Hello, and holy shit!

Well, what a summer. Between the LTD Sushi Dinner, the normal rigors of summer business, NYT mentioning we’re a favorite spot in the country, our Five year annivarsary party, and curb stomping the tasting menu (I don’t need to explain, that right?) we’ve had one hell of a summer packed with events!

Working, and running a restaurant is hard fucking work, yet the old tropes of it’s joyless work, or it’s only fueled by passion and dedication, etc, aren’t true for us at all.

Our team here at Off Alley worked their fucking asses off all summer long, gutting and fileting thousands of anchovies from Monterey Bay, special batching cocktails for events, inviting friends into our space and assisting them, and everything in between, all combined with our normal dinner services four days a week.

We all show up every day, because we love what we do, but what makes what we do so special? All of you, and all the purveyors we work with. From celebrating life (I’ll share more of this special story soon), to celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, bringing moments of light in hard times.. these are the things which allow us to be a part of this community. We’ve laughed with you, we’ve cried with you, hell, I even danced with a couple people when Matt Bruno’s band was playing our 5 year party.

So, what do all hard working people deserve? Rest. We closed for an extended break over Labor Day weekend, and we’re back at it now. We’ve been prepping non-alcoholic sodas, waking up our ferments, checking on our charcuterie and building our sauces and larders all day to re-open for our Fall Season here at Off Alley.

As of August 1st, we removed tasting menus as an offering. This decision was a long time coming, and while I know many people very much enjoyed this format, it wasn’t the best for us as a restaurant, and staff. I knew that this decision would allow us to go back to our roots, and bring back the feelings I loved of the early years here at Off Alley.
What I didn’t expect, was how excited all of you are, about us going back to this format.

We’ve been listening for feedback, and you all have been very vocal with it. I’m so happy to hear that this shift to more casual style of service, is exactly what you wanted. Isn’t that nice when everyone’s desires (mostly) match up?! We’ve been excited to open our doors, guide our guests through offerings, and even a little friendly competition amongst myself and the kitchen team who can come up with the most popular dish for a week.

So, here we are, back where we began when we could open our doors the way we always intended. Small, loud, ever changing, always searching for a new ingredient to play with, always learning, always growing. We are so fortunate to be part of such a wonderful community here in South Seattle. The support we receive from guests, purveyors, our landlord, our community members, it’s really humbling. If I wasn’t so busy getting my ass kicked all day August 1st I probably would have made a speech and balled my eyes out. So, thanks for showing up and keeping me so busy I didn’t have time to do anything but yell our names for orders. I would have absolutely embarrassed myself with the amount of love you all showed up to give.

So, thank you Seattle, to our guests who travel from far away to dine with us, to the food writers who continually support us locally, and nationally like the New York times and Star Chefs. A special, and heartfelt thank you to all the purveyors, farmers, and past and present staff who break their backs making what we’re able to do, so special. It takes a village, and we’re lucky to have an incredible village around us.

As we roll into the fall here, we’ll be tinkering behind the scenes on a lot of exciting parts soon to come. We’re revamping our non-alcoholic options, to trying to make everything in house, some special events including a cooking class at Kurtwood Farms (sorry, it’s already sold out) to an event October 26th with the James Beard Foundation for their Taste of America (Ever see a 12 seat restaurant cook for five hundred people?).
You’ll even see me (Chef) on the floor a little bit more frequently helping Karel out more often. We’re excited to welcome you in, for a reservation, or a walk in. It’s the same experience, just whichever route you choose to find us.

Always searching for that joie de vivre,

Evan Leichtling

Chef / Owner Off Alley