July 18, 2016

Tavolata Capitol Hill opens in Dunn Motors Building on E Pike

Photo by Geoffrey Smith for Ethan Stowell Restaurants [enlarge]

Photo by Jill Hardy, courtesy of Dovetail [enlarge]

Chef Ethan Stowell's latest restaurant, Tavolata Capitol Hill, is in the Dunn Motors Building at 501 E. Pike St. in Seattle.

Hunters Capital of Seattle owns building, which has 7,000 square feet of retail that includes the restaurant and a gym still under construction. Above that is office space, and 88 apartments on floors three through eight.

Hunters Capital preserved the front and west facades of the 1925 building.

Atelier Drome Architecture designed the 2,600-square-foot Tavolata Capitol Hill. Dovetail was the contractor, and did wood and metal fabrication. Architectural Elements also did metal fabrication.

The original Tavolata Italian eatery is in Belltown. In a press release, Atelier Drome principal Michelle Linden said the Capitol Hill restaurant's design is a modern interpretation of the original one, with lighter wood, a pallet of gray hues and exposed mechanical systems. The space also has handmade wood and steel furniture, surfaces and details.

The architect said the restaurant has a communal table to encourage conversation and community. The 16-foot-long table is made of maple slab from Whatcom County, with live edges. Bare bulbs hang above the table, which can be separated into two eight-foot sections.

The open kitchen at the back is surrounded by gray subway tiles.

Booths have ash seats and backs, and raw steel framing. There's also a 22-foot-long Douglas fir bar top, and a back-bar wall made of reclaimed redwood.

Table tops, open shelving and sliding window walls are of Douglas fir, and a large wooden trellis of reclaimed Douglas fir hides ducting in the ceiling.

Tavolata Capitol Hill is one of several restaurants that Dovetail has built for Ethan Stowell.