Sake Noire Adds Sake and Jazz to Hillman City's Nightlife Scene

A new sake spot is coming to Hillman City. Its official opening date? TBD.

Sake Noire is a sake, shochu, and jazz pop-up (and future bar) bringing the art and craft of sake to the palates of Seattleites across the city. Founded in 2024 by owner and sake specialist Quan Liang, the spot will also have a robust Italian-Japanese food program shaped by chef-owner Yael Silverman.

"We want the program to be intentional and focused. If you're new to sake, or you're a sake nerd, there is something for you," said Liang in a recent interview. "With our menu, we want to create foods that emulate Japanese drinking culture, like bar food, but we also will introduce this kind of Italian-American-Japanese menu that is purposely paired with the eclectic sake program."

There's just one thing: The space — snuggled next to Delish Ethiopian, near Rainier Avenue South and South Orcas Street — isn't quite ready to open. Liang and Silverman are still in the midst of undergoing final inspections, so the brick-and-mortar version of Sake Noire won't officially be ready for sake lovers until summer. (They will be launching a Kickstarter sometime in the next week.) However, Sake Noire will continue to exist in pop-up form, appearing in restaurants and event spaces across Seattle as a way to R&D their menu and continue to connect thirsty, curious Seattle drinkers with sake.

Liang started Sake Noire to funnel her love and interest in sake, which doesn't have quite the same grip in the United States as alcoholic beverages like beer, wine, or even BuzzBalls. But Liang said over the last 15 years, interest and demand for sake has grown as the yen weakened against the dollar and post-pandemic tourism to Japan boomed. And because of Seattle's proximity to Japan, our city has a unique familiarity with sake culture that makes it ripe for exploration.

"The drinking culture behind sake is so hospitable. Something we always try to teach new sake drinkers, for example, is: You never pour for yourself at the table. You always pour for your friends and family or your colleagues first," said Liang. "There's also this fun story of why the sake cup is so small. A lot of Americans think that, oh, it's small because you're supposed to shoot it like a shot. But it's actually designed so that you can continue to pour for your colleagues and loved ones because it's so small. You have to keep drinking, you keep having a good time."

Leveraging Liang's experience working at Seattle institutions like Sushi Kashiba, Kamonegi, and Hannyatou, Sake Noire leans into that communal aspect of sake — their pop-up events mainly focus on bringing people together over not only drink, but food and music. While working at Hannyatou in Fremont, Liang and Silverman had a run-in with Japanese-American jazz musician Jun Iida that proved consequential. Their early pop-ups were jazz-sake events — Iida came in with his band, while Liang and Silverman held down the menu.

"It would be this kind of escape to some jazz bar in Tokyo," said Liang. "That was our goal, and now that's what we're opening." Their upcoming event on May 30 at Parlour in Pioneer Square will feature Iida and his quintet playing music from Asian cinema classics while the audience can sip sake and nibble on hand rolls.

Both Silverman and Liang grew up in New England, and they want their menu to reflect that Northeast influence without anything being too precious — Sake Noire will be a bar, after all, not just a place to go on your birthday. "Cheese and sake are a match made in heaven," said Liang. At a recent popup at Mimi's Bar in Hillman City, they served stuffed curry peppers and chicken rollatini TV dinners. At another pop-up at Streamline Tavern, the menu involved meat skewers and fried spaghetti balls.

"People constantly ask, 'Oh, are you going to serve sushi at your place? Are you going to serve ramen?' We want to show people just how versatile sake pairing can be," said Silverman.

The Boston-raised Liang has been in the food and beverage industry for over a decade. After getting her start in a mom-and-pop sushi spot while attending art college, Liang continued to work in Japanese or Asian-focused cuisine and bars in Boston and San Francisco. As she worked in increasingly higher-end spots, she was slowly introduced to the world of sake and, eventually, fell in love with it.

Just like wine, sake has its own certification process that involves deduction of tasting, quality checks, and knowledge of history and culture of sake. In 2016, Liang started working on her certs and now holds sake sommelier certification from the Sake School of America and Sake Service Institute as well as a shochu advisor certification.

"There's so many aspects of [sake] that are so beautiful, but, of course, it's tasty as well," said Liang. "For me at the end of the day as an industry person, it makes me feel happy to be able to serve it to customers and to be able to share the cultural context."