ELLENSBURG, Wash. — The Starlight Lounge’s closure was major restaurant news in Ellensburg last year.
Founder and former owner Doris Morgan died from cancer in 2017. Her sister Becky Morgan-Marshall and her husband, Cal, came out of retirement to run the business for a year but closed it after deciding to retire.
Now one of the restaurant’s former bartenders is looking to bring back some of what people loved about the Starlight with his new restaurant at the same location, Pearl Bar and Grill. The restaurant is scheduled to open on Jan. 16 in the iconic Davidson Building.
Blake Collins had worked as a bartender at the restaurant at 402 N. Pearl St. for a year and a half before moving to Seattle to manage restaurants for two years. He most recently was a manager at Duke’s Seafood.
“One of my regulars (at the Starlight) called me, knew what I was doing in Seattle and knew I had a spirit and passion for this industry,” he said.
Collins knew this was an opportunity to jump into restaurant ownership.
“It was just a good fit for me personally,” he said.
Collins, 25, moved back to Ellensburg and started remodeling the restaurant.
Cocktails, which were a key component of the Starlight, will play a prominent role at Pearl Bar and Grill. Collins was able to hire former Starlight bartenders, so one section of the cocktail menu, called Starry Night, will be devoted to popular Starlight Lounge drinks, such as the Caribbean Kamikaze, made with rum and tropical juice flavors.
Collins will bring in new cocktails as well. He will offer classic 1920-era cocktails for the restaurant’s Prohibition-era menu and a few high-end drinks for a section called Pearl Signatures.
The most noticeable difference will be the food menu, which Collins said will take a more upscale casual theme. The menu will include items such as high-quality steaks served on a Himalayan salt block. The restaurant will also serve items with condiments, such as steak butter and glazes, made from scratch.
“We’re going for the best steak in town,” he said.
More from Ellensburg
• Not far from the Starlight, another eatery, The Huntsman Tavern, is under construction in downtown Ellensburg. An opening date for The Huntsman Tavern hasn’t been set yet. The restaurant is at 307 N. Pearl St.
• Another business heading to Pearl Street is Iron Horse Brewery, which announced earlier it would be relocating its pub to 201 N. Pearl St. The brewery is continuing to operate the pub at 412 N. Main St. while the new space is being renovated. Iron Horse gave a sneak peek of the new location during a Christmas party last month.
• And in case you missed it, The Red Pickle, which had built its business in a food truck outside of Whipsaw Brewing for the past few years, opened a brick-and-mortar location at 301 N. Pine St. (the old D&M coffee downtown) late last year. Along with offering gourmet sandwiches with a Guatemalan twist, the new location offers a variety of cocktails.
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