Flying Fish Takeout Counter On the Fly Closes in SLU

On the Fly, the retail boutique and takeout window on Thomas Street attached to Flying Fish will close Friday, according to store employees. The announcement was first made on the store's online ordering page. Also ending is lunch service at Flying Fish, as reported over the weekend on the restaurant's Facebook page.

Flying Fish was a groundbreaking seafood restaurant that opened in Belltown in 1995 (in the space at First & Bell now occupied by Local 360). The owner and chef, Christine Keff, had an unwavering commitment to using fresh, locally sourced and sustainable ingredients, but after 15 years of dealing with the neighborhood's street people she opted for a move to Amazonia in South Lake Union. Despite favorable reviews for the new space, the SLU location remains tough.

There may be tens of thousands of Amazon workers in the neighborhood during the day, but there's little to attract tourists or shoppers, and, with the possible exception of Tom Douglas's Cuoco and Brave Horse Tavern, not many successful dinner destinations. Flying Fish offered its first Groupon last week, often considered a sign that business is slipping.

On the Fly will reopen under a new concept sometime in spring, according to a source inside the company, but Keff is "still muilling over the options."

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