning.

It sounds like a classic object lesson: a successful freelance project manager who planned for others’ every contingency, but didn’t cover her own bases. That’s exactly the situation Chanel Reynolds found herself in when her husband died in a bike accident and she faced the biggest project she’d ever manage: getting her financial life in…