A New York style pizza place is going into the Lumen building in Lower Queen Anne, in the same complex as QFC and Genki Sushi.

According to a notice on the door, New York Pizza & Bar is renting the space at 500 Mercer Street, Suites 2-4, and is currently doing construction in preparation for opening.

New York Pizza & Bar currently has two locations in Washington State – one in Bellingham and another in Lynden. We’re waiting to hear back from the owners on when they plan to open the new Seattle location.

* Thanks to Patrick and Jenn for the tip!

Pottery Northwest will hold an exhibition of new works by several recent artists-in-residence alumnae beginning Saturday, April 9 in their studio just south of the KeyArena. The exhibition, called Flashback, will feature work by John Ellefson, Bill Evans, Jamie Kirkpatrick, Julie Lindell, Stephen Sullivan and Tami Rubin.

The show will run until April 29 in the South Gallery of Pottery Northwest at 226 First Ave. N. A public opening reception will be held on Saturday, April 9 from 6 to 8 p.m.

From Pottery Northwest:

Founded in 1966 as a non-profits arts organization, Pottery Northwest is a long time and vibrant source of programming in the Seattle arts community. World class professional artist residencies,  exhibitions featuring traditional and contemporary work, community classes and an engaging lecture series spanning many years are all features of this fixture at Seattle Center. Artists from around the world come to Pottery Northwest in the spirit of artistic dialog and as a formative step in their professional career.

Yes, you read that right – Queen Anne is going to have a brand new ice cream shop come this summer, a la organic, seasonal, locally sourced, hand-made ice creamery Molly Moon’s.

Back in December Molly Moon’s launched a competition between three neighborhoods – Queen Anne, Ballard and Madrona – to determine which ‘hood to open its third shop in. The local ice cream chain, which already has bustling locations in Wallingford and Capitol Hill, named Queen Anne as the winner of the competition Monday.

The competition was run through Facebook page campaigns, to gauge community interest in a new shop in each neighborhood. As of Monday evening the Queen Anne page had 462 ‘likes’. Madrona came in second place, with 163 ‘likes’.

Molly Moon’s has not yet finalized the location for the Queen Anne store, but they plan to open the shop in July, just in time for the summer heat. The ice creamery will also be opening a “micro-shop” in Madrona. To celebrate Molly Moon’s will be giving out free ice cream scoops to kids out of its truck, which will be parked at 2231 Queen Anne Ave. N., on Sunday, March 20, from noon to 2 p.m. Here is the full press release:

Molly Moon Neitzel today announced that she is expanding her ice cream family this summer with a new scoop shop in Queen Anne and new “micro” concept shop in Madrona.

Neighborhoods for the new locations were selected by Molly Moon’s enthusiasts during the three-month long “Shop 3, where will it be?” campaign that encouraged Seattle’s ice cream lovers to, despite the frosty weather, visit Moon’s ice cream truck while it set-up shop in their respective ‘hoods.

“I’m so excited to be welcoming two new neighborhoods in to our Molly Moon’s family” said Neitzel. “I love that Molly Moon’s is a place where families and friends can create memories and I can’t wait for Queen Anne and Madrona residents to have the opportunity make the new shops a part of their communities.”

Queen Anne, Seattle’s most-devoted ice cream eating neighborhood this winter, will be receiving its well-deserved scoop shop in July of 2011. Stay tuned, as the location is still being solidified and will be announced in the coming weeks.

Madrona, the runner-up in the “Shop 3” campaign, will be awarded a Molly Moon’s micro-shop in May of 2011. This petite version of a Molly Moon’s scoop shop will serve pre-packaged pints and scoops of Moon’s delicious ice cream, sorbet-sicles, and ice cream sandwiches.

In celebration of this exciting news, the Molly Moon’s ice cream truck will give away kids scoops this Saturday, March 19, from Noon to 2 p.m. while parked at Buggy in Madrona. The kids in Queen Anne will receive free scoops on Sunday, March 20, from Noon to 2 p.m. while the truck is parked at 2231 Queen Anne Ave. N.

For additional information about Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream, please log on to mollymoonicecream.com.

Correction 12:40 p.m.: An earlier version of this story stated that Molly Moon’s is organic, when in fact not all of its ice cream flavors contain organic ingredients. Here is more information from the website:

Are all of your ingredients organic? No. My priority is to purchase locally-grown ingredients from great Northwest suppliers. I try to use local AND organic, but when faced with situations where I have to choose, I choose healthy local options that are not always certified organic. Some of our organic ingredients include organic vanilla, peppermint, maple, ginger, and orange extracts, organic coconut, organic lavender from Sequim, Washington, organic baby beets, carrots, and rosemary from Full Circle Farms, organic Meyer lemons from the Napa Valley (as close to us as they grow), organic mint and cantaloupe from eastern Washington, organic bacon and cherries from Vashon, organic sugar cones and cake cones, and organic sprinkles.

If you’ve walked by Flame on Queen Anne Avenue N recently, you may have noticed the paper covering the windows and the sign on the door directing patrons to Elliott Bay Pizza Co. two doors down.

That’s because the two restaurants have merged, according to an Elliott Bay Pizza Co. employee who spoke to us over the phone this morning.

While the sign on the door at Flame says it is only closed for renovations, adding “Y’all kin get yer got juicy delicious flame broiled burgers next door at Elliott Bay Pizza,” in fact the restaurant changed ownership this week, the Elliott Bay Pizza Co. employee confirmed.

The man who owned both Elliott Bay and Flame decided to consolidate the two restaurants – and their vastly different menus – and sell the Flame location. The renovations inside are on the part of the new owner, he said, adding that he does not know what the new owner plans to do with the restaurant.

A call to the new owner has not yet been returned. In the meantime, most of the original Flame menu (burgers, fries and onion rings, chicken tenders, BBQ sandwiches, and salads) can be found at Elliott Bay Pizza Co. alongside its existing pizzas, pastas, salads, calzones and subs. The only items not available in the new merger are Flame’s tacos and shakes.

And as for the fate of Flame’s old homestead, we’ll keep you posted as we learn more about what will be moving in.

After a few months of preparation, Zaw artisan pizza is opening its new Upper Queen Anne location, at 1635 Queen Anne Ave. N., at 2 p.m. today, Saturday, April 10.

This it the fourth Seattle store for co-owners Greg Waring and Greg Scott, who decided to open a bake-at-home pizza joint that focused on seasonal, local and organic food and drink after years in the restaurant and consulting business.

“Zaw was our mid-life crisis,” Waring said. “If it doesn’t have a bit of soul, it doesn’t go into a bite of Zaw.”

Greg and Greg opened up the new shop yesterday for training, creating a few practice pizzas for Queen Anne-ers free of charge. They will also be extending their hours for this particular location based on community feedback (2 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 2 to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday).

“We had a lot of Queen Anne residents who were driving to Ballard or South Lake Union,” Waring said. “We got a lot of requests. So when this location became available, we snapped it up.”

Zaw is using the opening of the Queen Anne location to introduce a number of new products, including bake-at-home cookies (in classic chocolate chip or double decadent chocolate), as well as new local drinks, wines and beers.

Every Zaw pizza has the option of whole-wheat or gluten-free crust, and is wrapped in a cardboard circle with plastic wrap and baking instructions (10 minutes to cook), reducing the pizza box waste by 3/4.

After months of construction in Lower Queen Anne, The Maxwell Hotel finally opened at 300 Roy Street on Monday, March 22.

The Maxwell is owned by Columbia West Properties, the company behind the University Inn, Ramada Seattle and The Watertown Hotel. It has 140 rooms, and according to hospitalitydesign.com, exercise facility, meeting spaces, espresso bar and an indoor pool with tiles painted by local children (I contacted Columbia West Properties to verify this several months ago and have still not heard back). The hotel also has four spaces for ground-level retail, which as of yesterday appeared to still be vacant.

Barracuda Taqueria, located at 159 Denny Way (#109), opened exactly two weeks ago today, bringing “real, south of the border, street food” to Lower Queen Anne.

The new Mexican food spot has a lengthy and inexpensive menu, that boasts “freshly prepared, locally sourced ingredients.”

Barracuda is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Has anyone tried them out yet? What did you think? (P.s. we’ll be adding Barracuda to the restaurant guide soon!)

Emma Roscoe has been designing colorful handmade and custom bags through her line, Red Delicious, for seven years. Two years ago Lynn Rosskamp left a job in social work to create funky fun fleece hats through her business PingiHats. Both are Queen Anne residents and vendors at Pike Place Market. And as of today, Tuesday, February 23, they are Queen Anne’s newest shop owners!

Absolutely Fabulous (whose website is still in the works), located at 6 W Howe St Suite #2 (on the second floor) just off Queen Anne Ave N., is the brain child of Lynn and Emma, who decided to open the joint studio and retail space together, though they admit to having very different styles.

“Our work matches because it’s very different,” Emma said, noting that both love to splash lots of color into their work. “It comes from the same place in our hearts–a love for design.”

Emma’s handbags are crafted with designs and colors she selects to fit her style. You won’t find plain old black and white bags with boring lining here. Everything she makes is bright and cheery, sprinkled with upbeat colors and patterns. Why? “Life is too short to have boring bags,” she said.

“I hadn’t sewn in about 20 years when I started making bags. I was looking for the perfect bag and I couldn’t find it,” Emma said. “I’ve never used a pattern–I design bags to suit me, and if it suits me, it suits a lot of other women.”

(Red Delicious bags range in price from $12 to $100. Customers may choose from one of Emma’s designs, or have their own custom-made).

Lynn brings the same unique design to her hats, which range from colorful adult winter-wear, to customized hats designed to look like your pet (just bring in a picture!), and even a Halloween-themed zombie with a detachable ear (for realism, of course). Everything is made out of polar fleece, which Lynn has dubbed “the play dough of fabric,” because it’s fun and easy to mold into interested shapes and styles. (PingiHats vary from $22 to $34 each).

If you want something a little less eye-catching, Lynn says “You can go to Old Navy or Fred Meyer. I dare you to find a zombie with a removable ear!”

“It definitely assures people that they get something they won’t find anywhere else,” Emma said.

And though their styles often draw in different crowds, the pair say they share a lot of the same customer base. “There are people who buy both,” Lynn said.

Lynn and Emma held a soft opening at their new shop on Saturday, where they showcased their own work and that of a few other market artists who will have displays in the store, including Kim Sun Designs.

Both Lynn and Emma will be splitting their time between Pike Place Market, where their main clientele are tourists visiting the popular city landmark, and the new Queen Anne store, which they hope to make their more permanent, local crafting home base. Though opening up shop in the current economy was certainly a risk, both agreed that the chance to connect to Seattle and the local Queen Anne community was an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.

“The market is a business incubator for homemade crafts people,” Lynn said.”People in Seattle get that if you buy local, everything stays local.”

“If you look up and down Queen Anne Avenue, you can see the community is very supportive,” Emma said.

What’s most important is that it gives both of them the time and space to move out of their home offices and expand their businesses. Up until this point, Lynn has been using her attic as a craft room, while Emma’s been working within the confines of a small closet.

“This is a chance to move my work out of my house and make my cats less sad,” Lynn laughed.

Absolutely Fabulous will be open from noon to 6 p.m. today, Tuesday, February 23. Because Lynn and Emma have irregular schedules due to the market, the shop will not have definite hours each week. Check their website, Facebook page, and the sign post outside for an up to date schedule.

First the signs in the window read “Watch for the Monkey,” Then the monkey told us to “Watch for the flow.” After months of debate as to what would follow the late Opal Bistro, which closed back on Halloween night, I’ve finally gotten to the bottom of the monkey mystery at the corner of Boston and Queen Anne Ave N. The former Opal Bistro has reopened as Flow, a 21 and over cocktail lounge.

I spoke with owner, Orrapin, who said that after two years in Queen Anne, Opal Bistro just wasn’t working.

“Fine dining doesn’t work up here,” she said. “I think in this economy anything that pricey just isn’t going to work. I’m trying to accommodate the community.”

Instead of closing up shop Orrapin, who also owns Orrapin Thai Cuisine next door, decided to reinvent the corner spot and make it into something new – a cocktail lounge with an array of drinks, small bites and a much cheaper menu.

Orrapin describes her vision for the new restaurant as “A place where you can have a drink, bring a friend over, have a small meal.” She decided to make Flow 21 and up because she says Queen Anne “has enough family restaurants.” She wanted Flow to be an affordable place for patrons to “wind down” after a long day.

The two level interior is decked out with tall tables, stools and creative couches, and is, as most lounges, dimly lit. Drinks range from $3 bottled beers to $10 for the pricier cocktails. The menu offers three salad choices, a variety of appetizers (or “small bites”) including seared scallops ($6) and lemongrass pork satay ($5), a handful of bigger meals, and a daily selection of desserts. The most expensive dishes on the menu? Grilled wild salmon served with sauteed veggies, and a 6 oz rib eye steak with sauteed mushrooms, both at $12 a pop.

Flow also has a happy hour from 4 to 6 p.m. daily that boasts red and white wines for $4 a class, the cocktail of the day for $5, $3 garlic fries, and a $5 mini cheeseburger, to name a few.

Flow had its soft opening on Saturday, January 30. They’re open daily, from 4 to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 4 p.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday.

As for the Monkey? Orrapin laughed as she explained the mystery behind the very demanding monkey hanging in the window all those months. “The monkey is my sign,” she said. “That’s me! Without using my name, when it said ‘Watch for the Monkey,’ it was saying watch for me.”

If you’ve been counting down the days to the emmer&rye opening since we first reported the new “seasonally inspired, locally derived” restaurant would be taking over the Julia’s on Queen Anne Ave, wait no more–the 70-seat restaurant is opening tonight.

Chef Seth Caswell’s (formerly of Stumbling Goat Bistro) newest creation utilizes the local agriculture of the Pacific Northwest to explore seasonal dishes –- what Caswell calls “new American cuisine.” Food writer and Queen Anne resident Lorna Yee attended a sneak peak of the restaurant earlier this week and had this to say: “The reasonably priced menu, ranging from $4-$17 and made up almost entirely of local ingredients, feels exactly right for this economy.” Read her full preview in Seattle magazine.

emmer&rye will be open from 5 to 10 p.m. today and tomorrow, and from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, serving brunch from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Get a look at the menu here. Call 206-282-0680 for more information or to make a reservation. Read our emmer&rye preview here.

Earlier this week the owners of Sorrentino announced that they would be making-over their 3-year-old Italian eatery at 2128 Queen Anne Ave N., reopening it today under a new name, Enza, reconnecting back to the Sicilian roots of owner, chef and namesake Enza Sorrentino.

The owners decided to redecorate and design a new more Sicilian and less Italian menu, though the reasons for the re-branding were not immediately clear. Here is the answer I got from PR representative Marcus Dockter:

Enza wanted to break down the barrier between the restaurant and the customers, so no longer is it just a restaurant called Sorrentino. As Enza, this is her becoming more in touch with the community. She wants everyone to know her as “Mamma Enza.”  The food/menu changes are also autobiographical, as a lot of the dishes are inspired by her native Sicily. She viewed the Sorrentino menu as a tad bit Americanized, but the new Enza menu is 100% genuine and spawned from tradition.

What do you think? Does the new and transformed Enza meet expectations, or is it merely a face lift?

Julia’s on Queen Anne Ave N is closing, and soon to be in its place is the new emmer&rye from chef and owner Seth Caswell, formerly the chef at Stumbling Goat Bistro, set to open next month. I was planning to wait to post this until the manager from Julia’s returned my phone call, but as of this weekend it appears the news is out. Julia’s will be closing its Queen Anne location on Wednesday, January 20, though there are no current plans to close any of their other area locations in Capitol Hill, Wallingford and Issaquah. The seasonally and locally focused emmer&rye hopes to open on Monday, February 1.

I had the opportunity to chat with Caswell last week about his hopes for the new restaurant.

“For those that followed me in the past and ate my food, know that I’m a huge proponent for supporting local agriculture,” said Caswell, who serves on a number of local nonprofit boards that work to network farms and chefs, including the Seattle Chefs Collaborative, of which he is the president. “With that I’ve developed my tag-line for the restaurant, which is the food is ‘seasonally inspired, locally derived.’ And that kind of defines the cuisine.”

The name, emmer&rye, is an homage to local farms, like Bluebird Grain Farms in Winthrop, Washington, that grows both organic grains. Rye is also a nod to the rising cocktail culture – In addition to offering organic, locally-grown, season dishes, emmer&rye will serve 15 different kinds of rye whiskey.

“In my world, the cuisine is seasonal. Some people call that new American cuisine, but my style of cooking draws on lots of different culture,” Caswell said. “What’s available dictates the menu.”

Although Caswell says the experience won’t be “upscale,” it will “fine dining.”. He’s extended the menu from that at Stumbling Goat, where the small kitchen meant there was only space for five entrees and five appetizers. The 100-year-old Victorian house currently home to Julia’s has a much larger set up that will allow Caswell to offer around eight entrees and appetizers each in sizes that “will encourage sharing.”

“A table of four could ostensibly go and order off the whole menu and have a variety of different tastes and try different dishes for a reasonable amount of money – we’re looking at a $35 check average,” he said.

And although Julia’s will no longer be on the hill, Caswell says they will be retaining some of the staff, including manager Dina, while the rest will have the option to transfer to one of Julia’s other locations or move on. “It’s not like we’re putting people on the street after the holidays,” he said.

In the meantime, Caswell is excited to open up in Queen Anne, a neighborhood he thinks will nurture his locally grown ambitions well.

“I anticipate a lot – I mean a lot – of interaction with the Queen Anne Farmers Market,” he said. “I am what they call a farmers market junkie. I go to markets all over and i love to talk to the farmers…being just a block away from the Queen Anne Farmers Market is just a real, real treat for me.”

Caswell plans on opening emmer&rye in phases, marked by the floors of the building. The first floor and main dining area will open first, seating 70 with full restaurant and drink service, but no bar. The second phase will see the opening of the bar, deck, patio and upper level seating in the summer. The top level of the building, which could seat 80-100, Caswell hopes to use for special events and private dining in the future. Once the main a la carte restaurant is up and running, he may even use this space to resume his Tuesday Night Dinner series.

“Given that there’s the availability in the house, I will still offer small dinners either on request or with set menus for people to do in groups of anywhere from ten to twenty,” he said. But for now his first priority is opening a community restaurant with a local vision. “Opening a neighborhood joint is important to me. It’s something you can tailor more specifically to what the people are looking for and i know that with dining trends people are eating healthier, whole foods – not the store – but healthier, more unaltered foods.”

You can check out Caswell’s sample menu here. One of his favorite vegetables happens to be my namesake – chard – a dish he’s promised me will be on the menu.

It still may not look like much from the outside, but some of the paper has come down at Wink, allowing passersby to catch a glimpse of Queen Anne Ave’s new cupcake parlor, set to open one week from today, on Tuesday, January 5.

I stopped by this afternoon and got a sneak peek at the sweet shop. While chatting about the opening with “Über Manager” Lisa Gagnon, several people stopped in to see when Wink would be opening up, clearly eager for some cupcakes.

“We’re excited to be in the Queen Anne community and be a place where people can congregate,” Lisa said about the three-year-old company’s first retail location. She also said that they’d be putting a sign that reads, “Please refrain from licking the glass,” in the window that opens into the baking area, where “People can watch their cupcakes in action,” according to Lisa.

In addition to serving many seasonal and year-round flavors (their menu is not totally set yet, but includes old standbys like red velvet with classic cream cheese frosting, as well as unique concoctions like champagne cake with lemon buttercream and Guinness with “frothy frosting”), they will also sell Whidbey Island Ice Cream and an organic direct trade coffee blend from Guatemala grown and roasted specifically for them.

The pink and polka dot clad shop is filled with cupcake paraphernalia – including T-shirts and even cupcake-shaped bath bombs – made by local artists and businesses.

“We’re a little blend of small and local,” Lisa said.

Wink will be open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. They’ll be closed on Mondays. (Note their hours have changed since our last report). Also, Wink will be continuing it’s delivery service, bringing cupcakes and coffee straight to your door Thursday through Saturday, or by appointment.

“We’re heavy on delivery,” Lisa said. “Instead of sending flowers, you can send cupcakes!”

Welcome Wink, we’re excited to have you on the hill!

If you live on the south side of Queen Anne hill or in Uptown, you may have noticed some major construction going on at 300 Roy St., the soon-to-be site of The Maxwell Hotel, slated to open in March.

Owned by Columbia West Properties, the company behind the University Inn and a number of other properties around town, the new hotel will have 140 rooms above four ground-level retail spaces. And according to hospitalitydesign.com, it will house an indoor pool, exercise facility, meeting spaces and espresso bar. They also wrote that the hotel will have swimming pool tiles painted by local children, though Columbia West has not yet verified this.

A new lounge on the border between Lower Queen Anne and Belltown is opening up just in time for the New Year. Blush Lounge, located at 101 Denny Way – the long-time location of Minnie’s Caffe, and most recently the Whym Diner – is having its grand opening at 6 p.m. on Thursday, December 31.

The 21 and up spot will have a dance floor, two bars and a VIP lounge. And in celebration of the New Year and their grand opening, they’ll be serving free champagne and appetizers at midnight.

Last month the folks over at Wink Cupcakes estimated that the sweet spot would be opening in mid-December. Well mid-December is here, and alas the opening has been pushed back again. This time, however, they have a set date, and the countdown is on – three weeks from today, on Tuesday, January 5, Wink will finally open for business.

According to “Über Manager” Lisa Gagnon, they will be having an opening party, though they’re still ironing out some of the details. And despite the fact that they haven’t even opening yet, they’re very busy with the holiday rush, filling order out of a commercial kitchen in Lower Queen Anne (located at 501 2nd Ave. West).

Once open, Wink will be serving Queen Anne 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays (they will be closed on Mondays).

We’ve been reporting on the soon-to-be pilates studio opening on Queen Anne Ave N since August. And now, the time has finally come. Originally set to open in early October, the date was pushed back to January due to a manufacturing delay in the production of their machines. However, though they won’t officially be opening their doors for group classes until next month, Inspire Pilates is currently offering pre-opening specials for interested customers looking to try out their unique brand of pilates.

The workout – called SPX fitness – is based on the holistic principles of pilates, combined with elements of strength training and cardio. It’s designed to be an all-in-one workout focused on muscle toning and calorie burning.

When they’re all set up for their official opening, there will be nine machines in the studio for small group classes, and they will be offering one-on-one sessions and buddy workouts. However, until their opening next month, owner Sue Hahm is offering free 20 minute sessions for anyone interested in getting a taste of Inspire Pilates before attending a full class. See more information about their opening and class offerings here.

After months of anticipation, Toulouse Petit Kitchen & Lounge will be opening at 4 p.m. this afternoon for lounge and dinner service.

The new restaurant, located at 601 Queen Anne Ave N in Uptown, is by the same owner of the popular Pesos’s Kitchen & Lounge next door. But don’t be fooled by its parallels in name or location – this eatery offers up entirely new choices for the palette. It’s theme for not only cuisine, but also decor, is the French Quarter and New Orleans.

I swung by this morning to chat with owner Brian Hutmacher and get a sneak peak of the inside. And I must say, for all the Queen Anne residents who, like myself, have walked by hoping to steal a glimpse through the boarded up windows these past few months, it’s beautiful.

Originally slated to open Labor Day weekend, Hutmacher says he’s excited to finally open the doors – the project has been in the works a long time. “We’ve been working on this for over a year now,” he said. Although the opening this afternoon will only be for the restaurant’s lounge and dinner service, Hutmacher says they plan on opening for breakfast in a couple of weeks.

For now, Toulouse Petit will be open seven days a week. The lounge opens at 4 p.m. and dinner service will be offered from 5 p.m. to midnight, when the kitchen closes. “We have a very talented, disciplined, focused staff back there,” Hutmacher said. “It’s very humbling.” And taking a look at the menu, it’s clear that Hutmacher, Chef Eric Donnelly, formerly of Oceanaire, and the staff have worked to create a varying and ambitious amount of daily offerings.

Yesterday’s mock-up, which is still being edited, is ten pages of delectable looking salads, raw and fresh seafood dishes, delicacies (foie gras, tartares and tongue dishes are all on the menu), poultry, steaks and charcuterie, which is described as “the art of curing meats, and especially of curing pork.” And I haven’t even gotten to the specials or the drinks! Like it’s brother next door, Toulouse Petit will have an extensive array of exotic cocktails (just take a look at their bar!), and two large and encompassing happy hours – an early happy hour from opening at 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and a late happy hour from 10 p.m. to midnight.

And now for some parting fast facts from the back of the menu, entitled “The Toulouse Petit by the Numbers.” Panes of glass in the restaurant’s windows and doors – 712. Mosaic tiles in the main floor – about 85,000. Glass tiles on their booth platforms – about 40,000. Pounds of plaster hand applied to the walls – about 5,000.

Not sure exactly where Toulouse Petit is? It’s the green stucco building on the corner of Queen Anne Ave N and Mercer. You honestly can’t miss it! For more information, call (206) 432-9069.

Update: I just got confirmation that the planned opening date is set for Monday, December 7, less than a month away. “But that could slide if there are any construction delays,” according to Sue Mariotti.

I got an email from BECU’s West Seattle Admiral manager Sue Mariotti yesterday, informing me that the credit union will be opening a branch in Lower Queen Anne. The new location is going in at 29 West Mercer, where Taco Del Mar used to be. Although she didn’t have an opening date, she did say there would be two 24-hour ATMs and a staff of four “eager to serve the residents and workers in Lower Queen Anne, Magnolia and beyond.

This notice came at the same time that the West Seattle Blog reported that BECU would be closing two branches – the West Seattle Admiral Safeway location and another in Alki. In both cases the company decided not to renew their lease due to varying circumstances – planned construction in the West Seattle Safeway slated for next summer, and lower than desired numbers at their Alki location. According to the report, employees from the West Seattle location will be transferring to “a location in the Queen Anne are.” Currently the closest BECU locations are in Downtown Seattle, Ballard, Capitol Hill and the University District. More information to come.

(Thanks to Sue for the photo!)