Wallingford neighbor, Reeve Baily, spotted some activity in the former ‘Joule‘ space on N. 45th on Friday evening. Here’s what Reeve discovered:
Lights on, door open, tools grinding…something was going on at the former ‘Joule’ space tonight. I popped my head in and met ‘K’ one of the partners of the new venture. ‘It’s going to be Japanese…but not Sushi,’ he said. ‘Think Yakitori…’ he added with a grin. (I feel like I heard the exact same thing regarding the new place taking over the ‘Rain’ space.)
In any event, it’s going to be called (Dozo) Yoroshiku….translated to ‘Nice to Meet You’, and is scheduled to open in mid-October.
Thanks so much for the tip, Reeve!
Have a Wallingford neighborhood tip you want to share? Send us an email at [email protected].
Discover more from Wallyhood
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Ok for real…why are there so many Japanese restaurants on 45th? And yes, this sounds exactly like what’s going into the former Rain space. I’m pretty disappointed we’re not getting something new and unique.
Will it be a combo hair salon?
The word about Rain is that it is going to be handmade soba. That is very different from yakitori (grilled chicken on a stick) and different from sushi.
Jeez, enough with the Japanese food!!! 🙂 We need a good Pho place! There are 8 million Pho joints on the Ave but I think we have zero in Wallingford, right? And how about a good Falafel/Gyro restaurant (do we have one?)
No, but TNT cooks their meat on the same kind of rotisserie. They rock.
Agree about Pho or Gyros or how about a good bagel shop?
Wow, opening a business in Wallingford gets thumbs-down before the doors even open, at least on these pages. How sad for the new owners involved. Also I bet there are more varieties of Japanese food than there are “American” or just about any other. And gluten-free to boot.
Yeah; I’m happy that anything new is opening at all. Restaurants are hard as hell to profit with, even in a great economy. Be thankful we don’t
re: falafel/gyros – I’ve been pretty happy with Golden Olive the couple times I’ve gone…
Golden Olive is great!
Eltana bagels is opening some time this fall on Stone Way!!
Agree with Margaret and The Doctor. The outraged comments (“Oh, no — more Japanese food??! Another hair salon?!??”) are predictable and tiresome. Really, is the arrival of this new restaurant preventing any of you (Josh, Doug, Katie…) or anyone else from opening a place of your own on 45th that serves the food of your dreams? I might be a little naive, but as far as I can tell the only thing being displaced is an empty store front.
Bravo to anyone who takes on the risk of opening a new restaurant in a high-rent neighborhood. I will patronize both of the new Japanese restaurants coming to 45th and wish the owners well. Welcome to the neighborhood!!
Amen, CL.
Always captivating to watch jerks spew judgmental vitrol at some poor commenter over nothing. And then watch others pile on cheer said vitrol spewer. Bored Angry Trolls (BATs for short), all of you.
Vitriol. Sulphuric acid, but “blue vitriol” is copper sulfate, which can make beautiful crystals. If I could include an image, it would be something from Hiorns’ “Seizure”, an abandoned apartment coated with copper sulfate crystals – blue vitriol. This is what should be done with the next storefront. You have to waterproof the structure and fill it with an awfully large amount of copper sulfate solution, and then it isn’t good for much but looking at, but it’s awesome and also quite unlikely to succumb to fungal rot.
and cue the second most prolific troll on this blog.
I agree with Margaret and the Doc…very happy to see just about anything productive going into the space instead of a lonely “for lease” sign. It is interesting though, if I were an investor funding a new restaurant in Wallingford I’d think even the most minimal amount of research would yield that we are replete with Japanese, Italian, Mexican, and Thai.
But I look fwd to trying it nonetheless. Welcome to Wallingford!
A Noah’s bagel would be great – would probably do well.
We had a Noah’s Bagel, back in the day. It was in the space where Pharmaca is now. I was very sad to see it go.
That was Spot Bagels in the Pharmaca location. Local, awesome and very missed.
Yes, it was Spot then Noah’s (or was it Noah’s first?) It wasn’t a Noah’s for very long though. Like two years at the most.
Ah, ok, my husband has a much better memory. It was Spot first, then Bruegger’s Bagels (which was a chain, like Noah’s). There was another Brugger’s in Green Lake where the Green Lake Grill used to be, but all of the Bruegger’s went out at the same time.
Thanks for calling me a jerk! 🙂
To the point about restaurants being a tough business to keep going and make a profit from: that’s exactly why I’m confused about the placement of yet another Japanese restaurant on 45th. I would think that business owners would want to create a new niche space for themselves? I also can’t help but think that it speaks to a lack of awareness and connection to the local neighborhood since it seems like I’m not alone in craving something new and different in the neighborhood.
I’m sure this place will be tasty and wonderful and, of course, I’ll support it. But I’m allowed to be disappointed that it (appears) to be nothing unique.
Katie — if it makes you feel better, I thought that BD was calling me (or others with similar sentiments) the jerk, while you were the “poor commenter” upon whom vitrol [sic] was piled!
But I didn’t spend too much time thinking about it because his/her comment wasn’t very coherent. Let’s not worry about it. 🙂
I do agree with you, that a broad diversity of food offerings would be great!
Psyched for Japanese food since we really have one, Issian. Sure Sushi is Japanese but it is a unique cuisine in itself. (analogous to Italian and Pizza)
If prior Rain spot serves Soba Noodles, that should be very different offer as well.
I’d put Kozue in the category of Japanese restaurant that happens to serve sushi, too. Maybe more so than Issian.
Some kinds of retail seem to cluster geographically. If you’re accustomed to eating at some N 45th Japanese restaurant, then you’re a potential customer for the other Japanese restaurants in Seattle. If they’re just down the street, you’ve probably seen them, the neighborhood will be familiar etc. If the competitor is an attractive place, you’re more likely to get in there some evening, than if it were in Greenwood or Lake City or somewhere else outside your usual orbit. And it isn’t like there’s a strictly limited supply of customers per square mile – I’m sure the presence of so many good Japanese restaurants here has more locals eating Japanese than would typically be the case where the good restaurants are Italian or Mexican for example. It isn’t like anyone is genetically constrained to eat Italian food only.
Don’t forget Musashi’s. Probably the best tasting Japanese food on 45th. Issian has the best sake though. I’m happy to see another business go in. I’ll definitely give it a look.
Hand made fresh soba is very new! I had it in Japan and was great. There is no fresh soba restaurant in NW. I think it is great addition to Wallingford.
I saw yorosiku web site and thier menu. It looks like Issian menu but a bit cheap.
I think Yoroshiku and Issian will be a competitive.
Is Yorosiku Izakaya??? We need more lunch spot.