This Year's Openings Near Green Lake Moved Into Buildings the Neighborhood Already Knew

Over the past few months, a Central Asian restaurant opened in Roosevelt's old bus stop building, a Mexican kitchen took over the former Casa Patron space across the street, a coffee shop opened inside a century-old church in Ravenna, and a brewery from the Gasworks Brewing team opened across from Green Lake Park. All four moved into addresses the neighborhood already knew. October is the first full season with all of them open at once, and the neighborhood's own fall calendar sits in older buildings too.

The bus stop building on NE 65th

The clearest example sits at 800 NE 65th St. The Roosevelt Neighborhood Association's August 2026 newsletter put it plainly. Where Zaina and Bus Stop Espresso used to be, there is now Nomad Manti, "a brand new Central Asian restaurant in our neighborhood."

The Infatuation's Nomad Manti listing calls the place the retro "bus stop building." The menu centers on meat-stuffed manti, with plov and khoshany alongside. The same outlet's openings guide says Seattle doesn't have much Central Asian food, and it offers some practical advice: when its writers tried an early visit, almost everything had sold out. An early dinner beats a late one here.

Directly across the street, the same story

At 805 NE 65th St, the former Casa Patron has become El Cantor. In July, What Now Seattle reported that Casa Patron had announced in December 2025 that it was closing temporarily for changes. The space had stayed closed since then, and a new Washington State liquor license application listed El Cantor Mexican Cuisine at the same address. That filing covers a full restaurant lounge, a service bar, and cocktails and wine to go.

By September, the Infatuation had El Cantor on its list of new openings: big plates with melty cheese, refried beans and orange-tinted rice, plus margaritas served in blue-rimmed chalices. The writers called sit-down Mexican "a category that the neighborhood could use more of."

So both sides of the 800 block of NE 65th changed tenants within a few months, and neither side changed buildings. Here is how the turnover looks across the area:

The Green Lake address at 6900 East Green Lake Way N shows the pattern most clearly. According to the Infatuation's openings guide, the space has been Lin Handmade Dumplings, then Mount & Bao, and now Golden Noodle & Bao, all within a couple of years. Dumplings and bao have stayed at that corner through three names.

A Ravenna church that now pulls espresso

The oldest building in this year's crop is in Ravenna. Cafe Blameless announced on its own site that it "soft opened as of September 23rd," at 5751 33rd Ave NE. The Infatuation's review describes it as a coffee shop inside a renovated church, pouring espresso made with beans from Gloom. It also hosts coworking every Wednesday, all in a building the writers called "well-preserved" and "century-old."

The cafe's soft-opening hours are short and fit the morning crowd:

• Wednesday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Closed Monday and Tuesday

The site ties the building to Illume and its founder, pastor and building owner. The cafe even has an FAQ titled "It's in a church?! What the FAQ!?" for anyone wondering about the setup. With the Wednesday coworking and the Monday and Tuesday closures, the best day for a laptop session is midweek.

The east shore of the lake

On the east side of Green Lake, Easy Pace Brewing opened at 7110 E Green Lake Dr N. The Seattle Times identified it as a project from the Gasworks Brewing team, with lagers and hazy IPAs on tap and smashburgers, fried-chicken sandwiches, tacos, nachos and fries on the menu, plus pizza planned. The brewery's FAQ says the kitchen serves lunch and dinner seven days a week. The Infatuation pointed to events aimed at running groups and expected plenty of people to stop in after a lap around the lake. The lake's inner loop is 2.8 miles, per Seattle Parks.

A few doors away, Gao Lhao Bangkok Noodle Shop at 7102 Woodlawn Ave NE is now the established neighbor. Eater Seattle reported it debuted in 2025 under the owners of the Isarn chain. Eater's picks include the XO soft-shell crab salad, bha mee hang with Dungeness crab and pork, and a pandan-custard toast for dessert. The restaurant's own site lists daily hours of 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., with happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m. and again from 9 p.m. to close. That late happy hour runs well past Easy Pace's dinner rush and after the Green Lake Community Center goes quiet for the night.

The fall calendar runs through older buildings too

Even the free events sit in long-standing public buildings. The Green Lake Community Center at 7201 East Green Lake Way N is in line for a renovation project that also covers the pool and play area. Seattle Parks' project page says planning, design and construction are resuming for the center, the aquatic center and the play area. Neither that page nor the July update gives a date for closing the current building or starting construction. That leaves the current building and Evans Pool running the 2026 season.

Here is the calendar from now through mid-December, with one-off dates first and recurring events after:

1. Friday, October 16, 4 to 7 p.m. Happy Haunts Carnival & Haunted Hunt at Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center. Free, with registration through Seattle Parks.
2. Friday, October 23, 6 to 8 p.m. Halloween Bounce & Swim at Green Lake Community Center and Evans Pool. Free, with registration required, according to the department's Halloween events roundup.
3. Saturday, December 12, 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Pathway of Lights at Green Lake. Seattle Parks' event listing describes more than 1,500 luminary bags along the inner path and music at three stages.
4. Second Mondays, 7 to 9 p.m. Roosevelt Neighborhood Association trivia at Project 9 Brewing, 1409 NE 80th St. Look for the RNA table with the moose. No RSVP needed, and you can play or just hang out. Tonight, October 12, is a second Monday. The next two are November 9 and December 14.
5. Saturdays, year-round. University District Farmers Market. The RNA newsletter lists it as a year-round Saturday market.

If you used to fit in the Wednesday afternoon Wallingford Farmers Market at Meridian Playground, its 2026 season ran through the end of September, according to Wallyhood. That leaves the Saturday U District market as the nearby option until spring. Wallingford's commercial strip has gone through a similar run of tenants handing spaces to new ones, which we covered in our look at 45th Street.

Getting between the addresses

King County Metro's August 29 service change shuffled the routes that link these spots. New Route 77 runs east to west between Bitter Lake, Pinehurst Station, Lake City, Roosevelt Station and U-District Station. That puts Roosevelt Station, a short walk from the NE 65th St pair, on a direct line from Lake City. Route 45 is no longer linked with Route 75 and now starts and ends at UW Medical Center. Its current schedule runs through March 26, 2027. Route 45 still serves Green Lake, Roosevelt Station and the University District.

If you're heading to the farmers market on a Saturday, there's a wrinkle. Metro's Route 45 schedule says the bus shifts to 15th Ave NE between NE 50th Street and Cowen Place NE because of the market. The market runs 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., but the detour lasts from 6 a.m. to 1:15 a.m. Anyone riding the 45 to a Saturday night dinner near Cowen Park will be on the detour too.

For a broader guide to daily life around the lake, see our everyday guide to Green Lake, or browse the Wallingford, Green Lake and Ravenna neighborhood page.

If a familiar corner on your block has changed hands lately and you'd like to know what that kind of turnover says about the streets around it, Stephen Snee is happy to talk it through over a coffee at Cafe Blameless or on a lap around the lake. Let's Connect.