99 Park is Getting Two New Sibling Restaurants in Bellevue

By Seattle Mag October 6, 2014

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The former real estate developer who brought 99 Park to life in Belleuve has two more restaurants in the works.

Micah Pittman tells me that he plans to open a cool new sports bar and a Spanish tapas lounge right across the street from his newest eastside restaurant that just launched in late August. He had just signed the lease when I spoke to him Thursday night.

There’s very little information right now, as the creative wheels are just starting to turn in their heads, but the two concepts will share a roughly 9,000-square-foot space and 99 Park chef Quinton Stewart will oversee the kitchens at both places.

Stewart talks about making pizzas and other noshy foods at the sport bar, which has a former Seahawk as one of its partners (no word exactly which one). “I want to get some wood stones in there and do pizza and maybe kind of similar to The Old Sage vibe—bar food, cool small plates. On the other side, they’re talking about doing something similar to Ocho in Ballard,” like having two or three small stations with induction burners, where the place is personable and the cooks are talking to you. “To me, that’s cool,” he says. “The other side (the sports bar) could be big boy industrial stuff.”

The two restaurants, most of the space being occupied by the sports bar, will share a passageway. At least that’s the plan right now.

Because Stewart is new to Spanish cooking, he’s getting out the cookbooks and starting to research. After all, many of the world flavors in 99 Park’s menu were brand new to him when he started.

“I never made mole once before we opened this restaurant. You figure it out.”

As far as an opening date, the buildings are more than a year out from being ready. Stewart didn’t scoff at a possible early 2016 opening, and knowing the high levels of energy Pittman has, he’ll waste no time getting his newest darlings off the ground as soon as possible. 

 

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