Heavy Restaurant Group officially opened Cast Iron Studios this week in downtown Bellevue.

Cast Iron Studios is designed to host intimate parties, large private events, and specialty food and wine workshops led by Heavy Restaurant Group’s chefs, wine directors, and bartenders. The company will also use the space as a catering hub, with access to the menus of Purple Café and Wine Bar, Barrio Mexican Kitchen & Bar, and Lot No. 3.

In June and July, Cast Iron Studios will feature food and wine workshops with topics ranging from “Pacific Northwest Cuisine,” taught by the company’s executive chef, Harry Mills, to “A History of Whiskey,” led by Chris Faber, bar manager at Lot No. 3.

Cast Iron Studios, located at 10650 NE 4^th St., is connected to Purple and Lot No. 3, and can expand to include both restaurant spaces and parties of up to 500 people. It replaces Barrio Bellevue that closed in July 2011.

Ristorante Luciano has gone out of business at Bellevue Square on Bellevue Way, according to an article on eater.com.  The Italian restaurant will be replaced by the Spice Route Indian cuisine, which currently has a restaurant within Bellevue’s Crossroads area.

Ristorante Luciano owner, Luciano Bardinelli had owned and been involved with many Seattle restaurants over the years. The Bellevue Collection location was his last. According to the article, Bardinelli was quoted saying, “I owed a lot of money, but Mr. Freeman released me. And he gave me a going-away party. He paid for 60-70 people.”

There is not currently a projection on when Spice Route will open.

It has only been a few weeks since the Greek restaurant Orexi went out of business, but the landlord has wasted no time replacing the tenant.  Taking Orexi’s place is Araya’s Vegetarian Place, a Thai Vegan restaurant. It is their 2nd location in the area; their original location is in the University District on 45th Ave and has been open for 26 years.

Araya’s has been looking to expand in Bellevue for over a year. The reason they wanted to expand to Bellevue was due to many of their Seattle customers living on the Eastside. This is the 1st strictly vegan restaurant in Downtown Bellevue. To celebrate their grand opening, for the entire month of May they are offering a 10% off to customers.

The menu features many dishes with noodles, rice, and curry.  Many of these dishes often include some of their popular ingredients such as tofu, banana, pineapple, mushrooms, and more. One of their most popular items on the menu is the ‘Drunken Mushroom’ that features wide rice noodles stir-fried in garlic and chili, mixed in with a variety of flavorful mushrooms. The dish is famous because it was featured on Food Network!

During a trip to the restaurant this week, the staff was very attentive and friendly.

You can view their menu online at their website.

Araya’s Vegetarian Place
http://arayasplace.com/
31 Bellevue Way NE
Bellevue WA 98004
425-453-1366

The wait is over. The Bellevue Square Top Pot Café opened on Friday of last week.  The first thing you’ll notice is the space is much smaller than the location at Washington Square.  Also, the interior of the space is unique and integrates elements of an Airstream travel trailer into their main counter where customers checkout. The glass case where doughnuts are displayed is built into the side of the Airstream frame, which gives the space a distinctive character.

This marks Top Pot’s 2nd store in Downtown Bellevue. The grand opening on Friday was celebrated by an in-store appearance by Fredy Montero of the Seattle Sounders FC.

The three levels of Founding Membership include four years of: rebates on all future purchases; free home delivery within the market’s delivery zones; priority booking and free admission to 2 weekly cooking classes; free lunch or dinner each month from the barbecue or fresh foods department; and invitations to private town hall meetings with guest speakers and free wine, beer, and appetizers.

The Level 1 “Hand Basket” provides a 10 percent rebate for a $500 fee.
The Level 2 “Shopping Cart” offers a 15 percent rebate for a fee of $1,000.
The Level 3 “Family Cart” features a 20 percent rebate for a fee of $2,000.

The program will only be available for a very limited time. The membership can be purchased in-store or online.

Your Local Market is a locally owned and operated full-service grocer known for carrying local and organic products as well as mainstream brands.

Get ready, it’s Farmers Market season again.  The Bellevue Farmers Market starts up on Thursday, May 10th.  It’s the same days of the week and at the same locations as last year.

You can view a list of this year’s vendors on the Bellevue Farmers Market website.

- Locations -

Thursdays
3 – 7 PM
May 10 – October 11
First Presbyterian Church
1717 Bellevue Way NE
(The only pets allowed are service dogs at this location)

Saturdays
10 AM – 3 PM
June 2 – November 17
First Congregational Church
752 108th Ave NE
(This is a dog-friendly location)

Open for just under a year, Amazon Grill in Downtown Bellevue at 530 112th Ave NE has closed for business.  A piece of paper on the restaurant door states “Restaurant closed until further notice.” A peek inside the restaurant shows many of the lights still on, and all the furniture still in place.

The outside restaurant signage currently has a large “For Lease” banner hanging over it.

Amazon Grill specialized in traditional food from the Amazon River regions of Peru and Brazil.

I came across a post online that listed somebody’s wish list of the stores they wish were still around at Bellevue Square. This prompted me to create my own.  In no particular order, here is my list of the 10 stores that I wish would come back at Bellevue Square:

1. New Jake O’Shaughnessey’s – If you were looking to celebrate a special occasion in Bellevue, New Jake O’Shaughnessey’s was a popular choice.  The restaurant went out of business a long time ago and is now occupied by the Cheesecake Factory.
2. The Nintendo Store – Many long hours were spent playing Super Mario Brothers and several other games in the dimly lit store. It was located where Seven Salon currently occupies space.
3. Nordstrom Garden Terrace Restaurant – Nordstrom used to have a fine dining restaurant on the 3rd floor when they opened up their expanded store to the size it currently is today.
4. FAO Schwartz – It’s a small world after all…We’ll all miss the oversized stuffed animals. FAO Schwartz declared bankruptcy in 2009. The brand has since been purchased by Toys ‘R’ Us, which closed all stores expect for the flagship store in New York City.
5. Frederick & Nelson – It goes without saying that Frederick & Nelson is likely one of the most cherished department stores in the Seattle area that is no longer in businesses.  Luckily for Nordstrom, Freddy’s went out of business and Nordstrom now occupies enough space to make Bellevue the 2nd largest Nordstrom store in the country (the Flagship Seattle Store is 1st).
6. The Frankfurter – It’s hard to find a great hot dog in Bellevue without them.
7. Jungle Jim’s – Who could forget this burger joint that had the back of a pink Cadillac stuck into the front of it and a jungle theme inside?  Abercrombie has since replaced it.
8. K B Toys – Okay, maybe I don’t really care about this one coming back, but I just have great childhood memories buying Nerf toy guns from here.
9. Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream – The brand has seemed to successfully expand in international markets. I’m hopeful it will come back to Bellevue Square in the near future. The Baileys Irish Cream milkshakes were the best!
10. Schwartz Brothers Restaurant – This was one of the best (and quickest) restaurants at Bellevue Square, with a nice selection of high quality foods.  It was similar to how I now think of the Nordstrom Café that is the 3rd floor.

What are the stores you miss from Bellevue Square?

Cypress Lounge showcases local winemakers and features Seattle-area indie and jazz musicians on Friday and Saturday nights. The events typically start at 8pm and there’s no cover charge.

Cypress Lounge & Wine Bar is located at The Westin Bellevue, 600 Bellevue Way NE.

Upcoming performances include:

• Friday, April 27 – Andre Feriante at 8pm
• Friday, May 4 – Cool Water Duo at 8pm
• Friday, May 11 – Eric Fridrich
• Friday, May 18 – Gina Alibrio & Justin Froese at 8pm
• Saturday, May 19 – Tenor/Matthews Wine Dinner at 6pm
• Friday, May 25 – Joachim Nordansson & Kate Lynn Logan at 8pm
• Friday, June 1 – Bellevue Jazz Festival / Isabella duGraf at 8pm
• Saturday, June 2 – Bellevue Jazz Festival / Patti Summers at 8pm
• Friday, June 8 – Kiko Freitas & Nikki DeCaires Bossanova Duo at 8pm
• Friday, June 15 – Brooks Giles at 8pm
• Friday, June 22 – Sandy Carbary at 8pm
• Friday, June 29 – Dave Abramson at 8pm

Munchbar and Piano Bash are changing things up.  The 2 spaces in their current form will be transforming into 3. Munchbar and Piano Bash will become Mirror Nightclub after 10PM, which will allow for the popular “nightclub” business to take full advantage of the maximum amount of space.

The wall that is currently between the 2 spaces will be taken out, making the nightclub a more cohesive element. In addition, both spaces will be fully redesigned. The new designs will remain a mystery until the grand opening, but according to the management team it will be very impressive and will “have people talking.”

Another change that is important to note is that Munchbar will change its name to “Munch Sports Grill” and will focus on its food, as well as continuing to be a premier location to watch sporting events.

The transformation will be complete on May 17th and will be celebrated by a grand opening weekend bash will Carmen Electra, Mya and more at Mirror.  Below are the events that will be taking place on opening weekend:

• May 17th Hosted by Carmen Electra
• May 18th Live Set by Vegas’ DJ Hollywood
• May 19th Live performance by Ryan Leslie
• May 20th Performance by May

UPDATE: According to a representative at Munchbar the re-grand opening party with Carmet Electra will now take place on Thursday, May 31st. It’s not clear if the other artists will also still be performing.