Renton area tidbits- Restaurants, Beer, and coffee
Nevzat Espresso relocation/expansion looking promising
Skyway-
Nevzat Cankaya's bid to open up a coffee shop and Turkish breakfast hangout in Skyway is looking like more of a likelihood. The King County Council's Transportation, Economy, and Environment committee unanimously approved an amendment to the Special District Overlay zoning for Skyway, and the full council will vote on it next month.
Nevzat, who owns a coffee drive up/walk up hut directly across the street, bought the building with the hopes of providing the neighborhood with something that many residents have wanted for years, a sit down coffee shop. Many neighborhoods in and around Seattle have coffee shops practically next door to each other, but not Skyway. When he bought the building in June of 2016, he approached Councilmember Larry Gossett for his help, so that a minor variance could be permitted, allowing this to happen. Councilmember Gossett was particularly unhelpful, until after a thousand neighborhood residents signed a petition, and a very crowded public meeting made it very clear that the Councilmember was not about to win any popularity contests. His lack of understanding of the basic facts was pretty astounding at the meeting, and he seemed bewildered and confused/incoherent, not exactly what you want in an elected official. Still, I have to give him credit for ultimately coming up with the amendment. I think what did the trick was the dressing down given to him by Hamdi Abdullah(Mama Hamdi), a much respected leader from the Somali community. When Hamdi addresses you, you listen. Anyway, I'm glad it looks like it's finally going to happen, and it shouldn't have taken this long.
Fresh hop ale season is almost here, and Four Generals is in on it.
Downtown Renton-
Four Generals Brewing, 229 Wells Ave S, in beautiful downtown Renton, recently celebrated their first anniversary. They've already received a gold medal at the Washington Beer Awards for their English Bitter, but they brew a lot of other good beers as well. Like some other breweries in the Pacific Northwest, they are currently making fresh hops ale. Fresh hops ales aren't usually seen outside of the Pacific Northwest. 75% of the beer made in the United states is made from hops grown in the state of Washington, mostly the Yakima valley. Most of the hops is dried, compressed, or pelletized , and then sent to breweries all over the country. But some of the fresh hops is not processed, and is used to brew beer close to where it's grown. Four Generals is using hops grown in the Seattle area, (like in the brewery owner's back yard), and should be available in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, their Rye pale is eminently drinkable, and the Red IPA is great stuff too( except that Red IPAs are sometimes called IRAs(India Red Ale), and my name is Ira, so I think they should call it an IRA. No matter what you call it, it's vastly underrated. Much more popular is their West Coast IPA, which is a perfectly good beer, but the Red is delicious, just not often seen in neighborhood watering holes. Four Generals is a kid friendly and pet friendly place. Bring your own food.
Italian food in Renton just got a whole lot better.
Renton Highlands-
Amante Pizza and Pasta is a chain of about ten pizza and pasta places in the Seattle area. One of them is not like the others. That's the Renton location, at 4201 Sunset Blvd NE. The Renton location is undergoing a metamorphosis . It is "evolving" into Brewers East, with partial new ownership. One way it's different is that it is more beer focused, with twenty two beers on tap, including a couple of beers from downtown Renton's Four Generals Brewing. The other way it's different is that Chef Brad Inserra is upscaling the place, foodwise. Brad was the original chef at the Pike Place Market's Pink Door, putting the place on the map. He later owned the Fremont neighborhood's Swingside Cafe, which was considered by many to be Seattle's best Italian restaurant. When he opened the Swingside in 1990, he was just among a handful of "superstar" chefs in Seattle. Renton has some good restaurants, but it hasn't often attracted the big name chefs. Wayne Johnson was cooking at the late, great Shuga Jazz Bistro,(which I miss) but he's moved on to greener pastures. Renton also doesn't have a lot of good Italian food. Marianna in downtown Renton is pretty good, and there are plenty of mediocre, sort of Italian places, like Amante. But Brad Inserra has a bunch of specials on the Amante menu, and they're mostly things that won him great praise at the swingside. Pasta Aglio Olio. Seafood Puttanesca( with halibut, salmon, and prawns). Fresh Halibut. Lasagne. Caponata. Rib eye steak. A fabulous, and garlicky baba ghanouj. Portions and flavors are big. If I were a billionaire, I'd hire Brad as my private chef, and just let him cook whatever he wanted. But at the rate I'm going, it'll be several more lifetimes until I'm a billionaire. Until then, he's at Amante. Go there!
Renton has a Romanian restaurant, Sunset Bistro.
Renton-
Romanian cuisine just hasn't caught on the way other cuisines have. And that's too bad, because the food is good. And Renton has had a Romanian restaurant for the last couple of years , at 354 Sunset Blvd N. The building for many years housed Omar Khayam, the very popular and good Lebanese restaurant. Then it became the Middle Eastern Sunset Gyro. Now it's Sunset Bistro, and while they continue to serve shawarma and gyros, they now also serve homemade Mici sausage, schnitzel, stuffed cabbage, and more. The food's good, and not expensive. It's on a busy street , and the walls are painted red, so I find it hard to have a relaxed, leisurely meal there. But the food is very tasty, and they make crepes for dessert. Here's their Greek salad.
A dive bar with good food
Downtown Renton-
Years ago , I walked into the Williams Avenue Pub, 214 Williams Avenue S.which I think was called something different at that time. It was a dark, dive bar, with only bad beer and bad food. I didn't return. But I'd been reading about how good the food was, and somebody I trust reported that the smoked baby back ribs, available only on Wednesdays, were the best in the state of Washington. So I returned a few weeks ago. It is now no longer dark. It is still a dive bar, but the service is friendly and competent, and the food's way better than average bar food.In fact, I think the Philadelphia Cheese steak sandwich is the best I've had outside of Philadelphia. They fly the rolls in from Philly's Amoroso bakery. They have good beer now, including an IPA brewed for them by Everett's Lazy Boy Brewery. And the ribs? Yeah, they're good. Very good. and a bargain at 17 dollars for a whole slab.
Skyway-
Nevzat Cankaya's bid to open up a coffee shop and Turkish breakfast hangout in Skyway is looking like more of a likelihood. The King County Council's Transportation, Economy, and Environment committee unanimously approved an amendment to the Special District Overlay zoning for Skyway, and the full council will vote on it next month.
Nevzat, who owns a coffee drive up/walk up hut directly across the street, bought the building with the hopes of providing the neighborhood with something that many residents have wanted for years, a sit down coffee shop. Many neighborhoods in and around Seattle have coffee shops practically next door to each other, but not Skyway. When he bought the building in June of 2016, he approached Councilmember Larry Gossett for his help, so that a minor variance could be permitted, allowing this to happen. Councilmember Gossett was particularly unhelpful, until after a thousand neighborhood residents signed a petition, and a very crowded public meeting made it very clear that the Councilmember was not about to win any popularity contests. His lack of understanding of the basic facts was pretty astounding at the meeting, and he seemed bewildered and confused/incoherent, not exactly what you want in an elected official. Still, I have to give him credit for ultimately coming up with the amendment. I think what did the trick was the dressing down given to him by Hamdi Abdullah(Mama Hamdi), a much respected leader from the Somali community. When Hamdi addresses you, you listen. Anyway, I'm glad it looks like it's finally going to happen, and it shouldn't have taken this long.
Fresh hop ale season is almost here, and Four Generals is in on it.
Downtown Renton-
Four Generals Brewing, 229 Wells Ave S, in beautiful downtown Renton, recently celebrated their first anniversary. They've already received a gold medal at the Washington Beer Awards for their English Bitter, but they brew a lot of other good beers as well. Like some other breweries in the Pacific Northwest, they are currently making fresh hops ale. Fresh hops ales aren't usually seen outside of the Pacific Northwest. 75% of the beer made in the United states is made from hops grown in the state of Washington, mostly the Yakima valley. Most of the hops is dried, compressed, or pelletized , and then sent to breweries all over the country. But some of the fresh hops is not processed, and is used to brew beer close to where it's grown. Four Generals is using hops grown in the Seattle area, (like in the brewery owner's back yard), and should be available in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, their Rye pale is eminently drinkable, and the Red IPA is great stuff too( except that Red IPAs are sometimes called IRAs(India Red Ale), and my name is Ira, so I think they should call it an IRA. No matter what you call it, it's vastly underrated. Much more popular is their West Coast IPA, which is a perfectly good beer, but the Red is delicious, just not often seen in neighborhood watering holes. Four Generals is a kid friendly and pet friendly place. Bring your own food.
Italian food in Renton just got a whole lot better.
Renton Highlands-
Amante Pizza and Pasta is a chain of about ten pizza and pasta places in the Seattle area. One of them is not like the others. That's the Renton location, at 4201 Sunset Blvd NE. The Renton location is undergoing a metamorphosis . It is "evolving" into Brewers East, with partial new ownership. One way it's different is that it is more beer focused, with twenty two beers on tap, including a couple of beers from downtown Renton's Four Generals Brewing. The other way it's different is that Chef Brad Inserra is upscaling the place, foodwise. Brad was the original chef at the Pike Place Market's Pink Door, putting the place on the map. He later owned the Fremont neighborhood's Swingside Cafe, which was considered by many to be Seattle's best Italian restaurant. When he opened the Swingside in 1990, he was just among a handful of "superstar" chefs in Seattle. Renton has some good restaurants, but it hasn't often attracted the big name chefs. Wayne Johnson was cooking at the late, great Shuga Jazz Bistro,(which I miss) but he's moved on to greener pastures. Renton also doesn't have a lot of good Italian food. Marianna in downtown Renton is pretty good, and there are plenty of mediocre, sort of Italian places, like Amante. But Brad Inserra has a bunch of specials on the Amante menu, and they're mostly things that won him great praise at the swingside. Pasta Aglio Olio. Seafood Puttanesca( with halibut, salmon, and prawns). Fresh Halibut. Lasagne. Caponata. Rib eye steak. A fabulous, and garlicky baba ghanouj. Portions and flavors are big. If I were a billionaire, I'd hire Brad as my private chef, and just let him cook whatever he wanted. But at the rate I'm going, it'll be several more lifetimes until I'm a billionaire. Until then, he's at Amante. Go there!
Renton has a Romanian restaurant, Sunset Bistro.
Renton-
Romanian cuisine just hasn't caught on the way other cuisines have. And that's too bad, because the food is good. And Renton has had a Romanian restaurant for the last couple of years , at 354 Sunset Blvd N. The building for many years housed Omar Khayam, the very popular and good Lebanese restaurant. Then it became the Middle Eastern Sunset Gyro. Now it's Sunset Bistro, and while they continue to serve shawarma and gyros, they now also serve homemade Mici sausage, schnitzel, stuffed cabbage, and more. The food's good, and not expensive. It's on a busy street , and the walls are painted red, so I find it hard to have a relaxed, leisurely meal there. But the food is very tasty, and they make crepes for dessert. Here's their Greek salad.
A dive bar with good food
Downtown Renton-
Years ago , I walked into the Williams Avenue Pub, 214 Williams Avenue S.which I think was called something different at that time. It was a dark, dive bar, with only bad beer and bad food. I didn't return. But I'd been reading about how good the food was, and somebody I trust reported that the smoked baby back ribs, available only on Wednesdays, were the best in the state of Washington. So I returned a few weeks ago. It is now no longer dark. It is still a dive bar, but the service is friendly and competent, and the food's way better than average bar food.In fact, I think the Philadelphia Cheese steak sandwich is the best I've had outside of Philadelphia. They fly the rolls in from Philly's Amoroso bakery. They have good beer now, including an IPA brewed for them by Everett's Lazy Boy Brewery. And the ribs? Yeah, they're good. Very good. and a bargain at 17 dollars for a whole slab.
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