![]() ![]() Of course, that timeline didn't pan out, and delays in construction further pushed Sorella's opening out to early this May. The father-son team was immediately interested in bringing Sorella on as a tenant of the neighborhood's east-end commercial area with a targeted opening of July 2020. That vision started taking form in May 2018, when she met with Kendall Yards developers Jim and Joe Frank. He was the one who really provided me with an actual passion for it versus it being just a job."Įven though running restaurants is now in the family, Blumenthal's quick to say that she always wanted Sorella to be her own. "Trust me," she adds, laughing, "He was not easy on me, but thank God, because he taught me a ton. "He was my boss, and then he ended up falling in love with my dad's sister, and so now he's my uncle. "He taught me pretty much everything I know about service," she says. Before opening Sorella, she worked the front of house at Golmarvi's storied downtown Seattle eatery, Assaggio Ristorante, a fixture since 1993. While the opulent color palette and fixtures, including a slab of Italian marble for the bar, give Sorella a high-end feel, Blumenthal also added homier, vintage touches with silverware, glassware and many of the plates used for service.ī lumenthal learned the nuances of running a successful restaurant from one of Italian cuisine's Pacific Northwest greats, Mauro Golmarvi. Bottles of red-orange Aperol and Campari liqueur line the bar's topmost shelf, glowing in the light like liquid rubies and amber. Naturally, Sorella - which in Italian means sister, and is the name Blumenthal's brother pitched for the eatery - serves a variety of Italian aperitifs and digestifs like amaro and vermouth. Especially because there are so many people walking around here, all different times of the day and night, who want to come in for a cocktail." "In Kendall Yards, we have so many great restaurants, but we really don't have a big bar," Blumenthal says. Plush velvet upholstery in a deep teal fabric - the exact hue was color-matched to extend to the walls and ceiling throughout the space - evokes the swanky vibe of a Manhattan hotel lounge, complete with contemporary crystal chandeliers and a backlit, mirror-covered bar. Stretching upward to the vaulted ceiling are hundreds of thrifted frames in varying sizes, all painted gold and each displaying a mix of art: pages from vintage cookbooks, retro alcohol advertisements, album and magazine covers, photos of Italian landmarks and more. It's a setting that elegantly complements the traditional Italian fare served there.Īmong Blumenthal's many personal touches is an expansive gallery wall overlooking Sorella's entrance and dining room. So for Sorella, her newly opened restaurant in Kendall Yards, Blumenthal created a space that's chic and moody, but also relaxed and modern. A fter nearly two decades in the hospitality industry, Lauren Blumenthal knows the way a restaurant makes guests feel is as crucial as how good the food is. ![]()
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