One of Seattle's best seafood restaurants (and best restaurants, period) is planning a new location on the Eastside. Chef and owner Eric Donnelly just announced that RockCreek Seafood and Spirits will open in Kirkland toward the end of this year.

Plenty of Seattle chefs are making the leap across the lake to the Eastside these days. But Donnelly didn't land in one of the usual shopping center or new construction suspects. He secured a location in the Webb Building at 89 Kirkland Avenue, a charming 1930 brick structure that bears some similarities to his meat-focused restaurant, FlintCreek, in Greenwood. 

"For me, it's always been the neighborhoods," says Donnelly. "Those are the kind of markets we want to be in." He looked at this location in Kirkland's downtown and saw the possibility of regulars.

He also saw the possibilities that come with more space. This RockCreek location will be larger than the original, with 90 seats, a 60-seat patio, and even a 45-seat private dining room. Some prosaic upgrades, like additional storage and a "more robust kitchen" means Donnelly's team can do a few dishes that weren't possible before. He envisions whole live crab, hand rolls, even a chilled shellfish platter.

But otherwise the menu will look familiar to fans of RockCreek. When Donnelly opened the restaurant a decade ago, he gifted Seattle the kind of seafood restaurant that's been surprisingly rare in our water-bound corner of the world. RockCreek embraces local oysters and Neah Bay rockfish, but also sources seafood from carefully managed fisheries around the globe. The kitchen turns these into compositions both creative and delicious, and knows its way around seasonal Northwest vegetables. The calamari "kari out," served in a takeout carton, belongs on some sort of pantheon of great Seattle menu items.

Donnelly's a rare chef who sweats the details in the dining room just as much as in the kitchen. His restaurants have especially great bar programs (some favorite cocktails from the Fremont menu will also appear in Kirkland) and pro service. While he's not on the shortlist of chefs I ever saw expanding to the Eastside, RockCreek feels like it's well primed for that market. (And Donnelly says he might have another project in the works.)

In addition to RockCreek, Donnelly runs the meaty FlintCreek Cattle Co. in Greenwood (Seattle Met's 2017 Restaurant of the Year) and a Spanish-inspired bar next door called Bar Sur Mer. 

The new RockCreek will serve weekday lunch and weekend brunch (be sure to order an oyster shooter). Not to mention happy hour, and dinner seven nights a week. Its location near the marina even affords a few glimpses of Lake Washington. After all this time running a seafood restaurant says Donnelly, "It's nice to be cooking RockCreek food close to the water."