The 404 Kitchen, named Best Restaurant by the Scene in 2016, will move across the street to space currently occupied by Watermark.
Chef Matt Bolus says 404's current Gulch space, created out of a shipping container merged onto a former garage, has just about run its course.
“The impetus for the move was that we just ran out of room. What we can do in that kitchen and dining room is far greater than what we can do here; I have the space to do all these menu items I’ve been dying to do for the past three years. I’m so inspired by the Sunday suppers I do at my own house, and now I’m going to be able to cook that way for my guests,” Bolus says.
Watermark is scheduled to reopen in the new Bridgestone headquarters downtown when that building is completed. The 404 team will keep their current location for a future use.
The move makes sense for a lot of reasons. First, it gives the talented Bolus a bigger showcase for his food. The current 404 menu is hamstrung by math — there’s only so much a 196-square-foot kitchen can produce. The 404 Kitchen’s current 40-plus seats are dwarfed by Watermark’s much bigger room.
But second, it gives 404 a chance to expand one of the best whiskey bars in town — maybe even in the entire country, if you believe some national publications — into a big space in the bottom. While Bolus and his crew had looked at building patio space on top of their current restaurant, the patio in the current Watermark will be substantially bigger and offer views of downtown from its elevated slot. The new 404 will also have space for private events.
Watermark owner Jerry Brown tells the Scene that they are “coordinating all of the moves at the present time” and that he expects to open in the Bridgestone building in November or December. “We expect a gap” between closing in the Gulch and opening downtown, he adds, but he doesn't say when he expects to close the current location. After Watermark’s original 10-year lease expired, the restaurant has been on a series of “rolling extensions” with landlord Market Street, Brown says.
