Celebrated Chef Ethan Stowell Looks to Be Opening New Spots at Via6 Downtown

One major Seattle restaurateur is out at Via6 Downtown, but another seems to be in. It looks like Ethan Stowell is moving into the high-end condo across from the Amazon Spheres with a restaurant and coffee shop. It’ll take over at least part of the space recently vacated by Tom Douglas’s TanakaSan, Home Remedy, and Assembly Hall, according to an email sent out to the apartment building’s residents.

Via6 residents recently received a message (shown to Eater Seattle) giving them a heads up about the change, which read, “Ethan’s team is working on an exciting new restaurant and coffee option.” It added, “During the months that the prior Assembly Hall space is under renovation, Ethan Stowell Restaurants will also offer a temporary coffee service on the 1st floor, starting as soon as permitting allows.” The apartment building’s main office confirmed the email was genuine and said the new places would likely open sometime this summer, but no further details on either of Stowell’s projects were available. On Monday, workers were already removing furniture and equipment from the former Douglas restaurants at Via6. When reached for comment, a rep for Stowell said, “Nothing to report at this time.”

If this is indeed happening, it continues all the moving and shaking to the Stowell empire over the past year. At the end of 2019, Stowell closed down three of his restaurants: Bramling Cross and Marine Hardware in Ballard, and Super Bueno in Wallingford (to be replaced by another location of his Italian hit, Tavolata). This came after the restaurateur inked a deal with the Seattle Hospitality Group to free up more cash and indicated a desire expand with existing concepts, not one-offs. The chef recently opened his first New York City outpost of How to Cook a Wolf (called simply Wolf), and is planning another Seattle location for mid-2020. There’s also another Tavolata on the way soon, in addition to the one that Super Bueno will become.

• Renowned Restaurateur Ethan Stowell Plans to Close Three Restaurants By New Year’s [ESEA]
• Tom Douglas Will Close All His Properties Inside Dowtown’s Via6 By Late January [ESEA]