My Ballard

Tigertail was closed Monday after thieves broke into the restaurant.

The break-in happened overnight Sunday. The thieves smashed a small window in the roll-up door and squeezed inside. They made off with the safe, according to a business next door that was told about the break-in.

If you have any information regarding the crime, please contact the folks at Tigertail. (Thanks Gooner for the tip).

Update: Could it be the same burglar responsible for hitting 45 stores in the North Seattle area in the last few weeks?

The sign has gone up over Shiku Sushi, one of two new sushi restaurants preparing to open along Ballard Ave. We spoke with owner Rob Kim, who says the plan is to bring in “Japanese tapas” along with traditional sushi, plenty of sake and a full bar — a twist that Rob says will differentiate Shiku from its competitor just a couple doors down, Moshi Moshi Sushi.

Rob is a Ballard resident who worked at Red Fin sushi in downtown Seattle, and he says he saw a need to bring more sushi to the neighborhood. It’s his first restaurant, but he says his uncle — who manages four sushi restaurants in San Diego — is helping him with the launch. Shiku is slated to open in a month.

Brown paper covers the windows at Thaiku and CaffinatorX asks in the forum, “what’s up with that?” Turns out they’re just closed for the week. A sign on the door says the popular Thai restaurant is closed so they can refinish the floors and remodel the kitchen. They plan to re-open after Labor Day on Sept. 2nd.

Nana’s Soup House, a popular soup and sandwich joint in the U-District is packing up and moving to Fremont. The gal who answered the phone told us that the owner is closing the current location the end of August and hopes to open in Fremont by the middle of September. The new space is located just across the street from Taco Guaymas.

The neighborhood market at 70th St. and 8th Ave. is closing, and the store’s entire inventory is for sale.

The Wicker Basket’s last day is Tuesday, and an employee there told us that a restaurant is planning to replace it sometime soon. No word on what kind of restaurant, so stay tuned…. (Thanks David for the tip!)

The popular pizzeria Via Tribunali on Capitol Hill and Queen Anne will soon open a Fremont restaurant, according to a liquor license posted outside an empty space along Fremont Ave. N. at 43rd, right next to Cafe Vita. It will also be next door to Rialto, a new Italian restaurant.

Via Tribunali specializes in wood-fired, Neapolitan-style pizza. We’ve eaten at the Capitol Hill location a couple times, and the pizza is excellent.

Over the last few months, Ballard has been blessed with some terrific new neighborhood bars. First The Dray, then The Stepping Stone and now The Traveler on Leary near 8th Ave.

The European-style pub opened a few days ago, and we dropped in to take a look around and grab a drink at the bar.

It’s a great space — not too small, not too large — with wood, brick and art on the walls. The full bar features many specialty drinks, such as The Perfect Seattle (bourbon, Chartreuse and a twist of orange.) On the menu, you’ll find salads, two kinds of mussels, Belgian-style frites, bistro steak and sandwiches, including the tasty-looking Irish Interloper (corned beef and sauerkraut).

Owner Scott Laney told us The Traveler is a classic European pub — casual and “neighborhood” — which for some of us may be a welcome respite from the increasingly busy Ballard Ave. and Fremont scene.

Right next door, construction on Anita’s restaurant is coming along nicely, including heaters for outdoor seating. As we wrote back in May, it’s the creation of Anita Ross, the talented chef behind “Anita’s Crepes,” the very popular food stand at the Ballard Farmers Market.

Back in May, this was the scene at Malena’s Tacos on 56th Street:

This week, we stopped by the restaurant and took a peek inside.

Workers are making some real progress in restoring the restaurant after the fire. We called Malena’s Queen Anne location, and they said there’s no reopening date yet — but sometime in the next month or two.

We stopped by Paseo on its first day today to grab some Caribbean grub.

And look, there’s already a small line outside the sandwich shop. We had the #1 (pork sandwich) and the #3 (chicken breast sandwich) and they were very tasty. Just remember to bring cash, because Paseo doesn’t take plastic.

Yesterday: Paseo to open in Ballard on Tuesday

We’ve expanded our list of Ballard restaurants to include Gabriel’s Fire, Hamburger Harry’s, Austin Cantina, Taki’s Mad Greek, Golden City, Zak’s, Zesto’s Burgers and Scooter’s Burgers. (We’ll add bakeries and bars soon). We also added a list of the restaurants organized by category. If you’ve eaten at any of these establishments recently, feel free to rate and review them.

We saw on Ballard Gossip Girl as well as on our own Ballard Twitter page that Paseo plans to open tomorrow. Sure enough, we dropped by and talked to some folks who were working hard with last-minute preparations.

Paseo will open at 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow at Gordo’s old location along Seaview. The Cuban sandwich shop will feature the same tasty menu from its highly-praised Fremont location. How good is Paseo? They usually win every “best sandwich in Seattle” contest, and it’s not uncommon to see long lines outside their Fremont location at lunch.

Environmentally friendly Snoose Junction Pizza of Ballard, will soon open a second store on the far north end of Greenwood. If you’re not already familiar with them, Snoose Junction has gotten rave reviews for their finely crafted pizza, as well as their use of recycled building materials in their first restaurant and their delivery of food by bicycle.

(Photo of the Ballard restaurant). The new 45-seat restaurant near the southwest corner of Holman and Greenwood Avenue will open in September, according to General Manager Mark Ball. It will also include a full-service bar upstairs with seating for 40. They’re also opening a dispatch center, so both stores will use the same phone number, 789-2305.

Ball assures us they used recycled materials in this build as well, including bowling lanes from Sunset Bowl, flooring from Garfield High School, bleachers from Lincoln High School, and found doors and kitchen rails.