Madison Valley will lose Thierry Rautureau’s much-loved Rover’s this spring. “The Chef in the Hat!!!” is closing what we might call “The Restaurant-in-a-House” after 20 years. (The property, not the restaurant business, is available for lease.)
Rover’s has actually been in existence for 30 years, launched by The Bush School’s headmaster Les Larsen as an after-hours hobby, then sold to a restaurateur from Los Angeles; Rautureau bought it in 1992.
Rautureau will continue to operate Luc, at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Way East and East Madison Street, a popular French-style café, but the days of elegant dining and foie gras will come to an end.
“I’m a ‘Curious George’ kind of guy,” Rautureau told me. “There are some exciting projects in the works.”
In the meantime, at the end of Madison Street in Madison Park, Bing’s has reinvented itself, with a more ambitious menu, microbrews and longer happy hour.
And while we’re in the neighborhood, let’s look in to the new Madison Kitchen and say hello to the owner, Jim Goodall.
MOHAI opened at the end of December in the old Naval Reserve building at the south end of Lake Union; it’s got a new lunch spot called Compass Café.
Downtown’s Fox Sports Bar has changed to Edge Grill. It’s the same owners; they just dropped the “Fox” name.
In Belltown, the Juju Lounge (and the Alley Burger cart in the back) are shuttered. Marcus Charles will concentrate on his other restaurants around town, like Local 360. “Change is good,” he says.
If you’re looking for Michael Don Rico at Branzino, he’s g-gone, dismissed and looking for projects on Capitol Hill.
Chef Tyler Palagi, whose Radiator Whiskey Bar will open shortly in the Pike Place Market, had a temporary gig during the build-out in Everett, where he took over the failing kitchen at Prohibition Grille. Gordon Ramsey transformed it into Prohibition Gastropub and needed someone who could handle the transition and train a new, permanent chef.
Seattle Food Geek Scott Heimendinger, who quit his day job at Microsoft for a dream job at Modernist Cuisine, has been named to the prestigious “30 Under 30” list of top food and wine professionals by Forbes.com.He’s 29.
one: Thierry Rautureau (with his wife, Kathleen Encell) will close his iconic Rover’s restaurant in Madison Valley this spring. TWO: Duke Moscrip is offering a variety of dishes featuring Alaska Weathervane scallops at his Duke’s Chowder House restaurants. THREE: Chef Tyler Palagi, whose Radiator Whiskey Bar will open soon in the Pike Place Market, confers with Rishi (Darlene Brown), owner of Prohibition Grille in Everett, during its transformation into Prohibition Gastropub under Gordon Ramsey and his “Kitchen Nightmare” crew. FOUR: One of Duke Moscrip’s new menu items is scallops served with pumpkin ravioli. FIVE: The fish-and-chips at Bing’s in Madison Park.
Photos by Ronald Holden