The front door of the Kingfish Café is not just the entrance to a terrific restaurant, it is a portal into another time. The 12-foot ceilings and milled woodwork, painted white; the wooden floors, painted black; and the poster-size family album photos combine to create the illusion of a restaurant from the beginning of the previous century.
Southern cooking is the fare, and for many Northwest immigrants it is comfort food. The Kingfish Café has legions of regular customers who demand their favorite dishes. A result of that is the chicken, catfish, red beans and rice and gumbo are always on the menu.
The brainchild of two Seattle sisters, Leslie and Laurie Coaston, the Kingfish opened in 1997 with Gary Payton as a partner. Payton, now playing basketball with the Miami Heat, played guard for the Seattle Sonics for 12 seasons, played in several NBA All-Star games and won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1996. His participation in the restaurant gave it a high profile from the start.
However, if the opening buzz is not matched with a buzz about the food, success will be elusive. And the Kingfish's success has never been in doubt.
The restaurant, whimsically, was named after George "Kingfish" Stevens, a fictional wheeler-dealer on the old Amos 'N' Andy radio and television serial. Because of his energy and ability to make things happen, the sisters thought he would be an appropriate namesake for the café.
"I don't really remember it," Leslie said about the show. "But he was always trying to make things happen." She added that because she and sister Laurie had no business experience or restaurant experience, getting the Kingfish up and running "was kind of like an Amos and Andy show."
It's up and running now, and has made its mark. The word of mouth buzz is that it is a treat and the press - international press, no less (a review in Japanese is posted on the refrigerator) - concurs.
Sunday the restaurant is open for brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Your choice of four menu items: Chick 'n' waffle; Good Glory Grits; Sistah Cellie's Country Breakfast; or Crabcake Dewey with Herbed Hollandaise.
My choice was Crabcake Dewey, with crispy crab and catfish cakes, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. I grew up in grits country, but I was always a fool for catfish, and these cakes were perfect; highly seasoned but not spicy hot, served with the best mess of fried potatoes I've had since Mama burned down the outhouse. This is seriously good stuff.
I ate, in for want of a better term, the south dining room. The restaurant takes up two storefronts of the building at 600 and 602 19th Avenue East (the cross street is Mercer). This room is much sunnier because of its corner location and southern-facing picture windows and serves as the bar in the evening. Children are welcome there until evenings. This room is connected with the main dining room with wooden French doors spanning a four-foot opening nine-feet tall. The size of these doors would be overbearing in a smaller room, but with 12-foot ceilings they fit just fine.
The entrance, with a custom wrought-iron gate, is guarded by a giant photograph of Langston Hughes, poet, novelist, playwright and firebrand of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. If he could get down and walk through the restaurant he would most certainly feel at home.
The main room is dominated by a large counter that partitions off the open kitchen area. You can watch as the comestibles are nurtured into gourmet cooking. Together, both sides seat around 70 people. On the bar side is an old upright piano.
"We kind of instantly became popular, which was great," Leslie said of the café's opening in 1997. Because of the Payton connection and tons of good press, the sisters attracted a number of celebrities - not just basketball players and other athletes, but show business personalities such as actor, director and social activist Ossie Davis, sculptor Gwendolyn Knight, actress Gwyneth Paltrow and actor Larry Hagman. One of the café regulars is actor Tom Skerrit.
In between times the Kingfish keeps clientele from Capitol Hill and the Central District well fed and happy.
"We have a lot of regulars, and we have a lot of new people all the time," Leslie said.
The Kingfish Café is at 602 19th Ave. E. To find out café hours, menu and a little history, go to www.thekingfishcafe.com.[[In-content Ad]]
