The Italian restaurant Perché No (1319 N 49th St) will end a twenty-two year run, thirteen of them in Wallingford / Green Lake, on December 18th. They recently posted the story to their Facebook page:
On Wednesday, December 18, 2019, Lily and Chef David Kong will officially retire, closing their Italian restaurant Perché No (Why not?) after 27 years.
Perché No opened on October 30, 1992, in Uptown (lower Queen Anne) where they stayed for 14 years. Their customers ranged from opera, ballet, and symphony lovers along with Sonics fans and local neighbors. In 1998, they purchased a limo that would take guests to their events after dinner. As popularity grew and table space became tight, Lily would have guests enjoy appetizers in the limo. When a table opened inside, they would be served dinner.
They opened a second location near Green Lake on August 1, 2006. Chef David’s dream was always to build a restaurant from the ground up and the family did just that, giving photos from their Italian trips to the architect to recreate Italy in Seattle. While Queen Anne was a more formal restaurant with white linens and servers in tuxes, Green Lake catered to a more casual family and student crowd.
Losing their Queen Anne lease in 2006 was a shock, but they turned their full attention to Green Lake where they have been serving high-end Italian food made from fresh ingredients, and house-made pasta for 13 years. At both locations, they held winemaker dinners with opera singers and musicians.
Both their sons, Christopher and Alex, have stayed in the restaurant business, Christopher in Singapore with his Dearborn Supper Club, and Alex with his Seattle food truck, Mangia Me. With sons involved in their own businesses, the Kongs decided to sell their building and land; it will not be a restaurant.
They’ll be holding a grand final farewell dinner on Wednesday, December 18th. There will be two seatings (5:30 pm and 7:30 pm) for the prix fixe menus (no regular items will be available), which include Portobello Funghi alla Grigilia, Risotto con scampi, Bistecca al Fiorentino e Olio Tartufo andCampanelle con Funghi Porcini e Oilio Tartufo. Lenny Luzzi will be providing live Italian accordion music.
I do question if anyone outside ITALY can get italian food “perfecto”. I visited Palermo with grandson in the summer where we had the pleasure of eating at Applebees Italia,, we got Real Italiano Pizza Poppers like momma used to make!! And our mozzerla sticks! as tony soprano used to say, ‘OOF!!!’
We had some lovely meals there. I’ll miss the place.