The Lucky Diner

Every neighborhood needs "their" place, a second home if you will. Justin Mevs is bringing that place to Belltown, a neighborhood known more for trendy clubs and dinner spots. "Belltown is the heart of the city for downtown living," Justin says. "So many people live there, they need a place just for them."

The Lucky Diner, Justin’s view of what a neighborhood spot should be, is a traditional American diner with higher-end ingredients. "The food won’t necessarily be unique, but we’ll be taking it up a notch," he explains. "There will be a few twists and some street food influence. Although there will be beer and wine, the focus will be more on food and coffee." He’s planning items like biscuits and gravy, scrambles, omelets, flapjacks, sandwiches, burgers, fish and chips, roast chicken, chicken and biscuits. He’s also planning on some dinner plates like hamburger steak and macaroni with a special sauce that’s all mixed in together. And the most obvious thing that makes a diner a real hangout? He’ll stay open seven days a week and hopes eventually to go 24 hours. "We have a lot of coffee shops in Seattle, but they close at 7 or 8 p.m. Late night, there’s no place to go to work on your computer and have pie and coffee after the bars close. A neighborhood spot is open when you want it."

Photo: Justin Mevs in the (construction) zone

Planning for The Lucky Diner has been going on since September of 2009 when he left his executive chef position at Cutters Bayhouse. He had been there for four and a half years in that position, and had worked there before. He remembers watching his mom cook, started baking cookies when he was eight, and progressing to dinners. When he was 15, he worked at a deli in Buffalo, New York. At 16, when he got his driver’s license, he took a job at a restaurant owned by a friend’s dad called The Georgian House. "It was like an IHOP, but not corporate, and had an all-day menu" recalls Justin. "It was a very Catholic neighborhood, so there was lots of fish on Fridays. I became the fish fry guy on Friday and Saturday nights, worked the salad bar and slowly worked my way into the kitchen."

When it came time to decide what to do with his life, he was thinking advertising or graphic design. "My mom said, ‘why not culinary arts? Do something you love.’ I was surprised; it never occurred to me to be an option. I did the research and got excited. I attended Paul Smith’s College in upstate New York, transferred to Johnson & Wales University, and got my Associate degree. I was planning on four years in school, but decided it would be better to get work experience." While at Johnson & Wales, he worked at Chardonnays, an Italian/Mediterranean bar and grill. "They did wood-fired pizzas early on, when it was really new." He then went to France for a summer and work in restaurants. Returning to the States, he moved to Minnesota and worked nights at Palomino, part of Restaurants Unlimited, and days at Lucia’s, a small local restaurant. "I burned out on working two jobs," he says. "I quit and moved to Seattle. But I’d stayed in touch with one of the chefs I’d worked with at RUI and he told me to check out Cutters. I started there in 1998 as lead cook, then moved to sous chef for three and a half years. While I was there, I was part of the opening support for Palomino in Washington, D.C. RUI had a regimented training program and I had completed all the chef training. At the time, they only had 21 restaurants and no chef openings."

Justin moved to Ruth’s Chris when it was located in the Bank of America building in downtown Seattle, stayed a year, opened their Bellevue location, and stayed for two years. He left to work at The Brooklyn for a year. Again, he’d stayed in touch with RUI people and heard the chef job at Cutters was opening. "It was great to have come up through the ranks there and then go back as executive chef.

"Creating my own place has been on my mind for the past five years. In the past year and a half, I really began writing it all down. I was torn between doing a New York-style deli or an American diner, but decided on the diner." After a couple of ‘maybe locations,’ he found his spot. "It’s a good thing because this spot is much more what I wanted. The lease was signed in October and I got my permits in February of this year. The diner name is about how I feel—I’ve been very fortunate in life with health, family, experiences and travel. It also has an old-school feel to it, which brings the mind back to a traditional diner."

The diner will have an urban-industrial feel to it with a polished concrete floor, brushed aluminum counter chairs, open ceilings and recycled thick glass globe light fixtures turned into pendant lights. Tables and countertops will be Marmoleum, a linoleum made of natural ingredients. There are large windows and plenty of natural light.

By May, Belltown will be hanging out at The Lucky Diner, day and night, eating breakfast for dinner and having coffee and pie at 2 a.m. It’s about time.

Connie Adams/April 2011

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