By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Two couples, one restaurant, a year and a half.

Is this the longest double-date ever?

No, itıs the Market Street Urban Grill, located at 1744 NW Market Street in Ballard. When the eatery opened on Sept. 1, 2000, it was a dream come true for owners John and Kendell Sillers and Ellie and Shing Chin, all of whom had spent their careers in the restaurant business.

Diners at the Market Street Urban Grill are more than likely be served by one of the restaurantıs four owners. Shing Chin works the bar, Kendell Sillers acts as hostess and Ellie Chin and John Sillers wait tables.

The four became friends through their association with a downtown Seattle restaurant called Wild Ginger, where John Sillers worked as a waiter and Shing Chin worked as a dining room manager. Kendell Sillers, Johnıs wife, had been working as a waitress at the Dahlia Lounge. When Ellie was hired to become a hostess at the Wild Ginger in 1993, she found both a husband in Shing Chin and friends in the Sillers. The two couples shared the same dream of one day opening their own business: an upscale eatery that could constantly stay in step with the latest culinary trends.

The four looked for a spot for several years before finally finding a vacant space in Ballard that had formerly housed a sporting goods store.

They looked at the area carefully and realized the population would be growing by leaps and bounds, turning the community into an urban center.

³We did extensive demographic studies,² Ellie Chin said. ³Getting bankers to invest in Ballard isnıt always the easiest thing.²

The four acknowledge that operating an upscale restaurant during a recession hasnıt been easy, but they have managed to do so by controlling their costs and by all of the ownersı willingness to pitch to do whatever needs to be done, whether itıs personally waiting on tables or pouring drinks. In fact, one of the things the group is most proud of is their continued existence, while so many other restaurants have closed.

³(We) managed the business well enough in a recession that weıve survived,² John Sillers said.

³We havenıt taken our menu down a notch,² added Ellie Chin. ³Weıre staying true to what we wanted to do.²

Traditionally, the Ballard neighborhood isnıt thought of as the place for foie gras, tuna tartar and venison, but John Sillers said that one of their goals was to create an alternative to dining in downtown.

He notes: ³Why drive downtown when you can come to Ballard for the downtown feel?²