In the busy South Lake Union urban neighborhood blocks from the iconic Seattle Spheres and Seattle Space Needle, Mikaya Benedict teamed with Mutuus Studio and GMD Custom to build a female founded restaurant with a garden inspired interior.

Mikayla’s vision from the very first design meeting was that the design colors would be from the food and drink at a central bar as center stage. The naturally muted toned materials were intentionally subtle to allow the vibrant colors of Mikayla cuisine to be the focus of the performance in a sultry garden escape. 

The 1,789 square foot restaurant is tucked into the street level corner of 8th Avenue and Blanchard in a 8 story concrete, steel and glass curtain wall building built in 2017.  The build-out included full interiors architecture, kitchen equipment, plumbing, mechanical, and electrical.

The drink mixing and espresso heart of the restaurant is at central bar with 102 square feet of service area. There is 675 square feet of dining area with 16 café table seats, 10 window banquet seats, and 14 seats at the bar. The outside covered entry terrace has another 14 outdoors seats.

There is a small 95 square foot soft seating lounge meeting room just off the central bar with custom mural by artist Elina Dmitruk. There are two gender neutral restrooms at 54 square feet each. The back of house kitchen is 325 square feet.

The curved bar canopy architecture responds to the urban neighborhood context and announces bar as the heart of the restaurant. Perforated bar canopy and metal column wraps create a light industrial scrim that lets you read the building architecture layers within.

Perforated metal Mutuus Made light sconces by Saul Becker continue the industrial scrim theme with a veiled glow at the tables as the final touch.