Avila, nee Bella Cosa

The brown paper still covers the old Bella Cosa, but they're closing in on an opening date. We checked in with Bronwen, and said that they didn't want to name the exact opening date, as they still have a building inspection or two to clear, but it sounds like we'll be dining at the newly renamed Avila before the leaves have finished falling from the trees. As a teaser, their new logo is at right.

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Rancho Bravo: The Plot Thickens

When we left off (previous posts: Winchell's Last Donut, Rancho Bravo Closed?!), we'd discovered that following the shuttering of Winchell's, Rancho Bravo, the taco truck of city-wide fame that had made a home in the donut shop's parking lot had closed as well, hanging a "pending new lease" sign out front. Cub reporter that we are, we dropped a line to Freddy Rivas, the proprietor of said taco truck, hoping for some hopeful news. Here's what we learned: Hope you and…

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Rancho Bravo Closed?!

It's a calamity, people, a calamity! The impact waves of Winchell's closing have apparently rippled across the parking lot to the humble taco truck in the rear corner, Rancho Bravo. In response to our note that the Seattle Weekly was hosting a give-away at the Rancho Bravo taco truck, DOUG. commented: I don’t think this event happened today. In fact Rancho Bravo is CLOSED! Hopefully it’s only temporary. Their sign says they’re working on a new lease. We'll be making some…

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Winchell’s Last Donut

Keen eyes alerted us to another fallen business on 45th Street: Winchell's. We got this note from an anonymous tipster yesterday morning: Any word on Winchells closing or are they just having a bad day? I walk by there twice a day to & from the bus but never pay much attention as I'm not that into donuts. This morning, I noticed two guys peeking in the window and this caught my attention so I glanced in to see a semi-dark…

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Pequena No More

A few weeks back we reported on the travails of Seamonster and its resident restaurant, Pequena Havana. Kristi just wrote in with an update: Hubby and I have been wanting to try the Cuban restaurant at SeaMonster, so we decided to go there for dinner tonight. When we got there (about 6:30), the door was wide open and the TV was on, but it was very dark, not a single person was around and we saw nothing even remotely resembling a restaurant --…

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SeaMonstrosities

We first envisaged this blog as a sort of combination newspaper and gossip column for our neighborhood. We feel we've been fairly weak in the gossip department, though. Our apologies. In the hopes of righting this omission, we offer the following tale, as told to us, of the latest events at SeaMonster Lounge (2202 N 45th St). About a year ago, Andrew, the owner of the SeaMonster Lounge, sold it to Todd and Julio, who agreed to make regular payments. They…

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Kabul at the Market

Today's chef demonstration at the Wallingford Farmer's Market should be interesting: it features Chef Wali Khairzada of Kabul Afghan Cuisine (4 pm at Wallingford Center). It's mid-August, so just crazy amounts of fruits and veggies are all coming ripe, there's no better time to stop by the market and stock up on the fresh: tomatoes, melons, beans, sweet corn, peppers, the list goes on. 3 - 6 pm today (Wednesday).

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