Café Presse to bring Parisian "corner spot" to Capitol Hill

Licorous (928 12th Ave., Seattle, 206-325-6947), the loungey little bar-centric offshoot of Lark (926 12th Ave., Seattle; 206-323-5278, www.larkseattle.com) is set to open next week. And, as if things weren't getting cozy enough here near Seattle University, just look up the block and across the street.

See that little white garage? You're looking at the future home of Café Presse (1117 12th Ave.), soon to be the bar-centric offshoot of Pike Place Market's petite bistro Le Pichet. If all goes accordingly, Café Presse will open late this fall or early winter. So, what brings chef Jim Drohman and company to chef John Sundstrom's neck of the woods?

"When we opened Pichet, we wanted to be a serious bar and cafe," says Drohman, who runs that six-year-old bistro with his business partner and elegant hostess Joanne Herron. And though customers stop by throughout the day for a small ceramic "pichet" (pitcher) of wine and a snack from an abbreviated casse-croûte menu, their little hangout "became much more of a dinner house," which was not their original plan, Drohman says.

"In Seattle, when you get together with someone and want a drink, you say, 'I know a great bar,' but in Paris there's the corner spot. The place you go for coffee and croissants in the morning, a drink or light lunch in the afternoon" and a bite to eat at night. That, he says, is what they're aiming for at Café Presse. "We'll have one menu all day long, so if you want steak frites at 9 in the morning or at 1 a.m., you can have it." They'll also sell magazines and newspapers (hence the "presse"), keep menu prices modest, offer his much beloved poulet rôti (whole roast chicken for two) to eat in or take-out, and stay open from early morning till the wee hours.

He and Herron hope that customers on Capitol Hill will use their new 70-seat cafe as they would the working-class neighborhood cafes in Paris. "We want to make it a comfortable space that will have a broad appeal to a lot of people," he says, describing an "industrial" 2,200-square-foot space whose architectural features will including open beams and skylights.

Drohman expects to split his time between the two restaurants, overseeing the menus at both, leaving Le Pichet's kitchen in the hands of his longtime sous chef, Brent Harding (a five-year vet), and the daily doings at Café Presse to Jessi Aaenson (who's worked in Pichet's kitchen for four years). Herron, meanwhile, will supervise the service staff and take charge of the wine list at both restaurants while remaining the stable presence at Le Pichet (1933 First Ave., Seattle; 206-256-1499; www.lepichetseattle.com), where she'll continue to work the door and the floor.

Turning tables

They said they wanted a Revolution at Experience Music Project, and Bellevue-based Schwartz Brothers Restaurants came to the rescue with Revolution Bar & Grill (325 Fifth Ave. N., Seattle, 206-770-2777). Open late last month, the redo of the former Turntable Restaurant and Liquid Lounge offers a casual American menu that doesn't stride far from the Seattle tried-and-true (or for that matter, from its predecessor's).

You want it, they've got it: everything from sushi rolls, popcorn shrimp, ahi tuna poke, pizzas, burgers, grilled chicken caesars, fish tacos and cedar-planked salmon. Looking for a place to lift one before an event at Seattle Center or KeyArena? The bar offers 50 beers on tap plus daily happy hours (early and late, featuring half off all appetizers, sushi and pizza, plus $2.95 beers on tap, select wine and cocktail specials). Open daily for lunch (11:30 a.m.-4 p.m.) and dinner (4-10 p.m.); bar open 11:30 a.m.-midnight Sundays-Thursdays and till 1 a.m. Fridays-Saturdays.

Belltown makeovers

Umi Sake House made its debut last week in the reinvented Bada Lounge (2230 First Ave., Seattle; 206-374-8717). Bada's owner, Steven Han, has gutted and reconstructed his restaurant and bar and its new design is meant to replicate a Japanese house and garden, complete with weeping fig trees, Japanese maples and a sky-lit "front porch."

The once sterile entranceway — which looked like something out of "2001: A Space Odyssey" — is now enhanced by bamboo and wood, providing a warm welcome into the world of Japanese izakaya-style dining: informal eats and drinks with an emphasis on the latter. Here you'll find a terraced dining room, a sushi bar and tatami room.

Umi offers more than 40 sakes, plus a small-plates menu (think Japanese tapas) and a full-on sushi bar with dozens of specialty sushi rolls. Executive chef Billy Beach — no longer involved with Wallingford's Rain — will be a familiar face from his tenure at nearby Wasabi Bistro. Open 4 p.m.-2 a.m. nightly.

Meanwhile, the makeover at the former Axis is complete, and Amber (2214 First Ave., Seattle; 206-728-8500; www.amberseattle.com) opened its doors in mid-May, introducing a world of upscale dining, complete with a bar thrice the size of the original, a VIP lounge, flatscreen TVs and a menu meant to appeal to a more "sophisticated" crowd than the hip-young-Belltown barflies that hung here in its earlier incarnation. (Good luck!)

So says investor and marketing maven Brina Sanft, who envisions the place as a potential hotspot for corporate and philanthropic events. Natural woods (African bubinga, Idaho lodgepole pines) and an amber stone-quartz waterfall were employed to make the setting more "zenlike," she explains.

Managing the dining room is Michael Don Rico (who had a long run at El Gaucho and a brief one at Ibiza Dinner Club). And heading up the kitchen is chef Matt Puch (ex-Ruins), whose menu takes advantage of the only thing left from the Axis days: the big wood-fired Woodstone oven. His specialties include "hand-crafted" meats and fresh seafood, with entree prices that roam from $21 for cedar-planked Alaskan halibut to $100 for chateaubriand for two. Open 4 p.m.-2 a.m. nightly (dinner 5-11 p.m.), with happy hours early, late and throughout the day on Sunday.

Nancy Leson: 206-464-8838 or nleson@seattletimes.com.

More columns are available at seattletimes.com/nancyleson