Redmond's Light Rail Corner Is Filling In With Food Built for a Short Stop
"We've basically wrung out all the cost of running a steakhouse," Kurt Beecher Dammeier told the Puget Sound Business Journal, as MyNorthwest reported. The founder of Beecher's Handmade Cheese was talking about Yukon, the steak counter he started with his son, Liam. It opened October 19 in the Rail District Building at 16421 Cleveland St., at the entrance to the Downtown Redmond light rail station.
The cost he took out wasn't only on the menu. Yukon has no chairs. It's also the first of four signed tenants in that building, and every other name on the lease list is a quick format too. The block right at the station is turning into a place you stop on your way somewhere. If you want a slower dinner, you walk a little farther.
Yukon fits into 1,500 square feet. There are five standing tables and no seating, and the MyNorthwest story says the point of the layout is to get people standing, eating and talking. The menu is short on purpose. You pick one of two steak cuts, served cut into bite-size pieces, with potatoes, salad and one of three sauces. Plates cost $17.99 to $28.99, and a steak sandwich and prawns rotate on and off the menu.
That price sits well below a traditional steakhouse, and Yukon's sibling shows the gap. The same company, Sugar Mountain, runs The Butcher's Table in Seattle's South Lake Union, which it calls its full-service luxury steakhouse and the place Yukon "draws its culinary DNA" from. The beef comes from Sugar Mountain's own American Wagyu brands, Mishima Reserve and WinterFrost. The potatoes are roasted in beef tallow. The drinks list is a short run of craft beer, wine and batch cocktails.
Sugar Mountain's opening announcement on EatSeattle describes Yukon as the steakhouse experience "without the reservation, the two-hour time commitment, or the expensive check." It opens daily at 11:30 a.m. You can order to-go through Yukon's website, Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub, and patio seating will open in season.
Dammeier named Raising Cane's, the chicken chain built on a tightly focused menu, as an inspiration. He also told the Business Journal that Yukon is aimed at diners from 25 to 45, though he wants it to work for people outside that range too. In his words, "This is the first restaurant I've done where I wasn't making it just for me."
The Rail District Building isn't new construction. It's a one-story retail building from 1984, about 11,230 square feet, and its leasing materials pitch it as a redeveloped retail hub at the entrance to the station. The brochure was dated March 24, 2026, four days before the trains crossed the lake, and it says the station "connects residents to Bellevue and soon, Seattle."
Yukon is the first tenant to open. KIRO 7 reported, citing the Business Journal, that the owners have also signed leases with Shake Shack, Joe & the Juice and 45th Stop and Shop, a Hawaii-style bodega. The October coverage gave no opening dates for any of the three.
Here's where things stand at the station corner and a block or two away:
| Spot | Address | Status as of late October 2026 | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yukon | 16421 Cleveland St. | Open daily from 11:30 a.m. since October 19 | Counter service, standing tables, to-go and delivery |
| Shake Shack | Rail District Building, 16421 Cleveland St. | Lease signed, no opening date in October reports | Quick service |
| Joe & the Juice | Rail District Building, 16421 Cleveland St. | Lease signed, no opening date in October reports | Quick service |
| 45th Stop and Shop | Rail District Building, 16421 Cleveland St. | Lease signed, no opening date in October reports | Hawaii-style bodega |
| Mendocino Farms | 16502 Cleveland St. | Open 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, opened July 2025 | Counter service |
| Momiji | 16595 Redmond Way #150 | Open, publishes dining hours | Restaurant with a dining room |
| Due' Cucina | 16595 Redmond Way, Suite 100 | Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., takes online orders | Restaurant |
When the Rail District storefronts fill, the building will hold a steak counter, a burger chain, a juice bar and a bodega. Every one of those works for someone with a few minutes and a train to catch.
On March 28, 2026, Sound Transit opened the Crosslake Connection across the I-90 floating bridge, which completed the 2 Line. KUOW's opening-day story described a single line running from Downtown Redmond through Seattle to Lynnwood. As of late October, Sound Transit's 2 Line timetable shows trains between Downtown Redmond and Lynnwood City Center, with Seattle stops that include International District/Chinatown and Westlake.
That puts the Cleveland Street platform at the end of a line that reaches downtown Seattle and keeps going north. The building's own leasing pitch is about foot traffic at the station entrance. The tenants it signed are the kind that can serve someone in the time between walking off a train and heading home.
For anyone who lives within walking distance, the trip works in both directions. A friend from Capitol Hill or Lynnwood can ride the 2 Line to the last stop and be at a standing table at Yukon within a few minutes. A takeout order from the same counter can make it home before it goes cold.
The quick-service block is next to restaurants that already have regular customers. Mendocino Farms opened at 16502 Cleveland St., in the Eastline building, in July 2025, according to the Daily Journal of Commerce, and its location page lists hours of 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Farther along, two restaurants share 16595 Redmond Way. Momiji is at #150 and posts its dining hours, and Due' Cucina is in Suite 100, open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with online ordering.
Food right at the station is built for a few minutes, and a short walk takes you to a table and a chair. That's useful to know before you invite someone over by train. Yukon is a good first stop for a group that wants to stand, eat and keep moving. For a two-hour catch-up, walk a block and sit down.
The next date for this part of downtown is a public art installation, not a restaurant opening. Liquid Culture is a large illuminated sculpture by the Alchemy Arts Collective, made to celebrate Redmond's cultural diversity. The city commissioned it in 2021 as the centerpiece of Redmond Lights after the event became a month-long celebration in Downtown Park.
It was displayed from 2021 through 2024 and then put away. The city's September 2026 Arts and Culture Commission agenda explains that the reasons were mostly storage space and installation costs, since a crane is needed to put it up and take it down. The same document says it will now be installed permanently along the Redmond Central Connector Trail before this December's Redmond Lights. The agenda names the trail but not a specific spot or installation day.
Redmond Lights has firm dates:
Those dates come from the City of Redmond's August 2026 Arts and Culture Commission materials. As of late October, Yukon is the only open business in the Rail District Building, and it serves from 11:30 a.m. daily.
Do you live near the station and wonder how the new tenants on Cleveland Street might change your block over the next year? We'd be glad to talk it through over coffee, with no agenda and no pressure. Diana Patterson and Cory follow these openings as closely as you do, so reach out anytime and Contact Us.
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