Seattle Met and Eater Seattle report that Skillet founder Josh Henderson is planning to open up a restaurant and grocery store on North Lake Union this summer. Westward and Little Gull Grocery will be right on the waterfront (in fact, with its own 156 ft dock!) conveniently located off the Burke Gilman Trail, at Eastern on Northlake (2501 Northlake Way). The space was called The Lakeside in a former life and it held special events like weddings and proms and all that.
During a recent phone conversation, Josh gave me details of his new place: Little Gull Grocery will have an oyster bar that seats 10-15 people, and everyone from boaters to bicyclists can stop by to purchase espresso and pastries in the morning; Packaged wine, beer, and some refrigerated items, along with a fine selection of charcuterie will be available for purchase.
Westward will offer lunch and dinner, as well as brunch on the weekends. The restaurant will have seating for 60 inside and a large patio will accomodate up to 40 outside. There will be 10 parking spaces in addition to street parking.
Josh is aiming for a mid-July opening. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear more about it.
Hooray! Looks great. I love the idea of an oyster stop during a morning bike commute. And brunch on the water in Wallingford is a dream. So excited.
Oh, this is so exciting, as “I can see it from my house”! I have also heard rumors of a Spring Clean very near by in April. Northlake is getting spiffed up!
Finally, a restaurant with a deck near the water. We need more of those in Seattle. So great that we Wallyhoodians can walk to it.
matvelous. Looking forward to it
Cool. I frequent the little street-end ‘park’ next door. It will be nice having a ‘lived-in’ place there again (altho The Lakeside wasn’t all that great of a neighbor, when they were there – lots of trash, empty Champagne bottles, ‘party’ detritus, etc. I suppose this little grocery might generate a fair amount of litter, too…).
Hey, “Barb” – you have any info on the Spring Clean? I’ve always wanted to help out on one of those, especially in my back yard, as it were.
We live close as well, my girls like to watch ducks from the park. My husband and I have been talking about how that building would make a great cafe and restaurant. Can’t wait to see how it turns out.
We’re just starting to plan a Spring Clean work party to clean up a section of the Northlake sidewalk and blackberry-covered slope. Still looking for an organization to form our core group of volunteers. Any ideas? We’ll provide tools, gloves, snacks, shelter, and pickup of brush and trash and recycling. The owner of the building being remodeled has offered some of his crew. All volunteers will be welcome – we’ll be able to keep you busy.Tentative date: April 27
Cool! One stop shopping for evenings on the water. 🙂
There was an interesting recent Seattle Met article about local restaurant owners adding a health care surcharge to their customers’ bills come January 1, 2014, when a new law mandating that certain employers cover employee health care costs becomes law. Josh Henderson is apparently leading the movement to get these surcharges listed, saying, “We want to be very transparent. I don’t want to hide stuff like that in food prices.”
This is an interesting policy, considering other “stuff like that” (i.e. fire insurance, rent, utilities, etc) are not listed on customers’ bills, they are simply wrapped into the price of food and drink.
Frankly I think Henderson is being petty about a new law that he does not like. If this surcharge is itemized on my bill at any restaurant, I will strongly consider taking my business elsewhere.
By the way, this place sounds awesome, so I hope Josh Henderson will reconsider his stance.
Yay! I emailed to ask about bike parking since it wasn’t mentioned and I was worried it might be overlooked. Good news: bike parking is planned for, as is kayak parking.
Didn’t get any other groups to help with a cleanup on April 27 but the Burke-Gilman Trail Urban Orchard Stewards will be having a small work party on the Trail at Sunnyside. Parking on Northlake. We’ll be planting trees and native plants.