The speculation over what will replace Lombardi’s (2200 NW Market St.) restaurant can stop. It’s not a Tom Douglas spot, nor is it an eatery by Maria Hines, according to our news partners, the Seattle Times, 5 Corner Market Bar & Kitchen will be run by chef Sam Crannell.
According to the Times’ All You Can Eat food writer, Nancy Leson, the 125-seat gastropub is slated to open on December 13th. Crannell, who has worked at Quinn’s Pub and Oddfellows, tells Leson that the food at 5 Corner Market will “focus on what he calls ‘anti-molecular gastronomy’: quality ingredients (say, smoked chicken thighs, barbecue-pork whole hog, wood-roasted mussels) paired with other quality ingredients (say, cornbread salad, beef-fat fries, harissa).”
“Ballardites who might quibble, ‘Just what we need, another bar!’,” Leson writes, “Should note that families will be accommodated in an upstairs dining room. Meanwhile, upstairs and down, imbibers can lift a hand-crafted cocktail made with micro-distilled gin and small-batch bourbons.”
Leson won’t let on about who’s funding the new bar, but has been told it’s someone very familiar to the restaurant business.
You can read Leson’s entire column here. (Thanks Ari for the tip!)
Damn – that sounds tasty.
You had me at ‘replacing Lombardi’s’.
If they’re putting the family dining upstairs, I hope they’re setting aside some space for strollers downstairs.
Just what we need, another bar!
It’s all about you isn’t it.
Or, you know, parents could leave their strollers outside.
Or at home.
Not to quibble or anything, but those are dishes, not ingredients.
Sounds like a gas station mini mart
nom nom
Wow, it appears that Ballard could become a drinking destination theme park, oh well, I’m sure it will appeal to the condo crowd. A friend in the restaurant business always said that the profits came from the bar, not the food.
Jannie A. Ballard resident of many years.
Replying to my own post, this could be good, with the increased numbers drinking and driving, maybe we can get more police patrols and also they can help the current drunks sleeping on our sidewalks to find safer and warmer places to sleep. This might help an old lady feel safe enough to walk into Ballard at night for a good meal and a lovely glass of wine.
ugh, really?
Family-friendly upstairs? Walk through the bar and leave your stroller in the stairwell….The food actually sounds pretty uninteresting, just another PNW food place without any originality. What we need is a place like this that serves Breakfast, especially during the week. How many times can I eat at Hi-Life?
Smoked chicken thighs, sounds great!!
I have to wonder…. how the co exsist neighborhood of Ballard, chose to be mean to Alicia. If a young mother came into a resteraunt with a stroller, really, you’d all be rude to her….
I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t understand what much of this stuff is. Small-batch bourbon? Beef fat fries? How do you make a salad out of cornbread?
Guess I’m not sophisticated enough to live in Ballard! I am attracted to the hand-crafted cocktails, however.
Words I never want to hear again:
1. “hand crafted cocktails”
2. “artisanal”
3. “small batch”
Seriously, it sounds great but enough with way overused cliche verbage. Please.
Please do the community a favor, hire a babysitter.
Ballard does NOT need yet another bar!
So will ALL the fries be beef-fries? Isn’t this what caused folks in India to riot?
The investors are from Mill Creek. Don’t really know if they can understand Ballard.
Yuk!
Millcreek? Hell, they’re foreigners……
i hope so – it will give everyone still more to cry about..
“anti-molecular gastronomy”
When my friend, Ferran Adria comes to visit, I guess I won’t be taking him here.
Being pro-choice, I like the idea of “yet another bar in Ballard”. Think you might not like this place? Plan ahead on not going. Perhaps this is somebodies “American dream”? These are the people that actually create jobs folks. We do still appreciate that, right? 10 years ago I told everybody about the places that’ll sprout up to cater to the “new Ballard”. And I didn’t even need a crystal ball.
As long as they don’t spew that toxic smoke into the Chase parking lot…
Sounds like a pricey food and drink menu with small portions. Methinks I’ll stay at the Matador Happy Hour :)
I was thinking the same thing!
I agree with “the norwegian” a family is dumping a lot of money and hope into the ballard community- not to mention jobs. Let’s not be haters so quickly. We are all food lovers in our own way- let’s support new business with interest! The new ballard area is raising our property value right? At least we don’t have massive empty retail areas like some neighborhoods. Every smile please :)
According to the Dept of Licensing, the “governing person” for Mill Creek Hospitality LLC d/b/a/ 5 Corner Market is one Steven G Hayter. Googling for that name in Seattle pops up one Steve Hayter who works (worked?) for Starbucks as the director of product development for Seattle’s Best Coffee. Dunno if that means he’s the guy funding the operation, but he’s apparently the guy in charge.
Lets hope for the sake of the chef that this big time investor doesn’t use up all his talent and skills to open the place and then turn around and replace him with cheap latin american help that is willing to take the job for beans because no rich gringo is willing to pay him what he’s worth to run his own kitchen. Good luck chef but you better watch your back. Its happened to the best of them.
I know a person that has no job because of these people and they haven’t even opened yet. Corporate bullshit and empty promises.
WTF are you talking about?! Have you ever been to Salmon Bay Cafe? That place has the best breakfast in all of Ballard. Screw High Life. That place sucks.
Nope. Don’t think I will. And just for that comment I’ll use my stroller to ‘accidentally’ ram the next childless couple/hipster wannabe I see on Market. We live in a democracy. That means me + my two kids count more than you. Suck it.
Not only does the chef have ties (via his wife) to Portalis, the space is being constructed/renovated by Method Construction, based in Ballard. They have worked on a lot of great restaurants and bars from King’s Hardware to Anchovies and Olives to the Bookbindery. With a Quinn’s chef, a great bar and a notable builder I am highly anticipating the addition of the 5-corner to the neighborhood …
Why are the people who post comments in Seattle so bitter?
I have followed Sam Crannell over the past years wherever he has worked. He is absolutely fantastic and I will be very excited to visit his new place. Give him a chance and I promise you won’t be disappointed!