Capitol Hill’s Getting a Japanese Robata Restaurant With Open Charcoal Grills

Welcome back to Eater News, a semi-regular round-up of mini news bites. Have info to share? Email intel to seattle@eater.com.

• The owners of Hokkaido Ramen Santouka are opening a robata restaurant called Junkichi in the former home of Einstein Bros. Bagels on Capitol Hill in mid-April. Skewered food will be cooked on open charcoal grills and served alongside hot pots, ramen, bento, and sushi.
• A new drinking establishment called Uptown Hophouse is in the works near the Seattle Center at 219 1st Ave N. #201. The sports bar will focus mostly on IPAs and is looking to open by mid-May.
• Amante Pizza at E Olive Way and E Denny Way on Capitol Hill is closing to make way for a pot shop after building upgrades.
• The next book from Bellevue cooking laboratory Modernist Cuisine will be Modernist Pizza. Creator Nathan Myhrvold says the new book will be shorter than the 2,600-page tome that was his latest release, Modernist Bread.
• A tipster reports that Anacortes restaurant Dad’s Diner will take over the former Babirusa space in Eastlake. Governor Jay Inslee once called the diner’s buttermilk pancakes the best in the state.
• When the relocated Nordic Museum opens in Ballard, it will have a cafe called Freya dedicated to the foods of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, and Norway, like open-faced smorrebrod sandwiches. It should open in early May.
• Heavy Restaurant Group, which owns Purple, Barrio, Thackeray, and more, will open a wine bar called Claret in April. It’s being built on the north side of Thackeray, the group’s restaurant on Stone Way.