Skip to content

Food & Drink

Read More ›

Blind Pig Set to Close in November

A sad, sad "for lease" sign hangs above the door, and the neighborhood weeps.

blind-pig-photo

Blind Pig Bistro—the acclaimed Eastlake eatery where diners are encouraged to order the whole daily-changing menu, prix fixe-style, for the table—is celebrating its fifth birthday in November. But rather than blowing out some candles and cutting the cake, owners Charles Walpole and Rene Gutierrez are closing Blind Pig’s doors for good.

A little backstory: Chef Walpole has been the creative culinary force in the kitchen, earning applause from critics and loyal neighborhood regulars alike. He and Gutierrez met more than a dozen years ago when both worked at Mistral Kitchen. They opened Blind Pig together in 2011, taking over a tiny spot in an unattractive strip mall with a storied past—it housed the original Sitka & Spruce, and then Nettletown.

Now, Walpole and Gutierrez have decided not to renew their lease. Gutierrez told me that they’re in the process of looking for another space and neighborhood that will be able to better support Blind Pig’s tasting menu concept. (Please guys, somewhere other than Capitol Hill or Ballard or South Lake Union.) If you, like me, immediately worried that Babirusa, the duo’s bar next door, was next on the chopping block, fear not: Gutierrez assures me that Babirusa is “still fighting the delicious fight.” The two spaces are under separate lease, and the owners have no plans to shutter the bar.

Blind Pig’s last dinner service will be Nov. 12. (They’ve got a few special events, like their final Beastlake dinner—an all-you-can-eat goat and Caribbean flavors meal—on Oct. 24.) Babirusa will continue business as usual, serving drinks and dinner daily from 4 p.m. to midnight.  

Outside the Box: Gourmondo Founder Launches Olivina

Outside the Box: Gourmondo Founder Launches Olivina

Alissa Leinonen’s new venture brings her seasonal, Northwest approach to weddings, milestone celebrations, and elevated events.

After 30 years, Alissa Leinonen—founder of renowned catering and box-lunch company, Gourmondo—has launched a new venture. Called Olivina, the new luxury catering and events company focuses on highly personalized, elevated experiences ranging from weddings or other milestone celebrations to corporate gatherings. What started with $4,000 from a refinanced car (and a tiny café in Pike…

7 Washington Fall Festivals Worth the Drive

7 Washington Fall Festivals Worth the Drive

Autumn is back. Celebrate with fresh-hop beer, apple harvests, returning salmon, cranberries, and more. 

Explore 7 fun Washington fall festivals worth the drive, from Leavenworth's Autumn Leaf Festival and Issaquah Salmon Days to CrabFest and Fresh Hop Ale.

Restaurant Roundup: Brunch With a Side of History, Cardamom Lattes, and Chiew Chiew

Restaurant Roundup: Brunch With a Side of History, Cardamom Lattes, and Chiew Chiew

Here’s what was served up recently in the Emerald City.

Hope you’re hungry for a history lesson. Oliver’s, the cocktail lounge inside downtown’s Mayflower Park Hotel, was a Bartell Drugs store during Prohibition before becoming the city’s first hotel bar in the late 1940s—the Carousel Room, named for the carousel horses hung from the ceiling. When Washington repealed the rule forbidding the service of hard…

Seattle Loves a Brand That Treats Its Workers Well
Sponsored

Seattle Loves a Brand That Treats Its Workers Well

Seattle loves a brand that treats its workers well. It’s how Dick’s Drive-In, Costco, and Patagonia earned the kind of loyalty no marketing budget can buy. A new name deserves a spot in that club: Great State Burger. With locations near the Amazon Spheres, T-Mobile Park, and now inside SeaTac’s newly renovated C Concourse, Great…