Two Major Seattle Chefs Plan Their First New York City Restaurants

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Ethan Stowell and Tom Douglas Take Manhattan

Two major Seattle chefs are about to make their first East Coast moves. Nordstrom recently announced that Ethan Stowell will open Wolf inside the retail giant’s forthcoming flagship store in New York City’s Columbus Circle, due in October, while Tom Douglas will open two spots in that same location: Jeannie’s, a pizza, pasta and salad restaurant, and the Pacific Rim-themed Hani Pacific, with items such as red chili pork ramen. Stowell’s venture is an homage to his critically-acclaimed Queen Anne restaurant, How to Cook a Wolf, focusing on Pacific Northwest ingredients and Italian cuisine. Dishes will include polenta fritters, along with other shared plates, and it will stay open past Nordstrom’s retail hours. As for Douglas, the restaurateur — who owns 16 places around Seattle — already has a Jeannie’s outpost in the Las Vegas Nordstrom, but Hani Pacific is brand new. In addition to Vegas’ Jeannie, Douglas also collaborated with Nordstrom on Department Bento in Bellevue.

Hello to Fantastic Cookies Coming to U Village

Capitol Hill’s wildly popular cookie bakery Hello Robin — well known for its delightfully-named Mackles’mores — will open up a second location at University Village near the Anthropologie store, sometime in spring of 2020. Owner Robin Wehl Martin told Seattle Met that the new spot will continue to have much of the same goods as the original shop, including brown butter snickerdoodles and Molly Moon’s ice cream for sugary sandwich-making, but in a larger location, with more seating. There will even be a low-to-the-ground table for kids to enjoy their treats.

New Vegan Treats in Capitol Hill

Speaking of dessert news, Greenwood’s hugely successful Cookie Counter — which specializes in vegan pastries, cookies and ice cream — is planning a Capitol Hill outpost for late June in the spot previously occupied by Kaladi Brothers Coffee. Capitol Hill Blog reports that the new location will seat around 30 people and keep the pink color theme of the Greenwood shop. It will also share a space with Gay City, the longtime LGBTQ community wellness and arts center (Kaladi recently moved a few doors down).