Homegrown Closes Its Fremont Sandwich Shop

Welcome back to Eater News, a semi-regular round-up of mini news bites. Have info to share? Tell us about it.

• Seattle’s Derek Bugge, newly departed from 2120, is a contestant on an episode of Guy’s Grocery Games, “Five-Star Showdown,” airing on Food Network February 18. According to the episode description, the Mayor of Flavortown, Guy Fieri, challenged chefs to, say, swallow their pride and elevate the ingredients in a frozen TV dinner to the level of fine-dining. “Obviously I cannot share the results,” Bugge said, “but I can promise that I represented the Northwest dining scene very well throughout the show.”
• Li’l Woody’s Burger Month 2018 kicked off January 23 with the return of the “Relay Burger,” a 2017 fan favorite from Joule’s Rachel Yang. Starting January 30, diners have a week to taste the Ranch Lamb Burger — featuring lamb, curry lime mayo, pickled red onion, shaved raw cauliflower, and arugula — from James Beard Award-winning chef Holly Smith (Cafe Juanita), followed by Shota Nakajima’s (Adana) Osaka Burger, then John Sundstrom’s (Lark, Southpaw) Oishi Pork Burger, and finally Shaun McCrain’s (Copine) Tuxedo T-Shirt Burger with the likes of foie gras aioli, a fried duck egg, and bacon relish.
• Cheryl Richards and Adrian Noone, co-owners of Roosevelt’s venerable vegetarian eatery Sunlight Cafe, recently crowdfunded $45,545 to help move to nearby NE 64th St. and 9th Ave. NE since Sunlight’s current home was sold. The new space should open this spring with a mezzanine, outdoor seating, and a full bar.
• Washington-based chain Homegrown Sustainable Sandwiches has closed its Fremont location (3416 Fremont Ave N). A tipster shared a photo of the sign on the door, which included the line, “While we will dearly miss being part of this vibrant neighborhood community, this is a pruning of the tree so to speak, to put us in a stronger position to keep growing our brand and continue delivering greater accessibility to sustainable food.” The company also commented on Facebook that its lease was up and it didn’t make sense to renew.
• Green Lake brunch spot The Butcher and the Baker (6412 Latona Ave NE) also appears to have given up the ghost. The website said the restaurant would be closed through January 12, but multiple tipsters have shared that the doors remained closed with a For Sale sign soliciting serious inquiries only.
• Heavy Restaurant Group (Purple, Barrio, Pablo y Pablo, and more) has acquired Woodinville’s Proven Bread and Pastry. The bakery, which makes everything from challah and focaccia to carrot cake and caramel apple pie, will take over in-house production of bread and pastries for Heavy’s nine restaurants and scale up wholesale operations, selling to grocers like PCC Natural Markets, farmers markets, and other restaurants and wineries in the area.