Dulces has been on quite a journey. Friday night, the bistro from a husband and wife team with two decades of Seattle restaurant experience begins its third life — this time in a new home at 19th and Madison. It’s a sort of midway point between the original Madrona birth place of Dulces Latin Bistro and its recent years roaming downtown and Capitol Hill looking for a home.
After their 2011 exit from the restaurant’s original Madrona home, Carlos Kainz and Julie Guerrero were at one time lined up for Broadway’s Joule building. Next came word that the new Dulces was destined for the Oola Distillery project where Zoe roosts now. Ultimately, after 19 years in business in Madrona, Dulces landed downtown on Western Ave. By summer of 2012, Dulces was shuttered again.
We’ve tried to contact Kainz and Guerrero to write about the opening for a couple weeks now but have yet to hear back. If you stop in, give em my number, will you? We’ll leave it up to you to offer a correction to their website that locates the restaurant in “Madison Valley.”
The journey behind it, Dulces opens now inside the Lawrence Lofts project at 19th and Madison. Familiar touches such as the baby grand remain but there is new life, new features and a new name in the new spot. Dulces Bistro & Wine is how we know the restaurant now. It also has a full bar — a feature that wasn’t part of its sleepier existence in Madrona. We’re told many familiar dishes have been revived along with some new surprises. We’re also promised the once-vaunted wine list is also back up to snuff.
You can view a full menu and find hours at dulcesbistroandwine.com.
The Atelier Drome-created space includes the cocktail bar, a long counter view into the kitchen and a large roll-up garage-style door ready for next year’s warmer weather.
Dulces is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday, 5p to 11p — the bar will close when you leave. Happy hour runs 5-7p and there will be live music on Friday and Saturdays starting next week. You’ll find Dulces at 1818 E Madison.
This is rather a long story devoted to a business that won’t even return your phone calls. What makes them so special?
They’re new. News!