Avalon owners (front to back) Deborah Breuler, Thomas Breuler and Mary Palmer.
2940 s.w. Avalon Way, the prior home of Café Revo, is near resurrection as Avalon, a Pacific Northwest casual fine dining restaurant and lounge.
The owners are now aiming for an opening on January 3rd, pending approval of their liquor license from the Liquor Control Board.
The painting is done and the kitchen is ready. Now owners, chefs and husband-wife team Deborah and Thomas Breuler need only wait for their signage and the final stages of obtaining a liquor license to open the doors.
“What we’re really aiming for is an atmosphere that is approachable for families, not fussy … so it’s definitely more what our take on West Seattle service should be,” Thomas said on Dec. 9. “It should be top quality service, top quality food that’s affordable and not stuffy. It’s very approachable.”
How about the food?
“In terms of food, it’s going to be a lot of rustic prepared comfort food where you’ll find a lot of ingredients from the Pacific Northwest, a lot of flavors the come from around the Mediterranean,” Thomas said. “So, some spices in a beef dish might come from Morocco or we might have some salads that are inspired by the sunny parts of France or Italy and Spain.”
At the top of the story you’ll find a PDF attachment of future Avalon dishes.
According to their website, www.avalonws.com, the lounge will have its own menu and will open Monday through Friday for happy hour from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The dining room will be open Monday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and there will be brunch service Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The lounge will be managed by Mary Palmer, the third co-owner in the endeavor.
According to their website, the Breulers have lived in West Seattle since 2005. They met in Chicago, working for Chefs Rick Bayless and Susan Goss at Zinfandel, where they “began forging their lifelong passion for food and family.” They moved to L.A. next, catering for the motion picture industry and cooking for those privileged enough to travel by private jet.
After having their second child, the couple decided it was time to move back to Deborah’s native Seattle to be close to family. Since that time, Deborah has worked as executive chef at Maggiano’s Little Italy in Bellevue.
A challenge that looms for Avalon and other businesses located on s.w. Avalon Way is King County’s plan to take out the already-limited parking for a dedicated RapidRide (click the link for more information) bus lane. Known as the RapidRide C Line, the service is expected to start running in fall of 2012.
“On the one end, we are all for a city being developed and moving forward to take care of the people getting to work … unfortunately, this is the one instance where we are caught in the development,” Thomas said.
“Our goal is to try to take care of everybody and get as many happy customers as we can in that two years so they don’t forget about us when the parking is gone,” he said.
Avalon recently held a private party for Northwest Art and Frame, their first real chance to try out the kitchen.
“It turned out great,” Thomas said. “It was great to actually see the dining room with people in it and hear the laughter and all that stuff, so it was fantastic and really a good insight into what we can expect when we open.”
More information on Avalon can be found at www.avalonws.com.