Hungry for news? Welcome to our Friday Feed, where we run through all the local food and restaurant news this week—and maybe help you figure out where to eat this weekend.
Sea Creature Surfacing
Renee Erickson’s Sea Creatures opened its trio of Pioneer Square restaurants at the end of 2025, then turned its attention back to its trio of Capitol Hill businesses—which will reopen on March 11 as a single spot. The connected Bateau and Boat Bar will merge into Jeffry’s, a new steakhouse with Erickson’s rustic Euro-PNW flair, and the neighboring former General Porpoise will be converted into a private dining space. Much of the steakhouse style (and in-house dry-aging program) from Bateau will stick around, though now with a martini cart and updated room. The press release takes care to note that “Former Bateau and Boat Bar employees will be welcomed back to the restaurants, and Jeffry’s will continue to operate as a unionized workplace,” though it doesn’t say what it presumed those unionized employees were supposed to have been doing for the intervening eight months, with little word on opening date.
Is + the New &?
Downtown’s the Charter Hotel announced it will open a new seafood restaurant in April named Cinder + Salt. Take care not to get that mixed up with other downtown hotel spots, such as Alder & Ash, which serves “seasonal new American” food inside the Sheraton Grand, or Shaker + Spear, which is the seafood restaurant inside the Kimpton Palladian. There’s also the Hart & the Hunter in the Palihotel, a retro Americana diner which is totally different, as it uses definite articles, and Salt Harvest, which misplaced its punctuation when it landed in Pioneer Square’s Populus.
More Openings
- All aboard: Renton coffee roaster Boon Boona opened its fifth shop this past weekend, a marquee spot on Seattle’s waterfront Overlook Walk.
- Urban taco: Mexican chain El Rinconsito has long danced around Seattle, with 14 locations in Washington that include suburbs in every direction. Now, it’s open at the intersection of MLK Jr. Way S and Rainier Avenue S, with little dining igloos outside and late-night hours (until 3am) on weekends.
- Bet on the (pizza) house: Cannabis and casino operator Ryan Kunkel appears to be taking over the former Supreme space in the U-District. But he’s not opening another Have a Heart or Imperial Palace: It seems the space will remain a pizza shop, now called Sinners Pizza, and giving very Vegas vibes—on the sign, the first S has a snake head.
- Dessert course: Two tidbits of cookie news emerged this week, starting with Lowrider Cookie Company, which has the sign up in its new Greenwood location, though it isn’t yet open. This will be the company’s fourth, after Burien, SeaTac Airport, and the Central District. Meanwhile, America’s #1 macaron franchise, Le Macaron, has signs in the window that it’s coming soon to First and Yesler.
- Bonus snack: White Center’s Nacho Mama’s Fry Bread Café is reopening after a remodel and regroup, reports West Seattle Blog. Owner Debra Lecomb has spruced up the space, upgraded the kitchen, and hired help, so there’s never been a better time for wojapi parfait.
Temporary Closures
- This one’s good news: Just your annual reminder that Pike Place Market's James Beard Foundation America’s Classics award winner Oriental Mart takes an annual vacation, and this year’s started February 9. The Filipino lunch counter will reopen April 15.
- This one, too: After a period of expansion, Coffeeholic House is turning its attention back to the original store and giving the Columbia City location a bit of a makeover. The closure should be just a few weeks.
- This one’s not: Fremont’s Midwestern-themed bar Petoskey’s caught fire last week. Thankfully, there were no injuries, but the bar is looking at several months out of commission to repair and rebuild.
ASEAN Streat Food Hall, in livelier times.
Permanent Closures
- Faded spice: Bellevue’s Mustard Seed Grill is calling it quits as of Valentine’s Day. After 31 years, the owner Ken Wiles plans to retire and head for the desert.
- No more noodle: Capitol Hill’s U:Don Fresh won’t be renewing its lease in the 12th Ave Arts building, reports Capitol Hill Seattle. Though it closed at the end of January, the U-District location of the cafeteria-style noodle shop remains open and has no plans to close.
- Out on the street: When Westlake Mall’s ground-floor tenant, Asean Streat Food Hall opened three years ago, it didn’t quite live up to its potential, coming off more as a ghost kitchen with seating than a lively Singapore-style hawker complex. Now, it never will, as it was served an eviction notice this week.
Oh, BTW, here’s what you missed last time.