Monahan’s is one of the newcomers on Hewitt Avenue, joining those few established musical haunts that have kept the beat alive on the strip: Jimmy Z, Alligator Soul and Zippy’s. Monahan’s success might signal that downtown, especially Hewitt, is getting reborn as an entertainment Mecca.
And there’s more.
The Prohibition Grill at 1414 Hewitt Ave. opened recently. It’s a fine dining experience with upscale chow in a sexy, dark-wood paneled setting. It’s also a piano bar that features sultry jazz on the weekends.
Owner Gianni Saffioti said he wanted to run such a place even before the Everett Events Center opened, but Hewitt scared him a little bit. Not any more.
“There’s rock ‘n’ roll bars, but all people are not necessarily into that,” Saffioti said. “Even the younger crowd likes the piano jazz and there wasn’t any downtown.”
Come late summer, expect another restaurant with piano music. Chopstix, with restaurants in Seattle and Tacoma, plans on opening at 2820 Oakes St. It’s a dueling piano bar where two players, who may know between 300 and 500 songs, take the stage and encourage the audience to sing along.
PJ Pedroni, one of the chain’s founding partners, described the piano players as “part comedian, part entertainer and part musician.” He described the Chopstix atmosphere like this:
“We’re throwing a party and you are all here and I happen to know a couple of songs on the piano, is there anything anybody else wants to hear?”
Pedroni said Everett’s ready to capture the crowd who wants to park their cars, have a good meal and listen to good music without leaving town.
Basically, Pedroni said, “Everett is now as hot as can be.”
– Theresa Goffredo
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