Fall brings exciting new restaurants to Seattle

Despite the ongoing pandemic and dwindling days of long, warm evenings behooving outdoor dining, Seattle’s restaurant scene seems to only be heating up, with new openings announced every day.

Among the interesting places to keep an eye out for are a few local favorites opening their second locations (and, in one case, their third), some popular pop-ups putting down roots, and multiple newcomers that witnessed one place open a unique style of business and saw room for more – whether it was making masa dough from organic heirloom corn or bringing together a brewery and a cidery under a single roof.

All of these spots plan to welcome customers soon, but in restaurants, like in pandemic life, nothing is ever certain, so stay tuned to their social media for the actual opening.

In case you can’t spend every second glued to Instagram to spot those exciting revelations as they happen, keep reading for some of the coolest spots to look forward to, even as the darkness of winter looms.

Black Coffee NW Ballard

Despite struggling with a series of racist attacks over the last year at their first location in Shoreline, this community-oriented coffee shop featuring drinks like the Blackacino and the Melanin Mocha, persevered. Now they are hard at work on their second location, on Market Street in Ballard. While you wait for them to come around with the coffee in the new location, check out their Instagram, which is always full of ways to support people locally and elsewhere and events they are a part of.

Señor Carbon Peruvian Cuisine

The same day we featured this amazing Peruvian pop-up and its Nikkei cuisine in our guide to new Peruvian spots around Seattle, they announced some exciting news: they just signed on for a permanent location in Pioneer Square. They hope to be open and slinging that South American sushi by mid-December. In the meantime, they’ve been running pop-ups on Tuesdays at Don Lucho’s in Maple Leaf, giving people a taste of their shrimp stuffed, avocado covered Tiradito and Apaltado rolls.

Kricket Club

The former Salare space in Ravenna didn’t sit empty for long: just two months after closing, it got snapped up by Preeti Agarwal of Fremont’s Meesha. The restaurateur promises a stylish spot modeled after the elite sports clubs of India, small plates, and creative cocktails. Read our recent scoop on what Agarwal has to say – and what she plans to serve – at her sophomore effort.

Chuck’s Hop Shop Seward Park

Eight years after opening a second shop in the Central District, the beloved beer shop announced plans to move into the restaurant space at Seward Park’s Third Place Books. While the original Greenwood location and CD space both focus on serving the best beers and leave the food to trucks and all but ignore ambiance, this spot will include an espresso bar, restaurant concept, and – per their Instagram – “a whole lot more.”

Hildegard

This small-batch beverage company makes seasonal drinks including jun, a fermented green tea and honey drink similar to kombucha. Come this fall, they’ll be opening a community taproom in Wallingford, featuring their alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. If you can’t wait that long, their jun is currently on sale exclusively at Delancey in Ballard.

Maiz

After Seattle got its first tortilleria nixtamalizing its own corn in Milpa Masa earlier this year, Maiz opens the second right in the heart of Pike Place. Along with selling the masa as dough and in tortilla form, they’ll have anotjitos – snacks – and tacos. At the annual Market fundraiser, Sunset Supper, in August, they showed off a chicken mole and a vegetarian version with portobello mushrooms. They look to open the space, with corn-themed tilework and invitingly bright chairs, in October.

Pour Decisions

After Bale Breaker and Yonder Cider open the first-ever combination cidery and brewery in Ballard this week, the neighborhood will get a second similar collaboration, inspired by it. This one brings together Everett’s Crucible Brewing and Soundbite Cider in the space previously occupied by The Dane, which closed in back in March.