New Italian Market and Sandwich Shop Coming from Owners of Cantinetta

On the heels of the announcement that a local investment group purchased the three street-level retail condominium spaces at One Main Street Condominiums, that group is now announcing their first lease. A new Italian market and sandwich shop, Mercato Stellina, will be opening at 10000 Main Street in Downtown Bellevue. They will occupy the east corner retail space in suite 104, formerly occupied by the One Main Street sales gallery, with an anticipated opening of late September, 2011. 

Mercato Stellina (or Stellina for short), is a new venture from the owners of Cantinetta, an Italian restaurant that first opened in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle in early 2009. In the fall of 2010, they opened a second restaurant on Main Street in Bellevue, just three doors east of One Main Street Condominiums. Co-owners Trevor Greenwood and Wade Moller report that Stellina will offer a variety of Italian specialty foods and products, and serve lunch seven days a week.

“We will offer several Italian sandwiches made in-house, cured meats, a large selection of Italian and Washington cheeses,  Italian and Washington wine,  fresh pasta made at Cantinetta, dried packaged  pasta, pasta sauces, several selections of olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar, coffee, fresh tomatoes when in season, organic milk, organic eggs and fresh bread baked daily,” said Greenwood.

Stellina will occupy the former One Main Street Condominium sales center

The design team that created Cantinetta will also be working on Stellina, including architect Dave Heinen of Barking Dog Design.  The space is roughly 750 square feet, and will include a kitchen area where they will host Italian cooking classes on Sunday mornings. The space may also be reserved for private dinner parties. Lunch service will primarily be on a take-out basis (with delivery service likely to be added sometime after the market opens), although limited inside seating will be available as well as seasonal outdoor seating on an intimate patio adjacent to the space.  Free customer parking will be available in the upper parking garage of the One Main Street Condominium building located off of the alley immediately adjacent to Mercato Stellina.

There are two additional retail spaces available. One Main Retail Ventures, LLC will target business categories like wine, specialty bakery, ice cream/gelato, florist, art gallery and other uses suitable to locally-oriented Main Street. Interested parties should contact Anthony Pagones, 206.695.5929.

The retail spaces are at the street-level of the 57-home concrete-and-steel condominium building which was completed in 2010. The condominium residences are over 60% sold, with one-, two- and three-bedroom homes priced from $319,900 to $1,499,900. More information on the residences may be found online at www.onemainstreet.com or by calling Trisha Quigley, 425.452.6246.

More New Openings for Downtown Bellevue

Three more new businesses will be opening shop in Bellevue in the coming weeks - a piano bar, a comfort food joint and a self-proclaimed "gastro tavern," according to www.DowntownBellevue.com.  In our books, this is three more great reasons to live in Downtown Bellevue -- and all three of these new establishments are within a few car-free minutes of One Main Street condominiums.

Piano Bash and Munchbar, concepts of a Las Vegas group, will open side-by-side in Lincoln Square on January 27th. Piano Bash is a dueling piano bar with nightly entertainment including piano-accompanied karaoke. The Munchbar website appears to be down, but here's a link to a Gayot review of their recently opened location in Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas. (Artisanal grilled cheese sandwiches sound like a great new addition to the Downtown Bellevue scene.)

Black Bottle, with one location in Belltown, will open their second location in the Avalon Towers Bellevue in February. The Belltown location features small plates, an extensive wine list, beer cocktails, and late night dining. They'll announce more details of their new Bellevue location, to be called Black Bottle Postern, as they get closer to opening.

What's New in Downtown Bellevue?

Wow - we turned our back for a few moments for the snowstorm and Thanksgiving, and look at all the new stores and restaurants that opened in Downtown Bellevue while we weren't looking!

photo courtesy of http://www.bellevue.com/

Microsoft Store, Bellevue Square -- Ok, we heard about this one, but you would have to be under a rock to miss it. Grand opening events included a Miley Cyrus show, a Dave Matthews show and an appearance by Apolo Ohno. Why such a big deal? Because while this isn't the first Microsoft Store in the country, it's the first one in their hometown.

Din Tai Fung, Lincoln Square - Into dumplings? This new upscale Taiwanese dumpling restaurant just opened this weekend. Aside from Los Angeles, they have 21 locations across Asia. It's funny to read the Yelp reviews complaining about a three-hour wait and terrible service when they visited on opening day, which happened to be Black Friday at the mall. Uh, really?

Bill the Butcher, Main Street - This one opened in late September, but it's worth a mention and worth a try because this new neighbor is just down the block from One Main Street, and it's a real, old fashioned, locally owned butcher shop.

Buns on Wheels, Food Truck - Finally a food truck that's Eastside-focused! This truck serves up all natural burgers with locally sourced ingredients. They make a stop at the Downtown Bellevue Barnes & Noble every Tuesday at lunchtime. Check their website for more Eastside locations.

Via Vita Cafe and Wine Bar, Belcarra Building - Coffee, pastries, gelato, wine. What more could you need in life? Really, it sounds like the ideal place to get away from the mall during the holiday madness. Cheers to that!

If you know of other new Downtown Bellevue businesses or business news we should blog about, send us an e-mail at info@onemainstreet.com.