Coming a bit later than their expected “mid to late March” opening, Big Mario’s newest location on Northlake Way had its grand opening on August 30. With a nod to the previous occupant, who’d been serving loaded pies for 65 years, the pizza joint’s signage officially reads “Big Mario’s Northlake Tavern.” Nice.

On a recent Thursday evening, which coincided with the opening game of the NFL season, my dining companion and I walked into a surrounding that felt very familiar. The general layout and much of the decor is the same (or very similar) to that of the Northlake Tavern, …

Sometime this fall, hopefully in October, Figurehead Brewing will be opening a new location (their second) at 3513 Stone Way, a few doors up from the Pacific Inn. I recently met with Bob Monroe, head brewer and owner of Figurehead at the new location, which is in the very early stages of a significant build-out.

The space was formerly used as a woodworking shop and more recently for storage, but has fallen into a state of disrepair that will require extensive work to get it up-and-running as a taproom. Figurehead is currently waiting on permits from the city to start …

As astute readers of local and social media have probably discovered by now, The Northlake Tavern & Pizza House will close its doors on January 31, after 65 years of serving their unique style of pizza, overloaded with toppings, to UW students, alumni, and the neighborhood at large. In a January 7 Facebook post, the Northlake’s chef and owner, Abdoullah (who has been with the establishment for 42 years), stated that he is retiring “to focus on [his] current health issues.”

Wallingford pizza lovers need not despair, however, for after a brief closure for “clean-up, equipment replacement, and furnishing updates” …

For over 100 years, Seattle elected its nine councilmembers “at-large,” meaning each position on the council was voted on by the entire city. Then, in November 2013, voters in Seattle approved City Charter Amendment 19, creating seven city council districts, altering the way we elect our city councilmembers and how they represent us. Prior to Amendment 19, each person in the city was represented by all nine councilmembers, but beginning in 2015, each person in Seattle is now represented by only three members of the council—one for the district in which they live and two voted in at-large.

The city …

This Saturday, July 31, SDOT will host a bike ride on the new two-way cycletrack adjacent to Green Lake Park. Two years in the making, this protected bike lane is finally complete, giving cyclists a safer way to navigate East Green Lake Way N.

Riders will meet in the “Flamingo” parking lot of the Woodland Park Zoo, located at the corner of N 50th Street and Phinney Ave N. At 10:30am cyclists will ride down the improved bike lane on North 50th Street and, at the five-way intersection with Stone Way, proceed north on Green Lake Way N to the …

Ten years to the day after they first unlocked their doors, the Grizzled Wizard (aka “The Most Extreme Dive in the Multiverse™”) will close for good on December 31. In posts to Facebook and Instagram on December 5, Grizzled Wizard GM Ed O’Brien thanked his community of customers and encouraged everyone to stop on by one more time for a drink “whether it’s been five days or five years since you’ve visited the Grizz.”

And no matter when you last visited the Grizz, you can attest to its cozy atmosphere where both regulars and newbies felt welcome. The bar’s closing …