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NHL hockey is coming to town in late 2021, bringing beer and bites along with it. The Seattle Kraken recently announced its official flagship restaurant, the Kraken Bar & Grill, will make its debut at the team’s training facility in Northgate this fall. When it opens, it plans to be a year-round establishment open to the public and available for private events a well.
Veteran Seattle bar owner-restaurateur Mick McHugh — who owned the popular pub F.X McRory’s in Pioneer Square — is managing the operation and says he’s in the process of hiring a head chef. Details are still coming into focus, but McHugh tells Eater Seattle he plans to feature food fit for a hockey crowd, which would include poutine, burgers, perhaps a lingcod fish and chips (a McRory’s favorite), and a rotating beer list that features plenty of local brews. There will also be a kids’ menu, since the rink will host youth sports, as well as skating lesson programs, and aims to draw in families to the new space.
The 4,600 square foot restaurant will have capacity for 300 (40 in the private event section) and overlook the rinks, with 17 TVs scattered throughout the main area. McHugh says there will be a concession stand as well, and two kitchens: one for the grill, and one for the players with food prepared by the team’s nutritionist. Computer renderings of the restaurant show Kraken branding galore and some slick-looking amenities (including some sort of hockey stick chandelier), but McHugh says the vibe will be casual. “People aren’t going there to pay $30 for a New York steak,” he says.
At the same time as the training facility gets into shape, all eyes will be on the Climate Pledge Arena, where the Kraken will play their home games next season. Food and drink offerings at the still-in-the-works venue have been limited to other computer renderings, showing a fancy-looking bistro called the Metropolitan Club, a food hall called the Mount Baker Club, and two separate areas serving beer. So far, no NHL-specific concession vendors have been announced at the Climate Pledge Arena, though. The Kraken Bar & Grill is the first (and only official) joint to show off its tentacled roots proudly.
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