[Article by Bruce Roberts]
Take three friends, with varied skills and background, but one unified dream. Add in a beautiful building, iconic in the history of Seattle, Washington. Mix with a thriving Seattle population that loves beer even better than Starbucks, and create a surefire recipe for success. Opening in Seattle at the end of March, 2012, a terrific new pub and restaurant — The Pine Box.
Built in 1923 as Butterworth’s Funeral Home, then resurrected as The Chapel, a bar/restaurant in 2003, this beautiful building has been vacant since 2009. In 1973, it achieved cult status forever as the site of Bruce Lee’s funeral. Hollywood stars Steve McQueen and James Coburn, martial arts students of Lee’s, were pallbearers as action-movie fans the world over mourned.
Now, however, it has been resurrected as The Pine Box, thanks to the incredible hard work of three friends: Mark Eskridge, Dean Hudgins, and Ian Roberts. Mark is the finance expert, a man with a business degree from Cornell University. Dean is the builder, a man with many years of experience as a manager, a sculptor, a builder. Ian, long-time manager of popular Brouwer’s Belgian Pub/Restaurant in the Fremont district, has the practical experience of actually running a pub. Plus, as the co-founder and promoter of Seattle’s successful Beer Week for the last three years, he claims to know every beer drinker in the state, and is sure they will patronize The Pine Box.
With former church pews available for bench seating, and solid tables and the bar built from old fir found in the basement’s casket room, this new pub will combine the elegant accoutrements of a classy mortuary, with the more down-to-earth elements of wooden bench seats and hand-made bar and tables. There is even balcony seating, for those who like to imbibe with a view.
The menu, overseen by experienced chef John Macafee, will focus mainly on gourmet pizza, with such exotic toppings as Arugula, pecorino, andouille, buffalo mozzarella, and roasted jalapeno garlic sauce (not all on the same pizza — unless you want it that way). The brand-new, state-of-the art Wood Stone ceramic pizza oven will easily crank out enough pizzas to keep up with an active, munch-hungry crowd. Or, have a salad, made with fresh greens bought daily at Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market.
And the draft beer selection, from local to international, will certainly give patrons cause to munch. The Pine Box will feature local brews, such as Fremont Brewery’s Brother Imperial IPA and Port Townsend’s Nitro Scotch Ale. San Francisco’s Sierra Nevada contributes Hoptimum, while Lil Sumpin’ Wild from Petaluma, California’s Lagunitas Brewery stretch the Pine Box’s beer sources, which run internationally too. Belgium’s St. Bernardus’ Abt 12 and Guinness’ Irish Stout are just two of several European brews on the menu, which provides a broad beer selection for every taste.
Anyone who knows Seattle knows that it is a chain of neighborhoods and districts, each containing outstanding restaurants, coffee shops (and not ALL Starbucks), book stores, cupcake shops, dogs, pubs, and the best clam chowder everywhere: all the requirements for a mellow life. With the opening of the Pine Box officially on March 26, the Capitol Hill neighborhood will once again have a complete array of small businesses to complete life’s essentials for its residents.
Stop in some time. Say hi to Mark, Dean, and Ian. Have a beer. Have two! Prost!
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You may contact Bruce Roberts, at brobe60491@sbcglobal.net.