A Real Ghost Kitchen: One Chef’s Encounters With Vito’s Friendly Ghosts - Eater Seattle
"First Hill restaurant and bar Vito’s has a colorful — and nefarious — past. Established by brothers Vito and Jimmie Santoro in 1953, the bar gained notoriety in the 1960s and 1970s as a smoke-filled, dimly lit lounge with ties to Seattle’s underworld. Vito’s had a legacy of bringing together disparate parts of society, like off-duty cops, politicians, Husky football fans, Catholic priests, and, depending on who you ask, some murky connections to organized crime. If the walls of the backroom (formerly the Vagabond Room, now the Cougar Room, complete with a taxidermied wildcat) could talk, there’s no telling what backroom deals and scandalous acts might come to light. For Vito’s lead chef Michael Crossley, shadows of the lounge’s past are palpable." - Mark Van Streefkerk
