Three places opened or reopened in downtown Kirkland in 2026. Each one picks up an older Kirkland story. The Slip is a burger restaurant nearly three decades old, now run by a family that already operates a restaurant in town. Von's 1000Spirits is a Seattle bar whose founder grew up in a family that ran a Kirkland restaurant for fifteen years. Le Croissant Bar has the newest name of the three. Its wine list is curated by someone who spent more than thirty years building the Kirkland Signature wine program.
That history explains a lot about these rooms. It shows in the prices The Slip kept, the rules Von's uses for its tables, and the way the wine list on Lake Street changes. With summer over, the three addresses work as an everyday downtown routine.
The Slip kept its building, its burger and its price ceiling
The Slip at 80 Kirkland Ave closed in September 2025, and the former owner gave "health matters" as the reason. Ricky and Maria Eng took over the concept. They also own BeachHouse Bar + Grill in Kirkland. By late July, The Seattle Times reported that the burger spot had reopened near the waterfront under its new ownership.
The farewell post that announced the handoff described the restaurant this way:
"As burgers in our burg creep toward $25 and dinner pushes past $40 an entrée, The Slip remains one of the last places in Kirkland–indeed, the greater Seattle area–where you can enjoy a great meal near the water for under $20. It's part of Kirkland's history, and one of the oldest restaurants and buildings in town."
The same post said the Engs were committed to "honoring The Slip's legacy" and to being "the best little burger spot in town." The current menu holds to that under-$20 promise. As of September 2026, burgers run from $14 for the Classic to $19 for the Good Morning Marina Park. The salmon burger, at $21, is the one item above the line. The menu also lists salads, hot dogs, baos and shareables. Set those prices against the $25 burger the farewell post warned about, and the restaurant has kept the thing it was known for.
The restaurant's own site lists hours of noon to 8 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Happy hour runs daily from 2 to 5 p.m.
Von's 1000Spirits came back to a town the family already knew
Von's 1000Spirits opened at 115 Park Lane on June 10, 2026. It is the third location for a bar that started in downtown Seattle and expanded to Woodinville in 2022. Sip Magazine's coverage of the opening carried a detail most announcements would leave out. Founder Merrisa Claridge's family owned the Kirkland Roaster & Ale House in the 1990s, and it ran for fifteen years. The magazine called the Park Lane opening "somewhat of a homecoming."
The family's restaurant history goes back further than that. Claridge's great-grandfather, German Firnstahl, founded the Sunny Jim Peanut Butter Company in Seattle. Her father, Tim Firnstahl, opened Jake O'Shaughnessey's and FX McRory's. The kitchen bakes its pastas and pizzas from a sourdough starter Sip Magazine describes as 75 years old and passed down through generations. The back bar holds more than 1,000 spirits.
In June, The Seattle Times described the Kirkland room as a 118-seat bar with an outdoor patio. A bar that size has to manage demand, and its October 2026 visiting rules show how. According to the Von's locations page, reservations are taken Monday through Thursday through OpenTable. Friday through Sunday is walk-in only, with a day-of waitlist on the OpenTable app. Every table has a two-hour dining limit. Hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. Happy hour runs daily from 2 to 6 p.m.
Happy hour is when the bar's best-known price applies. The August 2026 happy-hour menu lists the $7.99 scratch martini, a $15 OG Butter Burger, a $15 Nonna Maria sourdough pizza, $13 Bang Bang Chicken and $12 meatballs. On the regular menu, burgers are listed at $19, pizzas at $25 to $26 and pastas at $24 to $28. Before 6 p.m., the burger costs $4 less and a pizza costs $10 to $11 less.
Le Croissant Bar has the newest name and an old Kirkland wine connection
Le Croissant Bar sits at 116 Lake St, in the former Starbucks space. Owner Monica Kuchman started BraveHeart Mountain Coffee in 2020 as a social enterprise supporting wounded veterans. It began with pallets of roasted beans sold at a regional Veterans Day event hosted by Costco Wholesale. She is a self-taught baker. Croissants came next, sold at farmers markets and trade shows around the Pacific Northwest, until customers kept asking where her storefront was. The strawberries come from a Skagit Valley farm where Kuchman picked berries as a teenager.
The pastry case runs from a Classic Almond to the Miss Figgy Piggy, which layers fig jam, prosciutto, pears and brie. Desserts include tiramisu, espresso affogatos, mango pineapple cheesecake and banana pudding. In July, The Seattle Times pointed readers to a ham croissant sandwich and a dessert croissant topped with pear and figs.
The wine list carries the deepest Kirkland connection of the three. It is curated by Kuchman's sister, Annette Alvarez-Peters, who led the Kirkland Signature wine program at Costco for more than thirty years. She helped create and develop more than 500 wines. She has since retired from Costco and now consults with wineries. Her selections for the shop change quarterly or every other month, timed to her schedule and the seasons. The shop's site says that when she's in town, she "returns to her old stomping grounds here in Kirkland" to host small wine-tasting evenings.
Kuchman also writes plainly on the site that the shop is still settling in. She describes being 90 days into a soft opening, having made mistakes, and bringing in a new baker to develop fresh items. So the case may look different from one visit to the next, and the wine list changes on its own schedule.
How the three fit into an October week
Taken together, these are a burger restaurant held to its old price point, a bar with weekday reservations and weekend walk-ins, and a bakery with a rotating wine list. Here are the posted hours side by side. Le Croissant Bar's site carries no update date, so call ahead before planning around it.
| The Slip, 80 Kirkland Ave | Von's 1000Spirits, 115 Park Lane | Le Croissant Bar, 116 Lake St | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 12–8 p.m. | 11 a.m.–11 p.m. | Closed |
| Tuesday–Wednesday | 12–8 p.m. | 11 a.m.–11 p.m. | 7:30 a.m.–5 p.m. |
| Thursday | 11 a.m.–9 p.m. | 11 a.m.–11 p.m. | 7:30 a.m.–5 p.m. |
| Friday–Saturday | 11 a.m.–9 p.m. | 11 a.m.–midnight | 7:30 a.m.–6 p.m. |
| Sunday | 12–8 p.m. | 11 a.m.–11 p.m. | 8 a.m.–5 p.m. |
| Happy hour | Daily, 2–5 p.m. | Daily, 2–6 p.m. | None listed |
| Tables | Not specified | Reserve Mon–Thu, walk-in Fri–Sun, 2-hour limit | Not specified |
A few patterns come out of the table:
- The happy hours overlap from 2 to 5 p.m. every day. In that window you can get a burger at The Slip from its $14 Classic or at Von's for $15. Von's happy hour runs one hour longer.
- Weeknights are the planned night at Von's. Reservations are only available Monday through Thursday. A Saturday visit means joining the waitlist or walking in, with a two-hour limit once seated.
- Le Croissant Bar is a daytime stop. Its latest posted close is 6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and those are the days The Seattle Times recommended for a glass of Champagne. It is closed Mondays.
- The wine list at 116 Lake St won't stay the same. Selections change quarterly or every other month, so a fall bottle may be gone by winter.
Before you go, check two things the sources don't cover. Nothing published says whether The Slip's waterfront patio stays open through the colder months. Le Croissant Bar's wine-tasting evenings depend on when Alvarez-Peters is in town, and no dates have been announced.
If you want to know which corners of downtown Kirkland have this kind of history, and what that means for a home nearby, Marianne Francis follows the town one address at a time. Work With Marianne.
