The iconic May Restaurant & Lounge (1612 N 45th) abruptly closed its doors and spent last weekend taking down signage, removing decorations, and cleaning out the interior. A sign on the door announces the opening of a new restaurant Sisi Kay Thai. May Restaurant confirmed that the space is under new ownership that wants to do something new.

In 2006 May Restaurant transformed a Craftsman lot into a 2-story neon-blue pagoda with brilliant aluminum adornments. They opened to much fanfare and excitement.

Several years after the restaurant’s opening, the namesake founder May Chaleoy left and started an extremely popular restaurant …

A new 3-story mixed-use building is going up at 100 NE 45th St. Demolition of the existing building (a satellite space rented by Seattle Stained Glass) is scheduled to begin this week. The new structure will be a modern Seattle-style box consisting of 4 live/work units and 2 residential townhomes. Roland Development is spearheading the project.

Live/work units are essentially condos stacked on top of a ground floor that is intended to function as a small office or studio. The idea is to attract small business owners to live directly above their licensed and operational business. This type of setup …

The late-night pizza and pasta joint Milano (405 NE 45th St.) abruptly closed and Fitchi House Eastern Cuisine is moving in. They painted the façade a canary yellow that really pops and brings life the the block. The Fitchi House website is still under construction but it appears that we’re getting a new Turkish café serving meat pies, flat breads, desserts, tea, and coffee. That being said, the sign simply reads “Eastern Cuisine.” Without limiting themselves to “Turkish” or “Mediterranean” there’s a lot of room to serve just about anything!

Fitchi House joins two other Turkish options in the neighborhood. …

On Friday, May 11, 2018, Archie McPhee (1300 N 45th St) is unveiling their brand new Rubber Chicken Museum. A Grand Opening ribbon cutting starts at 3:00 p.m. There will be cake! And plenty of other fun surprises and oddities for sure. Bring your own drumstick.

Museum features include the history of the rubber chicken, a signed Svengoolie, the world’s largest rubber chicken, and more! This is clucking awesome!

The museum is located inside the store, and daily museum hours will be the same as store hours:

Monday–Saturday: 10:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m.

Sunday: 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

The origin story of rubber …

Pablo y Pablo (hereafter referred to as “Pablo”) (1605 N 34th St.), located in the NorthEdge building (Tableau HQ) and next to Acadia, is the newest restaurant addition to lower Wallingford. Pablo is owned by the Heavy Restaurant Group that runs other well-known restaurants such as Thackeray, Purple Café & Wine Bar, Barrio, and Lot No. 3, to name a few.

From the Heavy Restaurant Group:

“Pablo y Pablo is a Mexican restaurant & bar that pulls ingredients and techniques from around the world. With a name inspired by the deep friendship between Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and Spanish painter …

This past weekend dozens of neighbors of all ages re-painted the ladybug (a.k.a. Wallybug) at Burke Avenue North and N. 49th Street. Let’s give a big thanks to everyone who came out to refresh this whimsical and vibrant mural!

On Saturday evening the cleanup crew got to work pulling weeds, sweeping, and pressure washing the intersection in preparation for Sunday’s painting. This year’s record-setting dry spell was threatened by rain on Sunday. Luckily, the rains held off and the painting crew got to work as planned. Many of the painters have been helping for years so they made quick work …

Wally Pets (Paul “Brownie” Brown) is moving two doors down into the former Wide World Books & Maps. The move is scheduled for the end of this month. Regular customers need not be alarmed about a “For Lease” sign or the upcoming flurry of moving activity. The store is moving over, but not out! By the time you need a new case of dog food or bag of cat litter, you can welcome Paul into his new and improved space.

Over the weekend I talked to Paul about the upcoming move. He is super excited about the new space that …