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After more than a year of delays, the highly anticipated Pike Place Market seafood spot Little Fish has hit another major snag. Renowned chef (and “Top Chef” alum) Zoi Antonitsas announced on Instagram that she is pulling out of the project, which she had been planning with chef Bryan Jarr of Jarrbar fame. Antonitsas cited “continued and ongoing delays” as the reason for her decision. Eater Seattle reached out to representatives and learned that Jarr is still on the project, but details on how it will move forward from here are still unclear.
Little Fish aims to be a full-experience destination like Pike Place Market neighbors Beecher’s Handmade Cheese and the Seattle Fish Guys, with windows into a microcannery revealing the seafood preservation process and an open kitchen to show the team at work. A series of successful pop-ups in 2018 gave customers a preview of offerings such as gravlax, scallop crudo, and albacore tuna nicoise.
But construction delays in the Marketfront expansion — also home to retail and production facilities for Honest Biscuits, Indi Chocolate, and Old Stove Brewing Company — slowed Little Fish down considerably. The opening was tentatively scheduled for summer 2018, then moved to late 2018. After the year came and went (along with a Vashon Island preview), there was still no indication that Little Fish was any closer to opening, though this summer was a hopeful target. Now, with Antonitsas’s departure, the future is murkier. (Eater Seattle will update this post as we receive more information.)
