With Sea’d In, Heong Soon Park is becoming the biggest name in Capitol Hill food and drink

It’s not Ethan Stowell or Renee Erickson.

The biggest restaurateur on Capitol Hill is chef Heong Soon Park who is preparing to open his fourth food and drink venture in the neighborhood with Sea’d In inside Chophouse Row.

Park’s newest concept will bring fresh Pacific Northwest seafood to the Row’s inner restaurant space and courtyard, replacing wine bar Light Sleeper after its closure earlier this year.

Sea’d In will join a mix of food and drink in the 11th Ave development including the elevated Vietnamese of Xóm and the comfortable Tailwind Cafe at Good Weather Bikes.

The refined seafood venture is a prime example of Park’s continued growth in the neighborhood as he takes over a fantastic space in a grade “A” location and fills it with thoughtfully rendered concepts and farm-fresh ingredients.

His most recent Capitol Hill reboot came last year on E Pike where he opened  Gol Mok Korean Market Bar, a new start for the Taku space created by Seattle celebrity chef Shota Nakajima.

In 2024, Park took on the reinvention of a space that had been home to a much deeper rooted Capitol Hill food legend with the transformation that saw Park’s Grana Padano and Parmesan-laden Cheese Room take over the longtime Melrose at Pine home of Machiavelli as its ownership decided to focus on its Edmonds location.

Other recent acquisitions include restarts in West Seattle including the Luna Park Cafe.

Park’s restarts aren’t shallow imitations. He has been part of the Seattle dining scene for 20 years and owns Chan, now in the Paramount Hotel downtown, and the Bacco Café in Pike Place Market.

Starting with Bacco Cafe in 2008, Park has grown his businesses incrementally, able to use the success with established projects to finance newer, more ambitious concepts. Ownership of an organic farm in Woodinville has also provided a boost.

Park’s first venture in Capitol Hill’s restaurant scene continues. Meet Korean BBQ has been part of Capitol Hill since its inauspicious opening in the winter of 2020 only weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns hit. CHS talked with Park here about surviving that tough start and growing Meet’s refined approach to Korean barbecue on E Pike.

Now, Meet, Gol Mok, and Cheese Room await their new Capitol Hill sibling set to take its place inside Chophouse Row.

Sea’d In will open soon inside Chophouse Row at 1124 11th Ave. Learn more at seadinseattle.com.

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