Fare Start's Amazonian Empire Arrives

The bulk of FareStart's new Amazon-based businesses opened yesterday, with the final one, full-service restaurant Maslow's, set to join the rest on Monday. Amazon donated 25,000 feet of retail space to the nonprofit—which employs and trains people experiencing homelessness or living in poverty—earlier this year. To sweeten the deal, Amazon will be matching all revenue up to $1 million from FareStart's new ventures for 25 days from the open date, in celebration of the organization's 25th anniversary. Currently serving is Rise, their grab-n-go coffee shop that's open from 7am to 4pm, and Community Table, a collection of three different fast casual spots in a food court area, offering up "lightly smoked" BBQ meats, healthy grain bowls, and salads "tossed to order" from 11am to 2pm. In the unlikely event that you're an Amazon employee and a religious reader of this column, I hope this news inspires you to eat 25 days worth of grain bowls and brisket sandwiches.

Tacos de la Noche en la Noche de mi Cumpleaño

The new Bar Sue food window has finally arrived, and it looks awesome. I did not get a chance to try it, because I discovered this on my birthday after eating more courses than a human should actually eat at Cook Weaver and drinking more Modelos than a human should drink at Bar Sue, but I am super stoked to get back in there and taste Lex Petras and Lucas Bigliardi's tacos, tortas, elote (grilled Mexican street corn), and nachos. They offer their tacos with the choice of a corn or flour shell, the necessity of which my buddy just pointed out to me while we were dining at his local taco truck in LA. The carnitas tacos we ate were a potent reminder that Mexican food in LA is light years beyond everywhere else that isn't actual Mexico, but they did come only in corn tortillas, and sometimes you just need the extra pliability of flour. Eater has a photo of the menu that you can actually read, but here's this one of Bigliardi and my random drunk friend that I found on my phone the morning after my birthday:

Cone and Steiner Expands

The popular Pioneer Square/Capitol Hill provisioner will be opening a second location downtown, Seattle Met reports. Expect the same convenient-if-upscale staples, coffee service, and mortgage-preventing avocado breakfast sandwiches. This is wonderful news, as the world could always use more socially conscious 7-11's.

Canlis Marks 20 Years as a Wine Spectator Grand Award Winner

The venerable oenophilia rag just issued its 2017 restaurant awards, with plenty of Seattle restaurants on the list. Canlis, in particular, has enjoyed the magazine's highest award level—"given to restaurants that show an uncompromising, passionate devotion to the quality of their wine programs" and keep over 1,000 bottles on
hand—since 1997, which is pretty crazy. Our other grand winner is Wild Ginger, and there are plenty of other tier one and two winners, which tend to skew towards smaller houses like Spinasse, where the wine service is excellent but they don't have a pocket dimension in which to store several thousand obscure vintages.

Cannabis City's Owner to Open Bar in Ballard

James Lathrop, Cannabis City's owner, leased a space in Ballard a long time ago, hoping to move his SoDo shop to an area with a lot more foot traffic. Thanks to a whole lot of pearl clutching over historic districts, all enabled by actual laws about pot shop siting, that was not to be. The bar, he once informed me over a near beer—last I checked, he doesn't drink—was a backup plan to recoup the loss from renting the space if he couldn't open the pot shop. According to Seattle Met, it's no longer a backup plan, but now the actual plan. The bar is named Ballard Republic and will be, as the Met put it, a "highend-cocktail-lounge-speakeasy." Having spent some time with the man in social settings, I can say he knows how to play host to a party, so hopefully he'll find enough success doing that to sustain his weed venture.

Gather Kitchen and Bar Comes to Ballard Commons Park

If you're in the market for "a family style menu of both intriguing and familiar flavors with a global influence in a setting that invokes feelings of comfort," you'll be psyched on Gather Kitchen and Bar, one of the many new additions to Ballard's dining scene. They're now open in the newly constructed Ballard Commons Park, reports MyBallard.

"Pull up a chair and dine with us," Gather's website urges, suggesting also that you "take a taste and you will find that life is endlessly delicious." Photos on their website suggest a penchant for American Psycho-esque plating, and the decor in their concept drawing looks very on trend, so...I'm thinking Dorsia?

Just kidding! They're fancy but also all about travel-inspired food and family gatherings and wholesome Seattle shit and have a cute octopus logo. It is Ballard, after all.

Lil' Woody's Beer Star Location is Open

The newest White Center burger spot didn't wait long after Beer Star opened to join the party, according to White Center Now. You know the drill, but now you can get that meaty, peanut-buttery goodness over in the biggest beer hall in the Southwest side. Oh happy day!

Navy Strength Coffee and Juice Bar is Also Open

The long planned morning service spot inside of Navy Strength is officially open, as reported by my ears over a beer and some amazing lamb heart tartare, as well as Eater on the internets. Ye Belltowners can now get your housemade juice and coffee from the Elfords' excellent restaurant complex, and are probably very stoked. Although I'll take the smoked mussels at No Anchor over juice any day.

It's Bite of Seattle This Weekend

And there's free licorice. Red Vines did an all-natural rebrand—complete with the requisite canvas brown packaging and a few green leaves plastered around—and they're giving out free samples at their stand to celebrate. That's pretty chill, of course, but there's also a shitload of other good stuff at Bite of Seattle that isn't sugar gelatin twisted into red ropes.

A Coupla New Japanese Places

Urara Japanese Cuisine and Moon's Kitchen are now open downtown, Eater reports. Both have been getting Yelp love Eater says, so maybe worth a visit?

Novilhos Brazilian Steakhouse Closes Its Seattle Location

They recently announced the closure on their website. However, the Novilhos Brazilian Steakhouse in Bellevue appears to be open, so those who enjoy a good, overly performative churrasco can still get their fix.