After Six Years, Ballard’s Wild West Saloon-ish Gastropub Brunswick and Hunt Closes Today

Sadly, even as the restaurant scene in Seattle thrives with new openings, the city has had to say goodbye to many great restaurants. Here, we keep track of some of the most notable recent closures and pending closures in a regularly updated roundup.

January 31, 2020

— Upper Ballard gastropub Brunswick and Hunt — with its Northwest-meets-Wild-West-saloon feel and focus on farm-to-table fare — will close permanently after today, reports My Ballard. The neighborhood favorite has been around since 2016, featuring well-executed food and cocktails such as the Vikings Blood, a bloody Mary with aquavit, and biscuits with bacon and hazelnut-almond butter. It had been praised in the past for its “clubby, rustic elegance” and as “a restaurant for adults, thought out by adults” with a “complete vision realized.” General manager Tommy Pappas told My Ballard that the reason for the closing was “multi-faceted and on par with the abundant closings currently happening in Seattle.” Eater Seattle reached out for further information, but did not hear back by the time this update was published.

— As planned late last year, renowned chef Tom Douglas’s Via6 properties Downtown, which included TanakaSan, Assembly Hall, and Home Remedy, have all closed permanently after six years in the building. Opened in June 2013, the 10,000 square-foot Assembly Hall became a multipurpose food destination unlike any of the projects Douglas had done in the past. It combined a cafe and bar, an event space, a retail space and deli (Home Remedy), and a more traditional sit-down, bento-focused restaurant (TanakaSan), across the street from the Amazon Spheres. The equipment and furniture for all those places were being moved out last week, and it looks like fellow local restaurant mogul Ethan Stowell is moving in soon, although details on a timeline are still unclear.

— Both locations of the Hawaiian restaurant Aloha Cup Bap have recently closed permanently, one on Capitol Hill and the original flagship in the Central District, near Seattle U (Capitol Hill Seattle reported the closings, and a new restaurant is already moving into one location). The news come as somewhat of a surprise, since the Capitol Hill expansion had just opened last June, serving exclusively poke bowls, instead of the Hawaiian-style plate lunches that the original specialized in. The good news is that a buzzy new tamale place from Everett called A&A Organic Tamaleria and Cider House is taking over the East Broadway spot on Capitol Hill imminently. No word yet on what will take over the space in the Central District.

January 10, 2020

— After a little over a year serving up smash burgers in a retro cool Pioneer Square setting, Meg’s Hamburgers will sling its last patty January 24, the restaurant confirmed to Eater Seattle. But the transition should be smooth, since chef Megan Coombes and her business partner Lex Petras have sold the place to Two Doors Down, on Eater’s list of best burgers in Seattle (this will be the Madison Valley hit’s second location). As for the future of Meg’s, Coombes says, “We have certainly not ruled out another iteration at some point down the line, but it’s not on the horizon for any time soon.” Her and Petras also own nearby Altstadt. Status: Not yet gone.

— La Teranga, a well-loved Senegalese restaurant that has occupied a tiny storefront in Columbia City for eight years, recently closed its doors. But fans of its signature thiebou djeun (fish cooked in a tomato stew) should take heart: a message on the restaurant’s voicemail says the place is moving to a new location and still doing catering. Meanwhile, the new nose-to-tail restaurant Off Alley, from the Fowl & Offal pop-up, is taking La Teranga’s place. Status: Closed, but reopening soon elsewhere.

— According to the blog PhinneyWood, the fast casual Japanese spot Sushi Naomi in Greenwood has closed after more than a year in business (Yelp and Google also show the permanent closing; calls were not returned). PhinneyWood reports that a new Vietnamese-Chinese restaurant called “Green Tree” is making plans to move into the location on Greenwood Ave N. Status: Closed.

January 3, 2020

— Georgetown’s rotisserie chicken and cocktail specialist Bar Ciudad closed right before New Year’s. The hot spot debuted in 2016 with some buzz next door to the still open sibling restaurant Ciudad. But fans shouldn’t despair for long. Seattle Met reports that owner Marcus Lalario (Li’l Woody’s, Fat’s Chicken and Waffles) is looking to open an Italian restaurant in the same space sometime this spring, in keeping with his family roots. And Ciudad itself is still going strong. Status: Closed.

— After 14 years, James Beard Award-winning chef Matt Dillon closed his beloved first restaurant Sitka & Spruce in Melrose Market. The Capitol Hill restaurant served its last meal on New Year’s Eve, but fans had plenty of time to say goodbye, as the pending closure was announced in September. Sitka & Spruce originally opened in 2006 in a strip mall in Eastlake. Quickly gaining acclaim, Dillon was awarded Best New Chef from Food & Wine the next year. Sitka & Spruce was known for its popular brunch, which was praised by roving national Eater critic Bill Addison. It moved into its current location Melrose Market in 2010, expanding with a bar in 2014. Status: Closed.

— Ballard’s paleo-focused restaurant Carnivore has permanently closed, per My Ballard, after a short-lived effort at changes to the menu and interior. The spot originally opened in June 2017 with a focus on the trendy diet, which suggests humans have ruined their eating habits with modern food advances in recent centuries and need to return to ancestral sustenance that eschews GMOs and grains like wheat and focuses on heaps of organic and pastured meats. Status: Closed.

— Chungee’s Drink ‘N’ Eat — a popular Capitol Hill Cantonese spot frequented by locals such as star chef Monica Dimas — closed at the end of December after nearly 10 years. “We tried for months to get a new lease, but it really seemed like the owners [of the building] want to leave their options open for selling,” co-owner Tom Farrell told Eater Seattle. The cozy restaurant has been praised in the past for its fun vibe and generous proportions of affordable Chinese comfort food items, such as wonton soup and its signature chicken yum yum. Status: Closed.

— Restaurateur Ethan Stowell’s Bramling Cross and Marine Hardware in Ballard, and Super Bueno in Wallingford have all closed permanently, as announced early last month. The former two will turned into event spaces, while the latter will eventually transform into another location for Stowell’s Italian restaurant Tavolata. The shutterings indicate a change of direction for Stowell, who recently indicated a desire to expand with existing concepts, not one-offs. Status: Closed.

— One of Wallingford’s most underrated dive bars, The Grizzled Wizard closed permanently New Year’s Eve, after a decade in business. General manager Ed O’Brien posted a gracious announcement on Facebook last month, thanking customers and welcoming the new tenants, Korochka Tavern, a Russian-leaning bar which has purchased the space after losings its lease in Lake City. Status: Closed.