A warm and natural aesthetic welcomes guests to the signature restaurant space inside the new Seattle Convention Center, Ethan Stowell’s Bombo Kitchen and Bar. The new restaurant, situated along the convention center’s primary corridor, the Mixing Zone, is defined by both culinary richness and architectural craft. Featuring large bi-fold Douglas fir doors that open straight onto the convention center’s 9th Street plaza, the 4,200-square-foot restaurant blends traditional Italian cuisine interjected with seasonal Pacific Northwest ingredients. The corner location opens its arms wide to the Paramount Theater and all of Seattle’s downtown activity.

Entering the restaurant from the plaza, guests are provided with a sneak peek to the Bombo Bar Lounge, a half floor below. As you move further inside, the restaurant presents a sophisticated environment focused on bringing rich natural materials to the forefront, providing a comfortable, grounded feeling. You are immediately met by the warmth of the Woodstone Pizza oven, accented by hand-crafted terracotta tiles from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, intermixed with rusticated white subway tiles and surrounded a blackened steel. Stowell’s signature open-kitchen format interfaces with the public via maple butcher block countertops and exposed oak shelves, holding everything from stacks of white dishes to cutlery to pizza boxes. Along the exterior and from the main entry vestibule to the Mixing Zone, is a 22-foot-long custom wood-and-steel bar ledge, providing a place for convention guests to work or pass the time with pizza and drink in hand, while watching foot traffic filter in and out of the convention center.

Around the corner are bent metal countertops where final plating and serving occurs and beyond is the dark, rich, and inviting wood shrouded restaurant bar. The ebonized wood bar fronts are complimented by more hand-crafted terracotta tiles, natural white oak suspended shelves, and custom concrete aggregate countertops. Several of the tiles feature cat paw prints from when they were laid out to dry under the hot Mexican sun. The countertops are made with a colorful stone aggregate to add a layer of texture and visual interest to the long bar top. Three large bi-fold doors completely open the corner of bar area to the Mixing Zone, blurring the distinction between the restaurant and the convention center at large reinforcing the spacious and welcoming quality of the design.

Downstairs along 9th Street is the entrance to The Bar at Bombo. Programmatically, the 2,160-square-foot bar is divided into two parts: lounge and bar. The lounge occupies the first half and immediately upon entering you are greeted with a high-backed, tufted, sinuous leather banquette with movable tables and chairs to offer maximum flexibility and an at-home, living room feel. This area is for convention center guests to connect with each other after an event or for solo travelers to unwind and relax. Unique floor tiles help to visually define the experience from the bar.

To enhance the 26-foot-high ceiling over the lounge area and create a visual destination from across the street and plaza, a local lighting fabricator was hired to create a custom “smudge pot” light fixture unique to the space. The light fixture was modeled after the iconic rusted smudge pots that can be seen throughout the vineyards of France and Italy which are set ablaze on chilly nights to keep the grapes from freezing. In between the lounge and bar is a wall of fritted channel glass and solid cedar columns that create visual depth between the bar and restaurant as servers move between the two spaces.

Above the bar floats a set of slatted wood panels that enhance the feeling of intimacy and ensure the focus of the bar is on the custom steel shelves, smokey glass, and sparkling liquor bottles. The bar is faced with rotating, striated grey limestone that, like the paw prints in the terracotta tile upstairs, still bare the marks of sea floor shells and bivalves. The tactile quality of the bar countertop is enhanced by the use of solid walnut that welcomes human touch. In pleasant weather, two, large bays of bi-fold Douglas fir doors open the bar onto 9th Street to provide a seamless indoor-outdoor experience.

Graham Baba Architects design team
Jim Graham, design principal
Elizabeth Kee, project manager
Francesco Borghesi, project designer

Project team
Graham Baba Architects (interior architecture and interiors)
Dovetail Construction (general contractor)
Roich Structural (structural)
ARUP Acoustical (acoustical)
Sparklab Lighting Design (lighting)
Resolute Lighting (custom lighting fabricator)

Photography by Ross Eckert