At 3400 Stone Way N, the menu now starts at $7 for a plate of cheese. Big groups order burgers, tavern-style pizza and grain bowls at one counter. Pool tables sit in the back. Until this summer the address belonged to Purple Café & Wine Bar. The same company runs the room, but you no longer need a plan to walk in.
That change at one corner shows where Fremont is going this fall. The newest places to gather here ask very little of you up front, and the dates on the late-fall calendar mostly work the same way.
What closed on Aug. 1
Fremont Neighbor reported that Purple Café and Wine Bar closed its Stone Way location on Aug. 1. The owner, Heavy Restaurant Group, gave a plain reason for the closure:
"unable to generate the sales needed for Purple to be a viable business at this location."
Purple itself carries on. The brand opened its first restaurant in Woodinville in 2001 and still runs locations there and at 1225 4th Ave. downtown. What Now Seattle reported in mid-August that CEO Larry Kurofsky had confirmed a new concept was coming to the Stone Way space, with the name and menu still to be worked out.
So the company kept the address and changed the format.
Three counters, one line
The new concept is Nolu Hall, and it had opened by mid-October. The Puget Sound Business Journal covered the opening on Oct. 14 and described four concepts under one roof: pizza, burgers, grain bowls and a wine bar.
"Food hall" overstates the setup a little. The Infatuation's review explains that Mallard's Smashburgers, Corners Tavern Style Pizza and Parcel Grain Bowls share one kitchen and one ordering counter. That is the whole point. Nobody has to agree on a restaurant before ordering. One person gets a burger, another gets a bowl, and the group sits together. The review lists the place for big groups, kids, walk-ins and sitting outside. It singled out the crispy-skirted burgers and fontina-topped pizza and said to keep Nolu in your back pocket "for big-group situations with little to zero notice."
You can tell how casual it is from the menus posted on Nolu Hall's site:
- Mallard's: Classic and Old School double-patty burgers at $15 each, a fried-chicken sandwich at $13
- Corners: 14-inch tavern-style cheese pizza at $22, pepperoni at $25
- Parcel: fava-bean falafel bowl at $22, chicken bowl at $23, steelhead and steak bowls at $25
Split four ways, a $25 pepperoni pie is one easy decision for a whole table. Ordering in a full-service dining room usually means a round of separate choices.
The extras point the same way. Nolu's homepage lists pool, darts, board games and TVs, and Heavy Restaurant Group promotes watch parties and darts. A room built for that kind of evening works best for people who walk in with no reservation and no set time to leave.
The wine bar in the corner keeps a little of Purple
The wine program didn't go away. It got smaller. Bad Mouse Wine Bar sits in a corner of Nolu Hall. The Infatuation describes flights, glasses and light snacks, with hours until 11 p.m. on weekends.
The snack list runs from cheese at $7 to $9 and saucisson sec at $9 to steelhead rillette at $13. Hushy's focaccia is $8. The focaccia comes from next door, where the same group runs Hushy's Sandwiches. Hushy's site posts hours of 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends, with pickup and delivery ordering.
Taken together, the corner now covers a daytime sandwich, an early dinner with kids, and a late glass of wine on a Saturday. Before, it offered one kind of evening in one room. Now it offers several, and none of them needs to be booked ahead.
The same terms show up on N 36th Street
Stone Way isn't the only place this is happening. Fremont Neighbor's summer roundup listed two new spots a few blocks apart on N 36th St. that work on similarly loose terms.
Bar Twist of Fate, at 225 N 36th St., comes from the nearby Stampede team. It calls itself "a modern medieval luxury dive bar" and has a large back patio.
Handsome Jack Supply Co. is next door at 223 N 36th St. It opened in early June, and owner Murphy Gilson stocks vinyl, watches and pocket knives. According to the roundup, the shop also serves as a gathering place, with live music, workshops, art shows and pop-ups.
That's a record shop where you might find a show and a bar with a patio. Like Nolu, both let you stop in and decide how long to stay once you're there.
The late-fall calendar asks for about as little
Fremont's seasonal dates follow the same pattern. The two dated events are free or close to it, and none of these needs much planning.
| Date | What | Where | Cost or terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Fremont Sunday Market, winter site | 701 N Northlake Way | Open year-round, rain or shine |
| Sunday, Nov. 15, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Holiday Makers Market, 25 local vendors | Stone Way Auto, 3621 Stone Way N | Free, all ages |
| Thursday, Dec. 3, 5 to 9 p.m. | Mingle and Jingle, Fremont Chamber | Fremont Social, 127 N 35th St. | Free for Chamber members, $15 otherwise, kids 10 and under free |
The Sunday Market moves for the season. The Fremont Sunday Market runs year-round, rain or shine. Its posted schedule shifts from 3401 Evanston Ave N in spring and summer to 701 N Northlake Way from November through March. If you walk to the summer spot out of habit this weekend, you'll be on the wrong block.
Stone Way gets a second stop. Stone Way Auto's Holiday Makers Market returns Sunday, Nov. 15. Twenty-five vendors will sell handmade goods, apparel and art. Entry is free and open to all ages, and the shop asks for an RSVP to get a head count. It's at 3621 Stone Way N, a short walk up the street from Nolu Hall, so gift shopping can easily end with a pizza at the 3400 block.
The Chamber's party leans family-friendly. The Fremont Chamber of Commerce's second annual Mingle and Jingle is canalside at Fremont Social on Thursday, Dec. 3, from 5 to 9 p.m. There's a live DJ, food, seasonal drinks and a raffle of prizes from local businesses, and Santa will be there for photos with kids. Each ticket includes one raffle entry.
Putting a Sunday together
The ticket prices are only part of what these places have in common. You can show up without much planning and fit them into one Sunday close to home. Start at the market on Northlake Way in the morning. On Nov. 15, add the makers market at Stone Way Auto before it closes at 3. Then walk down Stone Way to 3400, where four people can order four different dinners at one counter and someone can grab a pool cue while the pizza bakes. On weekends Bad Mouse stays open until 11 p.m.
The room at 3400 Stone Way didn't move. What changed was how its owner decided people should use it. At Michael Green, we start every listing with that question: what the house is now, how the people shopping in this part of Fremont actually live, and how to present it so they see themselves in it. If you own in Fremont and wonder how your place would be positioned today, let's talk today.
