Ernest Loves Agnes Will Be the New Restaurant in the Old Kingfish Space

Nearly three months back, David Meinert, Jason LaJeunesse, and Joey Burgess of Guild Seattle (also behind Comet Tavern, Lost Lake, and Big Mario's) announced they'd be taking over the legendary Kingfish Cafe space at 19th and Mercer, whose closure sent the city into mourning in January. Now comes a name and more details for the new Italian restaurant moving in: Ernest Loves Agnes.

Expect daily lunch and dinner at the new eatery: pizzas and pastas that the team says will be seasonally driven, as well as coffee and pastries, and Italian wines, cocktails, and amaros at the bar. The restaurant's name is a tribute to Ernest Hemingway and his experience falling in love with an American nurse, Agnes, in a Red Cross hospital in 1918. Chronicled in Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, the forbidden romance was short-lived, but according to Burgess, the story "creates a great roadmap and story for our restaurant and bar.  After all, we are just a few Americans falling in love with all things Italian, and the bittersweet story of Ernest and Agnes."

The restaurant's name is a tribute to Ernest Hemingway and his experience falling in love with an American nurse, Agnes, in a Red Cross hospital in 1918.

Seattle Met reports that Chef Mac Jarvis (Lost Lake, Smith, and Lola) will be at the helm at Ernest Loves Agnes, and she plans to bring in "a lengthy brunch menu" on weekends. Also, per Seattle Met: "In a decided departure from the Guild's other spots, Ernest Loves Agnes is aimed at families just as much as 19th Avenue's more footloose denizens. Half the space will be a full sit-down restaurant, the other part dedicated to dimmer lighting and booze."

Look for Ernest Loves Agnes late summer at 600 and 602 19th Avenue E in Capitol Hill.