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Correction: It’s a Famous Original Ray’s Situation
My brother recently sent me a photo of a sign at An Nam Pho in Roosevelt. A few weeks ago, I had noted that the well-liked Vietnamese restaurant opened a second location in Wedgwood, but the sign disagreed. “There’s been some confusion lately,” it read. “We’re the 1st and original An Nam Pho on Roosevelt Way.” It goes on to say they are separately owned and managed from the one on 35th Avenue NE. So, is An Nam just like Smith for Vietnamese restaurants? Not quite. It’s what I like to call a Famous Original Ray’s situation.
In 1959, a man named Ralph Cuomo opened Ray’s Pizza in New York’s Little Italy. When he opened, then sold a second location, the woman who bought it kept the name. As various restaurants expanded, sold, and imitated, they all riffed on the name—Original Ray’s, World Famous Ray’s, Real Ray’s, Famous Original Ray’s.
Closer to home, Toshi Kasahara opened the original Toshi’s in 1976 on Queen Anne. He opened Toshi’s Teriyaki Two in Green Lake in 1980, (managed by a woman named Yasuko Conner, who eventually bought a Toshi’s location and turned it into Yasuko’s), then expanded from there, at one time reaching 17 locations. As he backed away from the business, former franchise locations and other copycats took over: Toshi’s Teriyaki the Original, Toshio’s, Yoshi’s. Today, Kasahara cooks at Mill Creek’s Toshi Teriyaki Grill, but his name lives on at various unaffiliated teriyaki restaurants around town.
All of which leads up to a note that, per the Washington State Department of Revenue, the An Nam Pho on Roosevelt started out registered to the same person who now owns the Wedgwood location. The license for the original location is now in the hands of someone else. In other words, it’s a Famous Original Ray’s situation.
Nesting
Brendan McGill’s Seabird flew the coop last month, and this week the chef explained what’s next for the location and his neighboring storefronts on Bainbridge (Bar Hitchcock and Café Hitchcock). Like the trend we saw in our Best New Restaurants list, it’s all about flexible, multiuse spaces. Kingfisher will open November 15 as an all-day café and boutique, with one section that morphs into a wine bar in the evenings. “We’re aiming for true blue ‘third place’ vibes,” says McGill in an email. Another part of the space will serve weekly ticketed dinners, allowing McGill to continue the high-end, boundary-pushing cooking of Seabird.
Spawning
Speaking of trends from our Best New Restaurants, Pioneer Square continues to re-rise, again. We’ve long known that Renee Erickson’s Sea Creatures restaurant group was bringing a trio of restaurants to the neighborhood’s RailSpur development, but this week we got a projected opening month (December) and a few more details on what’s coming—the descriptions sound like Erickson’s entering her mainstream phase.
- Lowlander Brewing: A sprawling space serving classic beer hall cuisine (sausages, fries) and pouring beers straight from the on-site tanks where they’re brewed.
- Un Po Tipsy: An upscale bar—with pinball—dispensing draft cocktails and canned beers and slinging New York–style pizza by the slice.
- My Oh My: Sea Creatures offers a self-referential description of this 32-seat spot as “Lioness meets the Walrus and the Carpenter,” with a PNW-focused menu and “an intimate, art-filled dining room.”
Closings
- Speaking of Sea Creatures: Sandia, near University Village, will close on Sunday. Though it wasn’t part of the company, it was part of the greater Sea Creatures cinematic universe, having taken over the space from Sea Creatures’ Bistro Shirlee, with the company’s business manager and real estate developer Chad Dale staying on when Great State Burger owner (and former Sea Creatures employee) Nathan Yeager took over.
- Too small, too sweet: Though tiny and adorable, the somewhat limited hours meant it wasn’t always easy to get to Fremont’s Hildegard Ferments and Botanicals. Still, the brewery and apothecary built a loyal community around its quirky drinks and unique concoctions. But after three years, the business will close soon—they plan to open this Sunday afternoon, and potentially a few more, per their Instagram.
Openings and Reopenings
- Un petit expansion: In 2023, Isak and Cecilia Lystad took over neighborhood staple Madison Park Bakery, and now the couple has expanded to Queen Anne. Mon Chou, their newest venture, opened this week in the former Top Pot Doughnuts space with coffee and plenty of French pastries.
- A grander expansion: The bagel shop cofounded by a pair of young UW alums aiming to “disrupt the Seattle bagel scene” continues full-steam ahead with Toasted planning to open the long-awaited fourth location in Pioneer Square next month, and their fifth and largest location coming to Capitol Hill in the latter half of next year.
- The circus is back in town: Carnival-themed Capitol Hill bar Unicorn reopened this week, after a fire shuttered it back in July, reports Capitol Hill Seattle.
- Re-fried: The closure of Catfish Corner left an empty space in the Patricia K Apartments at 23rd and Jackson. Now Capitol Hill Seattle tells us that the oil is hot again, this time with Wally’s NW Soul behind the fryer.
- Back to school: Beloved basement bar the College Inn Pub has reopened, as the owner of upstairs neighbor Café Happy has taken over the lease and restored the space, reports the Puget Sound Business Journal. What a happy Halloween for Howard the Ghost!
Oh, BTW, here’s what you missed last time.