Many if not most Seattle restaurants will suffer in 2012 from mandated sick leave for workers as well as highest minimum wage in the country, $9.04 an hour. For a variety of reasons, some won't even make it into the New Year.
Closings, most notably atop Queen Anne, all three restaurants in the brick building at Queen Anne and Boston, known for decades as Saladay's Drugstore, closed when the landlord, Rev. Sue Wanwig, whose father owned the pharmacy, refused to extend or renew their leases. G-gone are Ototo Sushi, Teacup, and the brand-new Polpetta (formerly Enza Cucina Siciliana).
Changes: Sexton taking over Madame K's in Ballard. Pine Box sliding into Chapel's space on Capitol Hill. Restaurant Bea now beaming instead of June in Madrona. Thai Curry Simple now in South Lake Union where Bad Monkey used to be. D'Ambrosio dispensing gelato on 12th where Varro shut its doors.
Newcomers: Publican, in Greenlake, Macleod's in Ballard, Lucky 8 on Cap Hill.
Wayne Johnson, longtime chef at Andaluca (Mayflower Hotel) takes over as exec chef at Ray's Boathouse after Peter Birk leaves for a revamped Harborside. Scott Heimindinger, aka Seattle Food Geek, signs on as biz dev manager for Modernist Cuisine. Typhoon gets hit with $2 million discrimination complaint by its Thai workers.
Finally, a farewell to Nettletown chef Christina Choi, victim of a brain aneurism diagnosed only two weeks before her death, end of December, at the age of 34.
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