West Seattle, Washington
21 Wednesday
By Anne Higuera
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Two new food establishments are poised to open on California Avenue in the first half of November, bringing new food and drink options and late evening operating hours to a block where restaurant food options are limited after 10 pm.
As we first reported a year ago when they signed the lease, franchises Dave’s Hot Chicken and Gong Cha will be moving into the former Haymaker space at 4706 California Ave SW, which is being divided into two separate storefronts. Now the franchisees are ready to talk about the grand openings for each business, along with employment opportunities. Both franchises are owned by the Keshap Group out of Kirkland and sisters from that family business are heading up the franchise development in Washington state. Prachi has Gong Cha, while Sana is opening the Dave’s Hot Chicken stores.
Dave’s Hot Chicken
“The West Seattle permit took a little longer than expected,” says Sana Keshap. In the intervening months, Keshap has opened several Dave’s from Redmond to Tacoma, including one in Issaquah just last week, with Kent and Lynnwood locations slated for December. “I love this brand very much and I want to give it my all. When we’re opening back-to-back like this, it’s tough. I’m getting support pulled in to make sure these openings go smoothly.”
Keshap says the grand opening will be no later than November 13th, though there’s a possibility they will be able to move it up to the first Friday of the month, depending on how construction wraps up. A soft opening will happen the day before. She says they’re expecting a significant crowd in the early days based on the Keshaps’ Capitol Hill location (also a Dave’s/Gong Cha combo), which had more than 2,000 customers during their openings days. While they will eventually be on delivery apps, they will wait until the volume of customers is manageable. “We want to make sure we take care of everyone who shows up in person.”
Dave’s Hot Chicken offers a variety of fried chicken, in 7 levels of spiciness, along with fried mozzarella, fried cauliflower, mac & cheese, shakes, Slushers and other drinks. Keshap says along with serving the community, they actively look to support it with things like fundraisers that donate a portion of sales on a given day. “We have fundraising programs at all our stores. We have a website where groups like sports teams can apply on line and request a date.”
Assistant managers are already being hired for the West Seattle store, and additional positions are being advertised on Indeed. Keshap says the next round of hiring will be for the rest of the store staff, with training ahead of the grand opening. Open hours will be 10am-11pm Sunday-Thursday and 10am-12am Friday and Saturday.
Gong Cha
The bubble tea purveyor, a Taiwanese brand with 2000+ stores worldwide, has just one store so far in Washington. West Seattle’s store will be the second, so Prachi Keshap is bringing the general manager of their Capitol Hill store to help with the grand opening here. She says they only have immediate plans for two more locations, in the region: Tacoma and Portland.
Prachi says Gong Cha encourages an extended soft opening, so they will do that starting November 12th or 13th, with a grand opening on December 3rd and 4th. She says the Gong Cha grand openings often have activities like face painting or performances—details still be worked out. But she says there will be “buy-one-get-one” specials on select drinks during the grand opening.
Gong Cha’s offerings include traditional tea and boba drinks, plus rotating seasonal specials. A recently released horchata-based drink has been so popular at the Capitol Hill location that they expected to run out of supplies for it before the end of the weekend. Prachi says Gong Cha is much more than a typical bubble tea shop because of its reach and international connections. K-Pop star Felix is their global brand ambassador and the stores feature special merchandise like plushies that fans often line up ahead for hours to buy. She also says a limited number of stores, including the new West Seattle one, will have a Super Wu machine. “It’s named after the founder [Wu Zhenhua], but it’s a machine that basically helps us to accurately measure out the drinks.” She says orders generate a QR code, which the Super Wu reads and then dispenses ingredients, making for a consistent product.
Fliers are already up at the Capitol Hill shop advertising open positions in West Seattle, “Then we’re going to be putting up window clings at our West Seattle location. So we’ve started getting resumes in and we’re starting to look.”
Keshap says the Capitol Hill shop has its busiest hours starting around 9-10 pm and into the early morning hours. She knows West Seattle customers may be on a different schedule, which means the hours may change over time. “So we’ll match Dave’s hours and kind of see where we land. Maybe open an hour later [or] close 2 hours earlier.” With separate entries, the stores can complement each other without being tied to the same hours. Gong Cha will also be on the ordering apps.
That’s what we found on the door at Seaside Grill (2810 Alki SW) early this morning after going over to check out reader reports that it has closed. One sent a social-media screenshot for an “everything must go” sale listed to start at 9:30 this morning. No notices on the exterior, though.
Seaside Grill opened a little over a year ago in the space where Locust Cider had also closed months earlier. The owner was a co-proprietor of Pegasus Pizza when it was in the Alki space from which it was evicted in 2022 (the restaurant now in The Junction is under different ownership).
After more than 30 years, Mashiko‘s final night in the West Seattle Junction is tomorrow. After that, the Japanese restaurant will be closed until it’s ready to reopen at its new location in White Center. The Mashiko team asked if we’d share their “farewell, West Seattle” message:
To all the amazing people of West Seattle- We want to say goodbye, sort of.
Mariah, our sushi chef and fearless leader has been exclusively working at Mashiko going on 27 years. She has watched West Seattle grow up from her little window on California Ave longer than any of us and was reflecting, “We’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of so many people’s lives. Watching families start and celebrate life has made our careers truly rewarding.” We couldn’t have said it better.
With our relocation we hope to bring the community together and grow our family and friends. If we could have stayed in West Seattle we would have. The White Center community is a growing, vibrant, diverse place truly welcoming of all people and quite a few of us call this community home. Our staff, friends and family will be working hard to build a warm and inviting space to recreate the Mashiko experience; Mashiko Tsugu- ‘to join’. The new location will allow us to grow and create more delicious food.
For now please follow us on our social media accounts if you’re interested in updates on our next chapter.
With love and excitement,
Mariah Kmitta, Alix Yarrow and the outstanding team at Mashiko Tsugu
It’s been almost three months since Mashiko announced the moving plan, a little over one month since disclosing the new location at 9640 16th SW. When will they reopen? Owner/GM Alix told WSB, “We would love to be open by the end of the year, but that’s dependant on how fast permitting moves.”
(WSB photo from Portage Bay’s West Seattle opening day in 2023)
1:16 PM: Almost four years after expanding to West Seattle with a location in The Junction, Portage Bay Café has just announced it’s closing in WS. We talked by phone with owner Amy Fair Gunnar shortly after she made the announcement. It’s one of five locations the local mini-chain has, and she says the other four are going strong, but – especially given the “soaring costs” of operating a restaurant – this one has a fundamental problem, not enough indoor seating to get it through the fall/winter season. “We are really sorry to be leaving West Seattle,” she told us. “We’ll miss our guests.” She also noted that the Washington Hospitality Association has tallied ~2,000 restaurant closures this year, which she says outnumbers the closures during the first year of COVID. We asked about the West Seattle staff; she said they’re finding places at their other restaurants for “pretty much everybody.” The last day for the breakfast/brunch café at 4725 42nd SW will be Sunday, October 25. (Portage Bay was preceded in the space by Agave Cocina for three years, and before that, Fresh Bistro for nine years.)
8:55 PM: In comments, readers pointed out an August Seattle Times story about Portage Bay’s financial challenges. We subsequently checked court records and discovered a more-recent “unlawful detainer” action pertaining to this location – often a prelude to eviction if back rent isn’t paid up – at least $137,000 worth, per the court documents, as of late August. The court records show the next hearing date is October 29, four days after the West Seattle location’s just-announced closing date.
Thanks to Brian for the photo. He and others told us this weekend about the banner that had appeared at 1622 SW Roxbury, which has been home to several short-lived Mexican restaurants in recent years, after a longer run as a Taqueria Guaymas location. The new banner says it will soon become Pegasus Pizza. So the big question: Will Pegasus be moving there from The Junction, or expanding? We sent that question to a spokesperson for Pegasus’s owners, who just replied to say it’ll be an added location, promising details “soon.” You might recall that Pegasus announced an ownership change last summer.
We’ve been trying for weeks to find out what’s going in at what used to be Miso in Highland Park – we found workers there one day and they said they couldn’t comment; the windows subsequently were papered over and have been that way for a while. Went by today and spotted the sign for Curry’s Culture, promising Indian cuisine, in line with one of West Seattle’s current food trends. Despite the banner, Curry’s Culture at 16th/Holden is NOT open (yet) – the banner is a holdover from Miso – but research turns up another Curry’s Culture in Columbia City, so we have a message out requesting details.
MONDAY: One week after chicken chain Starbird opened in The Junction, the next one on the way – Dave’s Hot Chicken – has just put up its sign. Thanks to Eddie for the photo of the installation. It’s been a year since we first reported that Dave’s and tea chain Gong Cha were moving into the ex-Haymaker space at California/Alaska. No opening date announced yet; we’re checking.
TUESDAY: We’ve just learned they’re planning to open November 12.
(WSB photos)
As the first Starbird Chicken in this state, the new West Seattle location (4755 Fauntleroy Way SW) opened this morning with plenty of pomp, and a line for freebies. We counted ~80 people in line just before the doors opened at 11 am, with a promise of free food for the first 200. Rachel Porter of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce emceed multiple iterations of the ceremonial ribboncutting:
The actual cutting was done by executives of the Mehta Investment Group, which owns this location and more than a dozen others to come (Capitol Hill among them), Vin Mehta and Rohit Mehta, with special guests including India‘s Consul General for Seattle, Prakash Gupta:
We have already shown you the interior – and the menu – so we didn’t go inside again today. Two of the selling points mentioned in the ribboncutting ceremony: Their chicken gluten-free, and they’re open later than many eateries (11 pm).
(WSB photos)
As announced a little over a week ago, Starbird Chicken opens in the ex-MOD Pizza spot at The Whittaker (4755 Fauntleroy Way SW) on Monday. As is often the case with about-to-open restaurants, they had a soft open today, so we dropped in for a few photos.
This will be the first Starbird in our state; the chain has California and Colorado locations, and is also planning to expand to Illinois. This wall display below promises they’ll support local organizations and teams via dine-out fundraisers, as do some other local restaurants:
You might be most interested in the menu and pricing.
The menu is on two electronic displays over the counter, as well as on kiosk screens – fullsize photos are here and here if you’re interested in zooming in. They offer sandwiches, salads, wraps, nuggets, wings, and a “Gardenbird” vegetarian option; sides include fries, slaw, and chilled elote-style corn; dessert options are churros with chocolate sauce and cookies. Monday’s festivities start with the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce hosting a ribboncutting at 10:45 am, and the restaurant opening at 11, with free food for the first 200 in line.
(WSB photo: South side of 4448 California building)
Thanks for the avalanche of tips on this: Now there are two bagel shops coming to West Seattle. Late today, the proprietor of Hey Bagel in University Village, Andrew Rubinstein, announced he’s just signed a lease on a new expansion location in West Seattle. He said it’ll be “just north of the Alaska Junction.” We just reached him via email to ask for specifics and he told WSB that it’ll be the almost-done mixed-use building at 4448 California SW. He expects to open the West Seattle shop in May. (The other bagel shop heading this way, as we’ve been reporting, is Royal Bagel, planning a Morgan Junction location.)
Thanks for the tips about work in the parking lot at West Seattle Taco Time this morning. We went over to check on its status; the signage says it’s closed through Saturday.
(WSB photo)
Starbird Chicken has just announced the opening date for its West Seattle location at The Whittaker (4755 Fauntleroy Way SW): Monday, September 28, 11 am-9 pm. And they’re planning a giveaway:
The first 200 guests will receive a free meal, available on a first-come, first-served basis with no sign-up required. One lucky guest will also win a golden ticket with their meal, earning them free Starbird for an entire year: good for one entrée a week for 52 weeks.
As we’ve reported previously, Starbird is opening in the spot where MOD Pizza closed in May 2024. This is Starbird’s first location in our state.
A month and a half ago, longtime West Seattle restaurant Mashiko announced plans to move to White Center – without saying where. Today, Mashiko’s owners revealed the new location – 9640 16th SW, about to be vacated by restaurant/bar Búho, which announced its impending closure earlier today. Búho’s announcement says its last day (after five years) will be September 23; Mashiko’s announcement says it’ll announce its last West Seattle day next week, and and then will “hopefully only be closed for renovations briefly” before opening in White Center.
Thanks to Al for the tip. Endolyne Joe’s in Fauntleroy is closed until Thursday (August 20) for floor refinishing. The sign posted at the restaurant says they expect to reopen at 4 pm Thursday, in time for dinner service.
Two restaurant notes:
MORGAN JUNCTION POP-UP: If you missed it in our Event Calendar – tonight’s another one of the periodic pop-ups at The Neighborhood (6503 California SW) – the restaurant is usually closed on Tuesdays but the pop-up is a takeover by Mariscos Panda, “Every other Tuesday at The Neighborhood featuring Ceviches, Poké, Tacos and more. 5 pm-8 pm.”
ALASKA JUNCTION BRUNCH: One of the newest entrants into the ever-growing West Seattle brunch scene is Phoenecia (4717 42nd SW), which sent word they’re now serving brunch 10 am-2 pm Sundays, and planning to add Saturdays soon too. Here’s the menu, which leads off with Baklava French Toast!
5:23 PM: A longtime Junction restaurant has announced it’s moving. Mashiko (4725 California SW) made the announcement this afternoon:
You heard it here first, folks! After 32 years in our humble location, It’s time to say goodbye to the building as it’ll be torn down soon. The Junction and y’all are special to us in so many ways. We’ve been through a lot together! First dates, anniversaries, birthdays, saying goodbyes and welcoming others, but don’t fret! We’re not going far!
We’ll be relocating to White Center, where both Mariah and Alix each call home. We hope that you’ll come and see us in the Junction over the next few months and say goodbye to the location that has brought us all together over the last 3 decades. It’s been an honor to serve you here and we look forward to creating new memories with you in the future location (to be announced soon).
The current owners took over seven years ago; Mashiko founder Hajime Sato moved out of state. Regarding the building being “torn down,” we checked city files to be sure we hadn’t missed anything, and there is nothing currently on file for that address. The building is owned by the Miller family, which does have a long-on-hold project further south on the block awaiting better development conditions.
ADDED 9:58 PM: We neglected to say thanks for the tips – both on that and on this: Coincidentally, it turns out Mashiko’s founder is back in the Northwest – opening a sushi restaurant in the Portland area.
The mostly blank north wall of Circa (2605 California SW; WSB sponsor) is blank no longer! We glimpsed painting activity while passing through The Admiral District a few hours ago; couldn’t stop to investigate, but once back at HQ, we pinged Circa co-proprietor Bill Evans to inquire. He sent the photo, replying, “We wanted to do something nice for the north wall. Aaron from Pixel and Quill was the artist behind this!” (As we reported here last month, that’s the same artist who worked on the new Thunder Road Guitars/The Bass Shop [WSB sponsors] home just steps away from Circa!)
A little over three weeks after the Great American Diner and Bar closed at 4752 California SW, the Indian restaurant Taste & Best has opened in its place. They allowed our photographer in for a quick look about an hour ago:
Operations manager Yajas Reddy told us the bar’s not open yet (we had noticed Taste & Best hasn’t appeared on the liquor-license application list yet) but they hope it will be “in about a month.”
Driving past 4752 California SW before dusk last night, we noted the windows remained papered, the doors were closed, no sign of the announced Taste & Best restaurant grand opening today. Then our original tipster noticed a change in the banner and sent this photo this morning:
The new opening date, July 24, is Friday. We noted here last week that the owners also were opening a Taste & Best in Shoreline last Wednesday; we haven’t made the trip to see, but a social-media post suggests they did open.
As noted briefly in today’s event list, it’s Bastille Day, and that’s always a big occasion at Circa (2605 California SW; WSB sponsor). Today, with France playing in the FIFA Men’s World Cup semifinals, it’s even bigger. Here’s the Circa plan:
Circa Celebrates Bastille Day!
Breakfast – Crepes
Lunch – Croque Monsieur
Dinner – Bouillabaisse and Coq au Vin
Dessert – Mille-FeuilleFrench-Inspired Cocktail Specials
France World Cup Semi at noon with audio
Thanks to the texter who sent that photo early this morning after spotting the banner that’s now up for Taste & Best, which is following the recently closed Great American Diner and Bar at 4752 California SW on the south end of The Junction. Taste & Best, which is also opening a Shoreline location this week, plans to open the West Seattle “Indo-American bar and grill” at 7 am Monday, July 20. They’re promising “American breakfast” as well as extensive Indian offerings, though that’s not on the online menu yet.
Thanks for the tips. Via social media, the Great American Diner and Bar has announced it’s closing its West Seattle Junction location (which has long been listed for lease). Today is the last day, proprietor Glen Quadros tells WSB, while adding that the closure is temporary, in a way. First, here’s the announcement:
Dear West Seattle
There are moments in life that are difficult to put into words, and this is one of them.
After nearly nine unforgettable years, the time has come for us to say goodbye to our home on California Avenue.
When we first opened the doors to Great American Diner & Bar, we simply hoped to build a place where everyone would feel welcome—a place where good food, warm service, and genuine hospitality could make someone’s day just a little brighter. We never imagined just how much this community would give back to us.
West Seattle, you became family.
You celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, new jobs, first dates, and countless everyday moments with us. Some of you came every morning for coffee. Some joined us every Friday for happy hour. Many of you walked through our doors as customers and left as friends.
When the pandemic turned all of our lives upside down, you reminded us what community truly means. During those uncertain months, we kept our lights on and our kitchen going because we believed our neighbors deserved a familiar place they could count on. Whether it was sunshine, pouring rain, or even the rare Seattle snow, we were here—and you were there for us too. Every takeout order, every encouraging message, every familiar face helped keep us going. We will never forget that. …
When we first reported on the 4752 California SW plan in May 2017, Great American was the sixth restaurant/bar to try their luck in that space in 10 years; the one it followed, Shelby’s Ice Cream and Bistro, lasted less than six months. But Great American almost outlasted all those predecessors put together. It was particularly memorable for being open to serve customers on holiday – the lists we have assembled for many years showing which West Seattle restaurants were open on Thanksgiving and/or Christmas invariably included the diner.
However, the proprietor tells us, this isn’t a permanent farewell to West Seattle: “We will be opening in the very near future somewhere close by to continue the Wonderful tradition of the Great American Diner.” Glen also notes that he and his family operate Skillet & Vine Bistro (2800 East Madison).
ADDED WEDNESDAY: Here’s the sign now on the diner’s door:
A year and a half after Cori Luckenbach closed Bebop Waffle Shop at California/Admiral, she’s relaunching a mini-version next door, and it’s about to open:
Bebop Waffle Shop Grand Opening – Saturday
BEBOP is opening a new walk-up waffle shop, and we are celebrating its grand opening this SATURGAY, 8 AM-3 PM, FOR PRIDE. Bebop is serving our signature classic Belgian waffles to-go and WAFFLE DOGS — waffle batter wrapped around a hot dog and griddled to order. Bebop operates out of Baked, which is still up and running, serving custom cakes.
There will be free stickers and tasters, plus a full-on party atmosphere all day – HAPPY PRIDE. 2604 California Ave. SW
After receiving that, we asked Cori about the status of her former corner space’s metamorphosis into The Last Parlor. She says there’s one last round of inspections to go, and it’s a challenge because it involves renovations in a century-old building.
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