As Eater reported on Monday, the latest from Tom Douglas is here, and the just-opened The Carlile Room at 9th and Pine is a shift of the more personal nature. T-Doug has long been a theatre—and, as it turns out, show tunes—enthusiast, and his new 4000-square-foot restaurant immediately across from the Paramount (where his company has been the concessioner for the last decade) is named for one of his favorite performers, rock/folk/country singer Brandi Carlile.
Decor-wise, Douglas followed through on the 1968-inspired style he promised for the Carlile in May: a larger-than-life cutout of Bob Dylan sets the tone in the southeast corner of 120-seat restaurant (immediately to the left upon entering), and the bar menu includes different sections for the likes of Joan Baez and June Cleaver. The restaurant, then, is an homage to a turning point in America "when the shit hit the fan," as Douglas puts it, as well as a throwback to his personal history in Seattle, he says, reminiscent of the brass and fern bars where he first worked in this city.
In terms of food, The Carlile also goes in a fresh and personal direction. When the Prosser Farm-owning Douglas originally told Eater that the fare would be veggie centric, he wasn't fooling: save the list of cheeses, "Plants" is the longest section on Chef Dezi Bonow's dinner menu; other sections are for Openers and Carne Diem. "We want to change the way we think about vegetables," he says. "They can be the center of the plate." See the dinner menu in full here:
The Carlile's new team includes Amy Richardson as general manager, formerly in marketing at Brave Horse, Cuoco, and other TDR restaurants. Hours, again, for the new restaurant are 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily (food until midnight).
