Late this summer, Annapurna’s owners filed permit paperwork to begin buildout on a brand new Broadway space for the restaurant — work they don’t expect to start until next November.
“We heard that the City of Seattle is really behind for improvement approval,” Sujan Sharma tells CHS about the paperwork.
While Sharma and Roshita Shrestha continue to serve their much-loved thalis, curries, and breads in its underground space below the old Crest Building at 1833 Broadway, Annapurna is being prepared for a climb north.
A few years back, Sharma and Shrestha purchased a Broadway commercial condo on the street level of the Brix building near a few doors down from Vivace. The corner was the long ago home of Dilettante Mocha Café. The couple have leased the space to Star Sushi in recent years.
Plans are now in motion for it become Annapurna’s new home.
Working with Nos Narin, the design director at Catch Design Studio behind many Capitol Hill food and drink overhauls, the space is being planned for a full upgrade including an overhaul of the kitchen, plus a redesign of the interior — once the city finally signs off on the plans over the coming months.
The new start for Annapurna will come after more than 20 years on Broadway. Shrestha and Sharma started Annapurna in May 2003 as a small venture to introduce the cuisine to Broadway and the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Shrestha said that she wanted to bring flavors that she had grown up with to Seattle. Challenges around the pandemic and the years of construction for the Capitol Hill Light Rail Station and its next door west-side entrance nearly did the restaurant in. But Annapurna persevered — and expanded. In 2015, it reached the surface on Broadway, adding its upstairs Yeti Bar above the lower level Broadway restaurant.
Any redevelopment at 1833 Broadway will need a new, landmarks-friendly design
As for the 1905-built-building the restaurant currently calls home, it has long been lined up for redevelopment as a six-story, 50-unit mixed-use building under plans first approved a decade ago. That project was put on ice due to landmarks protections. Any new development plan will need to incorporate preservation of the building’s historic proportions, look, and feel.
The extra time has given Annapurna time to prepare and, along the way, learn a few lessons about Seattle process including the most important — start early.
Annapurna Cafe is still located at 1833 Broadway. Learn more at annapurnacafe.com.
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