How to Squeeze Boat Parts into a Bar: A Guide. Alternate caption: Ahoy! I Finally Understand Putting Ships in Glass Bottles Now. Image: Courtesy of Can Bar/James Imonti

A little wedge of White Center (or South Delridge, depending on who you ask) will be getting slightly more boozy thanks to Can Bar, a forthcoming neighborhood watering hole at 9427 17th Avenue Southwest. Behind the project: James Imonti, Joshua Baymiller, and David Gradwohl.

"Me and my partners have been in the industry a long time," says Imonti, CEO of Shelter Restaurant Group—though, to be clear, this is a separate side venture. "We come from a history of operating with larger restaurant groups but we're doing this on the cheap and just trying to be small and local." Imonti worked with Gradwohl at Matador, meanwhile Gradwohl brought in Baymiller to bartend at La Cocina Oaxacaqueña on Capitol Hill. Now the trio will join forces on this nautically styled bar.

Can Bar borrows its name, in part, from a particular kind of ocean buoy called a "can." To further drive home the aesthetic the actual bar will be built from a 28-foot boat. "We basically salvaged every piece of woof off of this boat," says Imonti, and it'll surely show, from the bar top to the bar front to wood decor dappled throughout the space. Then, you might have guessed, there will be a pretty large selection of canned beer; tons of local options plus some choice brews from outside of our beer-filled region. With Baymiller at the helm, there will also be a classic cocktail program for those not so into the canned stuff or beer in general.

On the food end of things, Can Bar will keep things fairly lowkey: "elevated, gourmet-style sandwiches—some smoked stuff, some braised stuff."

After Can Bar's opening, which is targeted for July if all goes well, will come a big back patio; its some 1,200 square feet will be filled with seating, plus a fire pit and perhaps some games like corn hole.

Follow along Can Bar's Instagram for more updates and news.

A post shared by Can Bar (@canbarseattle) on May 13, 2018 at 8:53am PDT

Oh, oh—one last thing: Back in 2012 this space housed a Vietnamese bakery and deli, simply named Delridge Deli and Bakery, then Deli Garcia after that. It's unclear when exactly both of these respectively shuttered.