White Center Now: The blog about White Center

(Also published on partner site West Seattle Blog)

By Tracy Record
White Center Now editor

Popular White Center diner Meander’s Kitchen closed early today, about two hours short of its usual 3 pm closing.

That wouldn’t be noteworthy, except for the circumstances: A management change, made with King County Sheriff’s Office deputies standing by, following 12-plus hours of unofficial claims, attributed to employees, that today would be Meander’s last day of operations.

First word of this came with postings in various spots on Facebook late Saturday night/early Sunday morning – including the “posts by others” section of our business FB page for West Seattle Blog – saying that Sunday would be the restaurant’s last day open and urging customers to come show support. We also received a text message to that effect, saying the staff was opening the restaurant in hopes of making enough money to cover payroll and vendors. By morning, this sign was up at the restaurant (several people texted us the image):

Patrons told us employees were also telling them personally that it was closing. Contacted via Facebook, restaurant founder Miranda Krone – working out of town as a maritime chef – told us that was definitely not true, and that a new general manager/partner, Afton Larsen, who had been part of Meander’s operations in its early West Seattle days, would arrive at the restaurant later in the day to sort things out.

Larsen also contacted us directly to say she would be at the restaurant “this afternoon to talk with staff in person and keep our doors open.” And a post on the restaurant’s official FB page echoed, “We are NOT closing”:

We had planned to check in by mid-afternoon – and then came a text from a patron about the arrival of deputies, around 1:15 pm, with diners being told that service was ended for the day (regular daily closing time has been 3 pm). That accelerated our plan to go check on the situation. Co-publisher Patrick Sand was told on arrival that the deputies were there to ensure an orderly transition, but that there was no trouble and no one had been arrested.

Some employees say their paychecks had bounced, but so far, no one has reported filing a complaint with state Labor and Industries. Larsen (photo below) told us she was just starting to go through the books so didn’t know the status of the restaurant’s accounting yet.

She said some of the current staff has agreed to stay on; she said she hopes Meander’s will be open tomorrow, usual hours, but if circumstances make that infeasible, they would expect to reopen by midweek, potentially with limited service until things are straightened out.

Meander’s first opened in West Seattle in January 2011 in the tiny ex-Jade West Café. Its popularity led Krone to seek a new, larger space, and Meander’s moved to its first White Center space in fall 2012. The former Papa’s Pub turned out to be a bit too big, she said, moving the restaurant to its current space at 9809 16th SW (which had previously been a short-lived chicken restaurant) in late summer 2013.

6:57 PM: Larsen says via e-mail that Meander’s will be open tomorrow (Monday), 10-3, with a limited menu and “skeleton crew.”

While the Jubilee Days street fair continues, three events of note today (Sunday, July 19th), one part of Jubilee Days, two that are separate:

WHITE CENTER KIWANIS PANCAKE BREAKFAST: 7:30 am-1 pm at Holy Family School (9615 20th Ave SW), come have breakfast for $7 – kids 5 and under eat free. You can also purchase drawing tickets at the breakfast for special baskets, with the proceeds benefiting a variety of local nonprofits. Bring diapers for the WestSide Baby drive, too!

JUBILEE DAYS PARADE: 11 am, watch the parade as it heads northbound on 16th SW from SW 112th to SW 100th.

BURGER-EATING CONTEST: Love Zippy’s Giant Burgers? How many could you eat at one sitting? Pay $15 to enter and get a chance to win $100. Just show up at Zippy’s in White Center (9614 14th SW) at 1 pm to sign up – there’s room for 20 contestants, and you have to be 18 or older – and then gear up to chow down at 2 pm.

Tomorrow’s the annual GiveBIG donate-a-thon, and you can help the White Center Food Bank via “Dine Out For Hunger,” as announced by WCFB:

Dine out on May 5, 2015, and these restaurants will donate a portion of their proceeds to the White Center Food Bank!

Company Bar
Full Tilt Ice Cream (White Center location)
Mac’s Triangle Pub
Meander’s
Proletariat Pizza
Zippy’s Giant Burgers (White Center AND Georgetown locations)

These wonderful restaurants will donate to us through giveBIG, so their donations will be stretched and matched, too!

When GiveBIG starts just after midnight tonight, we’ll also have a list of participating local nonprofits, as usual.

By Tracy Record and Patrick Sand
White Center Now/West Seattle Blog co-publishers

First word arrived via a tweet directed at us by Caffé Delia, with a photo of newly opened Mardi Gras Donuts and the message, “Donuts! In Rat City!” So we headed over to investigate.

More than the donuts, it turns out, Mardi Gras Donuts is all about the beignets.

That’s what proprietor Michael Williams (“call me Mike”) told us.

The donuts are a sideline to the beignets (ben-YAYS, as he pronounces it in his New Orleans accent – “New Orleans-born and raised,” he says proudly).

He’s been open a few days at 9828 16th SW (a storefront that’s been a bakery before). Signage just went up yesterday. No decorations inside, and when we walked in, we wondered if he would tell us he’s not really open yet. But — he is.

His marquee item, the beignets, are 3 for $2.25. He says he’s making and selling other types of donuts because that’s expected – cakes, glazed, honey buns, apple fritters, twists, donut holes.

He’s here as what sounds to be the latest stop on a cross-country journey of sorts. He worked in a donut shop in New Orleans that gained fame via a Food Network feature in 2011. Later that year in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, he opened his first Mardi Gras Donuts shop, featured in local news there.

Deciding to make a move, Williams said he almost wound up in Fargo, North Dakota, where he owned some property. The prospect of deep-freeze winter was a little much. Talking to a wholesaler, he heard Seattle didn’t have much in the way of beignets. So, here he is.

6 am-8 pm for starters (Williams says he’s still figuring out the hours depending on how the customer flow goes), and during the morning, they’ll make hot glazed donuts while you wait. P.S. – Cash only.

(Photo courtesy Gill)
After a rocky past and a false start or two for the long-vacant building at 9801 16th SW, it is now home to a new restaurant. After getting reports about The Rose Petals moving in, but finding nothing online, we tried a couple times to find out more in person, but apparently chose the wrong days. Finally, we have information courtesy of the Seattle Weekly, which has the story here. SW reports that it’s operated by a much-respected soul-food chef, Helen Coleman, who has had restaurants at two other spots in the city. Though the banner says The Rose Petals is open for lunch and dinner, the story says they’re open for dinner now, adding lunch in a few weeks.

SIDE NOTE: In case you can’t quite place the building, its past incarnations included bars The Wall and The Hang Around, and a medical-marijuana lounge. An unrelated dispensary has been occupying the lower, west-facing level.

UPDATE, JANUARY 12: Seattle Weekly now reports it’s been contacted directly by Helen Coleman, who tells SW she is NOT associated with this new restaurant. Read their update here.

A holiday reminder from Oscar Brambila of Taqueria La Fondita #2 – tomorrow, Christmas Eve, is their annual gift to you – free food between 11 am and 4 pm! Tacos, burritos, and free drinks, according to the announcement he sent, something they’ve done for more than a decade. They’re at 9811 15th SW, and expecting Santa Claus at noon.

Just announced:

It’s Taco Friday again! Tacos in the park will be offered to the White Center Community for a final time, this Friday, August 9, 2013 at Noon, with a focus on reaching those who are experiencing homelessness or struggling to make ends meet.

Taco Time Northwest continues to generously provide delicious tacos for the meal, while the outreach is supported by The White Center Homeless Summit community group, The Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission, a group of local churches, businesses, and the White Center Chamber of Commerce.

Our Second Friday of the Month effort continues to average well over 40 participants, serving over 100 tacos during the 90 minute event. White Center business owners are encouraged to send people our way and let them know about the free lunch this Friday. Free lunch will be provided across the street from Steve Cox Park (1327 SW 102nd) in front of the Body of Christ Church on Friday August 9th, from 12pm – 1:30pm.

(Jasiah, enjoying the downtown WC party)
Night Out is here – and two big events are under way in White Center – one at Steve Cox Memorial Park, and one in the downtown business district, featuring the $2 food walk – here’s the map:

Have a great time!

ADDED: While visiting the downtown party, we also spotted King County Sheriff’s Office Deputy BJ Myers:

KCSO also had a presence at the North Highline party attended by residents including Barbara Dobkin, who shared this photo featuring KCSO Sgt. Cindi West:

Beautiful night!

Announced by Mark Ufkes:

Alex Campbell (Evergreen High School senior) and other community volunteers will be serving free Taco Time tacos in Steve Cox Park tomorrow at noon to our homeless community. We can always use more volunteers. They should arrive around 11:45 at Steve Cox Park near the White Center Chamber of Commerce office.

You can’t beat a free breakfast. And this Saturday is the day some pancake fans wait all year to see – and taste: The annual free pancake breakfast at White Center’s McLendon Hardware (as well as the company’s half-dozen other stores). 7:30-10 am, they’re welcoming you for the free flapjacks at 16th and 102nd, in honor of their 79th anniversary – more info online.

Two White Center restaurants are signed on for this year’s Dining Out for Life fundraiser for Lifelong AIDS Alliance: Company and Proletariat Pizza. The event is this Thursday (April 25th), and both are participating at dinnertime, donating 30 percent of their proceeds.

P.S. If you’re reading this in neighboring West Seattle – four participants there (also for dinner); they are Buddha Ruksa, Eats Market Café, Skylark Café and Club, and Talarico’s;

Sunday was opening day for Meat The Live Butcher, the successor to Top Hat’s Bernie and Boys, now open and selling meat in South Delridge (9432 16th SW), more than a year and a half after B&B closed (here’s WCN coverage from February 2011). We stopped in for a few photos on Sunday afternoon:

Check out the wall of history:

Thanks to Leticia from nearby Café Rozella for the Sunday tip that it was opening day. P.S. You can find MTLB on Facebook by going here.

From a morning stroll on 16th:

The new restaurant TT’s Soul Kitchen, at the site of the former Pho Lynna (southeast corner of 16th/Roxbury), plans its grand opening tomorrow (Tuesday, November 27th), according to handwritten signs put up on both sides of its corner location. We’re checking on hours.

And right across Roxbury, the banner’s up for this Saturday night’s tree lighting:

Veterans’ Triangle Park, right in front of Mac’s Triangle Pub, is the place to be at 5 pm this Saturday (December 1st).

The West Seattle sensation who’s taking over the former Papa’s Pub space in White Center, Miranda Krone, says her WC edition of Meander’s Kitchen will have sneak-preview breakfast service this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. According to her Facebook announcement, she plans to open at 8 am Friday and Saturday, 9 am Sunday, staying open till 1 pm each day if the food lasts that long – as late as 3 pm if they can. Cash only, please!

Just a few weeks after West Seattle Thriftway became the first supermarket in the area to carry pints of White Center-headquartered Full Tilt Ice Cream, proprietor Justin Cline was at the store this afternoon to scoop it up for shoppers.

Make plans to have Proletariat Pizza for dinner (etc.) this Tuesday, because you’ll not only be helping them celebrate their third anniversary – you’ll also be helping the White Center Food Bank. Proletariat’s proprietors posted on Facebook that they’ll donate 30 percent on Tuesday to WCFB. (Here’s the story we published on their first night, 9/18/09.)

We reported this tonight on our partner site West Seattle Blog – but in case you don’t read WSB, we wanted to make sure you heard about it here too. Another popular West Seattle restaurant is planning to open in White Center. Meander’s Kitchen proprietor Miranda Krone says she is taking over the former Papa’s Pub space, which shut down seven months ago in the wake of a federal raid. Her WS diner, which started primarily as a breakfast spot and now even serves dinner, is consistently mega-busy, with patient fans waiting outside. No timetable for the move – she says she’s signing the lease Saturday. She tells us she feels like her restaurant is a good fit for the White Center community, as it continues to grow and evolve, and is full of people who care intensely about their neighborhood.

The sign is up at the former White Center Albertsons, with more signage in the works right now.

As the new owners had told us last month, it is open during remodeling and is now Super Saver Foods. Here’s our original report from February; the takeover happened this week as planned.

While we were there, warehouse workers from Supervalu were on hand stocking the store (and so proud about it, they posed for a big group photo out front!). The store does not have a pharmacy – Albertsons transferred its customers to its 1st Avenue South store in Burien last month. Burien is also where the new Super Saver Foods’ parent company has its nearest store.

Just in from Stefanie of Proletariat Pizza, word that “Oxbow Farm‘s CSA will now be delivering to our area, and Proletariat will be the pick up spot this June. Oxbow is a fantastic organic farm in Carnation- their quality of produce is well known and respected- and it’s only available in limited areas, during a limited time (our shorter growing season), and I am so excited that such a fantastic CSA is now available here! It’s a perfect supplement to growing one’s own veggies and occasional trips to the Farmers’ Market.”

On our way back from a story to the east, we stopped at 3.14 Bakery in downtown White Center to see how Pi(e) Day (3.14!) was going – and found a table full of distinguished gatherers who had chosen 3.14 for a meeting. From left, if you don’t recognize them all, that’s Mikel Davila from White Center Community Development Association, King County Sheriff’s Office Storefront Deputy BJ Myers, Michelle Allison from King County Councilmember Joe McDermott‘s team, and CM McDermott himself (who pointed out they had already purchased boxed pie to take back to the office downtown). As for us – decided not to go with the pie, but the triple-chocolate cake ball is to die for.