This one almost escaped our notice. On January 25, Diggity Dog, located at 5421 Meridian Ave up in Tangletown and long the go-to place for hot dogs and sausages here in the neighborhood, closed its doors. In its place will come Olé Cafe.
Thanks to Ffej who posted in our General Forum:
I was driving through Tangletown this morning when I noticed butcher paper over all the windows of Diggity Dog. Signs were posted saying a new restaurant, the Olé Cafe, would be opening in the spring. (Spanish? Mexican?)
Confirmed on Diggity’s Facebook page that they closed at the end of January. I’m sorry to see them close; I always liked their sausages, and it was a lot closer than Schultzy’s in the U District. I wish I’d known earlier — I’d have headed over for one last Kielbasa.
Actually, Ffej, the cuisine will be Spanish tapas. Spanish tapas served with a whole lot of Spanish language. Quoting from their website:
¡HOLA!
Looking for a place to practice Spanish and meet others? Olé Café WILL BE the place! You’ll enjoy Spanish tapas while dusting off your speaking skills with the person next to you…or come take a class, and practice afterwards at Spanish trivia night or during a conversation group as you enjoy some vino tinto. Sit down 1-1 with an instructor for extra help, learn about guided travel and more, only at… ¡Olé Café!
¡Olé Café! has been in the works for quite some time. As Jordan wrote here in 2016, the cafe is the dream of Amanda Reichert, owner of the Vamonos Spanish Center near 45th and Bagley. Back then, Amanda had just started a GoFundMe campaign, but now the restaurant seems to be close to reality.
While the connection between the Vamonos Spanish Center and the spanish language orientation of the restaurant is obvious, what’s less obvious is the connection to tapas. I emailed Olé to ask what spurred the move to open a restaurant. Reichert responded: “I have lived and traveled extensively in Spain and therefore love tapas; I also felt that they are underrepresented in Seattle; we have many restaurants representing different latin cuisine, but not many for Spain. While I am not a chef, I do know good tapas and have found an amazing restaurant in Mill Creek (Tablas Woodstone Taverna) run by Clara Gutierrez, who will be making tapas for me.”
She adds, “We will be unique in that Olé Café will be the first Spanish-speaking only venue in Seattle. That way at any time, patrons know that they can come in to speak Spanish, striking up conversations with other patrons whom they may not know; just like being in a foreign country, we need a bit of a “push” to get out of our comfort zone, so with that in mind, someone who might have been nervous to start chatting in Spanish will just have to jump in and get speaking! Anyone is welcome to come in and will be guided on how to order if they don’t speak Spanish; though patrons will be reminded that we will uphold a Spanish-speaking environment :)”
Look for ¡Olé Café! to open in April.
For those who will miss Diggity Dog, here at least, are some kind parting words from their facebook page from January 25:
Hello all of our amazing friends and patrons of the diggity dog.. this Saturday will be our last day to serve you all.. Our inventory is on the low side but come on in and see us off.. We shall keep the grills hot for you.
Thank you all for the support and love over the years. We will miss you all very much. Till we meet again.
That’s great news! I will miss Diggity Dog as well, but Amanda is awesome and this will be so much fun for the neighborhood!
I look forward to coming Would love to know Spanish. First step., I think is hearing it. I is a beautiful language.
its somewhat easy to learn as well – no dirty tricks like in English (two, too, to, witch, which, weather, whether, “f” vs. “ph”, etc)!
Swampy! You are so right! I think learning English must be so confusing, because it is illogical…hear, hear-there, they’re, their. By, buy, bye…and so many more!