Washington’s Magazine
DIY Flagstone Patios
Craft Light Beer?
Boss Blueberry Recipes
August | September 2019
Ta x-F Ev ree e Da ry y!
TRIP PLANNER: LONG BEACH PENINSULA PG. 78
THE BOUNTY ISSUE
CAREER SECOND ACTS 3 FOOD PROFESSIONALS WHO MADE RIGHT TURNS
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Thane Hawkins worked in the animation industry before opening Hawkins Cellars.
2 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
Second Chances photography by Charity Burggraaf The food and drink industry can really get under your skin. So it was for Thane Hawkins, Tiffany Ran and Michael Poole, who all started off in one career and eventually gave their lives over to their callings of wine, cooking and chocolate, respectively. Hawkins, shown here, worked in the movie animation business before finding a life on the vineyard. (pg. 50)
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE 3
FEATURES
Riley Starks points out islands and tells stories while in a boat on Legoe Bay.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019 • volume 16
Making a Name Those who know Salish Sea halibut and other products know how special they are. Now, there’s a push to make sure the world knows its name. written by Naomi Tomky
50 Second Act It’s never too late to find a career you love. Just ask these three food and drink professionals, who traded in their chosen gigs to chase their foodie dreams. written by Cara Strickland
64 In Search of Solitude This state has no shortage of scenic views, and Meghann Grah wants to help you find your best solo shots. photography by M. Laine Photography
Brandon Sawaya
58
If Enchanting is in your nature, Spokane is your destination.
Green Bluff, WA
Fall in Spokane: a perfect balance between classic autumn experiences and new horizons. Gather together for the inspiring food, arts, and events of the harvest season. From the apple orchards and pumpkin patches of Green Bluff to the thrill of Halloween at Silverwood, Spokane has something to offer for every adventure. visitspokane.com/fall
DEPARTMENTS
LIVE 14 SAY WA?
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019 • volume 16
Get outside for Washington’s best summer events, read up on Bainbridge Island’s food culture and listen to Fences’ surprising new album.
20 FOOD + DRINK
Try our picks for wineries with a view, swing by the National Lentil Festival in the Palouse, and don’t miss summer’s best taste—Seattle Lite beer.
24 FARM TO TABLE
Washington is the nation’s top producer for blueberries, and Mutiny Bay Blues is producing some of the best. Plus, test out our blueberry recipes.
28 HOME + DESIGN
Two vacation home owners prove these getaways can fit in with the landscape. Bonus: build your own flagstone patio.
34 MIND + BODY
Andrew Pogue
Gail Brodsky left professional tennis to have her children, then realized she didn’t have to choose one over the other. Now she’s ranked once again.
28
36 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
What started as idle doodling on menus has turned into art exhibitions and other opportunities for Dozfy.
THINK 40 STARTUP
Audley takes cast-aside produce and gives it a second chance, in the shape of soup and other meals.
43 WHAT’S GOING UP
Beer and wine tasting rooms continue to multiply around Washington.
44 WHAT I’M WORKING ON
Xiao Wang’s Boundless seeks to facilitate confusing immigration paperwork.
46 MY WORKSPACE
A group of chef-pastors brings the community together with a secret dining club that changes locations every month.
26
46 10 11 86 88
Editor’s Letter 1889 Online Map of Washington Until Next Time
Petar Marshall
48 GAME CHANGER
An 88-year-old Hungarian native is the foraging queen of the Long Beach Peninsula, sharing her knowledge with all who seek it.
EXPLORE 72 TRAVEL SPOTLIGHT
For decades, weary travelers have stopped at Mrs. Beesley’s on I-5 for diner delights.
74 ADVENTURE
The Yakima Valley is dotted with fruit stands—grab your boxes and bags and get the produce of your dreams.
76 LODGING
Stay at the Bellevue Club Hotel and you’ll get all the perks that come with membership.
78 TRIP PLANNER
The Long Beach Peninsula is a long stretch of sand with all of the beach amenities, but flies under the radar.
84 NORTHWEST DESTINATION
COVER
photo by Charity Burggraaf Tiffany Ran, founder of Taiwanese pop-up BaBaLio (see Second Act, pg. 50)
6 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
Hood River has it all, starting with the Fruit Loop and ending with the watersports. You won’t want to leave.
CONTRIBUTORS
PETAR MARSHALL Photographer My Workspace
DANIEL O’NEIL Writer Adventure
MEGHANN GRAH Photographer In Search of Solitude
MOLLY ALLEN Writer My Workspace
When I first discovered my passion for photography, I found it on top of mountain peaks or deep in river gorges. As a sommelier and wine director, I spend most of my days surrounded by food and wine, as guests enjoy a meal around the table. The opportunity to shoot a Bite Club dinner, hosted at one of Zillah’s most beautiful wineries, brought together my passions in a way I never knew it would. The thirst these chefs bring to their dishes, as well as the drive their team has to put on a unique meal in a beautiful setting was inspiring. (pg. 46)
Reporting on summer fruit in spring requires imagination, or in my case, memory. My wife’s family has lived in Yakima for generations, and, come late June, their kitchen countertop and table resemble a fruit stand. I’ve visited the orchards in full summer ripeness, but it was nice to stop by in spring and meet the people who help make the Yakima Valley so delicious. (pg. 74)
I am in my element outdoors, especially when I’m hiking new trails and pushing myself beyond self-imposed limitations. I hike to challenge myself, but reaching a beautiful destination and enjoying solitude is the cherry on top. For my piece in this issue, I share tips for hiking at sunrise to ditch the crowds and have stunning views all to yourself. (pg. 64)
Some of the most fulfilling pieces to write are those that allow me to experience something completely new, and that is exactly what I encountered when I spent the evening with the Bite Club crew. Watching them prepare a five-course meal in a garden was astounding, but what was most interesting were the foods I was introduced to—a dish with plantains as the base, an octopus salad, and let’s not forget about the tail of a roast suckling pig. (pg. 46)
8 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
EDITOR Kevin Max
MANAGING EDITOR Sheila G. Miller CREATIVE Allison Bye
WEB MANAGER
OFFICE MANAGER
DIRECTOR OF SALES
Aaron Opsahl Cindy Miskowiec Jenny Kamprath
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Cindy Guthrie Jenn Redd
BEERVANA COLUMNIST
EDITORIAL INTERNS
Jackie Dodd Henry Rogers, Jessica Smith
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Molly Allen, Melissa Dalton, Michelle DeVona, Lauren Kramer, Maggy Lehmicke, Daniel O’Neil, Ben Salmon, Adam Sawyer, Cara Strickland, Naomi Tomky, Christopher Warner, Matt Wastradowski, Corinne Whiting
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Charity Burggraaf, Jackie Dodd, Meghann Grah/M. Laine Photography, Petar Marshall, Ben McBee, Brandon Sawaya, Morgen Schuler
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AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE 9
WELCOME TO OUR bounty issue of 2019. I don’t believe we’ve ever carried a theme through an entire issue to the extent we have here. Perhaps that is because there is an abundance of bounty to ponder in the Evergreen State. We start with an inspiring feature on the branding of seafood coming from the Salish Sea. Know where your seafood comes from and whether the fishing practices fit with your own values. Halibut, salmon and Dungeness crab that are sustainably harvested by the Suquamish Tribes in the Salish Sea could soon be as common a brand as Copper River salmon, if Riley Starks has his way. Now travel across the state to Pullman, where the National Lentil Festival brings a massive twoday party that involves a lentil chili pot bigger than a truck bed. Music, sports and cooking demos are part and parcel to this annual August party in The Palouse. I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t know Washington was the top producer of blueberries in the country. Apples? Possibly. Hops? Yes. But blueberries? On Whidbey Island, the Fletcher family has found the perfect soil pH for growing organic blueberries and a niche for blueberry products. Read their story on pg. 24 and turn to our blueberry recipes to learn new ways to bring them into your life. Back on the Long Beach Peninsula, Veronica Williams, an 88-year-old native of Hungary, is known as the “Mushroom Queen.” She learned to identify food sources out of necessity as a child in the Carpathian Mountains and brought that knowledge and a willingness to teach anyone to the Pacific Northwest. Read her amazing story on pg. 48. Traveling for bounty is another pursuit captured in this issue. Our Adventure feature (pg. 74) meanders to the many fruit stands in Yakima. This time of year, Yakima is ground zero for fresh fruit bursting with flavors you don’t get at the grocery store. Bring boxes and bags and plan your trip around all of these fruit stands in the Yakima Valley. Not to belabor this issue, but even our Northwest Destination in Hood River (pg. 84) is an embarrassment of bounty. Among other things Hood River is now known for—top cuisine, wind sports and water sports, breweries—it is also the center of Oregon’s Fruit Loop and rife with treasures of fertile soil.
10 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
Jenn Redd
FROM THE EDITOR
Tangentially related is the discovery of the restaurant napkin art of Patrick Nguyen, or Dozfy, as his art is signed. The Banksy of restaurant napkins began in earnest after a friend fished his doodled napkin from the trash bin at a restaurant in which they were dining. This was something different and compelling. He found his voice by leaving his sketches behind in Seattle restaurants. You’ll hear more about Dozfy, but read about him here first (pg. 36). We’ll end with freshman year nostalgia, where all things likely started and ended with light beer. In a part of the world where craft beer is running out of creative incarnations, two hometown Seattlites are bringing back light beer. You know, with summer temps, Sounders and Reign games on the schedule, Seattle Lite Brewing and its low alcohol beer sounds like a great call.
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A horse grazes near Medical Lake.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE 11
SAY WA? 14 FOOD + DRINK 20 FARM TO TABLE 24 HOME + DESIGN 28 MIND + BODY 34
pg. 36 Dozfy’s black-and-white menu doodles are true art.
Jackie Dodd
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 36
OUTDOORS
SUMMER MOVIES ON THE VILLAGE GREEN FALL FARM TOURS | ALPINE ADVENTURES
@BellinghamExperience
bellingham.org
say wa?
Courtesy of the Suquamish Tribe
Tidbits & To-dos
Fried Rice cookbook
This three-day festival started in 1911 and honors Chief Seattle, who led the Suquamish people and was the namesake of the city of Seattle. More than 100 years later, the event in Suquamish still features traditional events such as a salmon bake and canoe races. Other events at this year’s festival from August 15 to August 18 include a fun run, golf tournament and a pageant.
Plenty of us grew up with fried rice as the ultimate way to make leftovers tastier—throw that dayold pork chop in the mix and voila! This cookbook takes the thrifty, tasty meal to the next level with fifty variations on the original. Fried rice with flavors as varied as Mediterranean, Indian and Hawaiian will have you returning to the pages again and again.
www.suquamish.nsn.us/home/about-us/chief-seattle-days-2
www.sasquatchbooks.com
Chief Seattle Days
our r rk y ma nda
cal
e
ca mark le you nd r ar Bumbershoot It wouldn’t be Seattle in summer without Bumbershoot. This longrunning event (since 1971) brings art and music to Seattle Center from August 30 to September 1. This year’s music lineup includes Tyler, the Creator, as well as The Lumineers, Carly Rae Jepsen and dozens of other acts. There are also other events, such as a Silent Disco at the Chihuly Garden & Glass nearby, and Laser Dome in the Pacific Science Center. www.bumbershoot.com
14 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
say wa?
m
cal ark you end r ar Washington State Fair
Bob Noble
From August 30 to September 22, revel in all things Washington at the state fair in Puyallup. A good lineup of concerts—think Weezer, Boyz II Men, Keith Urban and Brad Paisley— combined with fair rides and good old-fashioned rodeo would be plenty. But the Washington State Fair also includes traditions such as the Piglet Palace, various foods on a stick and agricultural art.
The Works Seattle
www.thefair.com
The Works Seattle
More than eighty classic and unique cars are on display at this new museum in Enumclaw. The facility, which has been renovated and also includes a great event space, lets you get up close to the cars on display. Bonus—the museum was opened in an effort to raise money for research, awareness and a cure for epilepsy. It’s open Wednesday through Sunday each week.
Want to learn the art of watercolor, conversation or pickling? How about calligraphy, macrame or mixology? The Works Seattle offers classes on all these and more. This spot wants to help you add practical skills and take up new hobbies, but its founder and teachers also want to help strengthen the community and foster relationships. The Works Seattle donates 1 percent of its profits each quarter to a community organization.
www.thunderdomecarmuseum.org
www.theworksseattle.com
Thunder Dome Car Museum
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE 15
say wa? Christopher Mansfield’s band, Fences, has produced a surprisingly mellow album.
Musician
Mending Fences The Seattle-based band aims for ‘sad and beautiful’ on Failure Sculptures
Christian Sorenson Hansen
written by Ben Salmon
16 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
IN TERMS OF sound and style, there’s a big difference between the two most recent albums from Fences, the Seattle-based band fronted by Christopher Mansfield. Lesser Oceans, released in 2015, is full of radio-ready electropop-rock songs that are upbeat even when they touch on dark lyrical themes, and its big-name guest is mega-popular rapper Macklemore. This year’s Failure Sculptures, on the other hand, is a collection of downcast psychedelic folk songs that spill over with emotion as they slowly unfurl. This time, the guest is glowering punk icon Cedric Bixler-Zavala (At The Drive-In, The Mars Volta). When asked about that big difference, Mansfield gives a very short answer. “I woke up,” he said. “I found it.” Found what? Who knows. Mansfield is not only an excellent songwriter, he also pens enigmatic prose, and he answers some questions cryptically. But at least two things are certain: First, sometime after releasing Lesser Oceans, Fences left a major label, Elektra Records, and landed with an indie, GRNDVW. And second, Mansfield spent much of the four years between the two albums fueling up for the making of Failure Sculptures—by living. “Art should be a reaction to life. I can’t just make (an album) on a deadline,” he said. “I mean, you know … I can. It just wouldn’t be honest. I needed life to rip my guts out for a while before I could write anything worth a damn. Don’t think I live painfully just to Listen on Spotify make the work. I’m no martyr. It just happens that way.” To be clear: Failure Sculptures is worth a damn. It’s mellow but relentlessly melodic, intimately captured, touched by fuzz and relatably weary. Fans of Death Cab for Cutie’s quiet side will find much to like across its ten tracks. Most importantly, it demands— and rewards—repeated plays. For Mansfield, that’s enough. “I honestly just wanted to make something really sad and beautiful. I think humans like that. We enjoy sad movies and songs. It’s satisfying.” he said. “I’d have to do some studying on why we relish (this) emotion, but I know that to be true. I just made a painting, a movie or a novel. It’s to be enjoyed. Nothing more.”
say wa?
Bibliophile
On the Island The Deepest Roots examines Bainbridge Island life through the lens of its local food interview by Cara Strickland
AS IMPORTANT NOW as when it was first published in 2016, Kathleen Alcalá’s book The Deepest Roots: Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island recently released in paperback, allows the reader to come along as Alcalá explores the food culture of her home, Bainbridge Island, learns more about how to care for her health, and discovers the ways our collective fates are intimately connected. We caught up with Alcalá to find out what she learned along the way. Tell us about your book. The Deepest Roots is an exploration of our relationship with food on a very local level: Bainbridge Island, Washington. I divided it into seven sections based on the salmon cycle, the basis for all life in this part of the world and one of the most endangered. It includes photos by Joel Sackett, who has been documenting the farmers on Bainbridge for many years. What got you interested in the foodways of Bainbridge Island? The media had been making increasingly apocalyptic pronouncements about our future, including the availability of food and the negative impacts of the methods by which we grow and obtain it. At the same time, I was diagnosed with high cholesterol and high blood sugar, and wanted to know if I could alter this by making my eating habits more local, sustainable and intentional. In other words, ground zero for this exploration 18 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
Kathleen Alcalá uses her book to explore the food culture of Bainbridge Island.
was my own body and behavior. What were some of the biggest surprises you found in writing and researching your book? We have had the answers to many of my questions all along, passed down as indigenous folklore. It was a pleasure to interview the many people who contributed to this book—each brought a different set of experiences, cultural backgrounds and philosophy. We can make a difference just through our actions on the local level. There are many things we can do to mitigate the harm that has been inflicted on our environment. Just growing a few potatoes and carrots or shopping at the farmers market saves the transportation and packaging that comes with the typical grocery store experience. Farmers can choose to farm sustainably for a local consumer, if we are willing to pay for it. Our local supermarket—started by a Japanese-American family who
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
chose to return after being incarcerated during World War II—is so forward-looking and responsive to these dangers that they have begun growing greens on the island for local consumption. What are you hoping to get across to your readers as your book makes its way into the world? We don’t have to be passive consumers of food of distant and questionable origin. Yes, it takes a lot of work and forethought to get this right, but if we expect our children and grandchildren to live well, we need to think about this now. It takes patience and a long view to realize the benefits of thinking and acting locally. Individually, we have inherited stories of resilience that got our ancestors through, but collectively, we have the means to solve these problems on a grander scale. I am much more optimistic about our future than before I researched and wrote this book. Pay attention. Be kind to your neighbors. It will take a group effort to survive the next decades.
Located in the beautiful Okanagan Valley
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food + drink
Cocktail Card
Seattle Lite Brewing makes, you guessed it, light beer.
recipe courtesy of Captive Spirits Distilling
Beervana
Big Tom Collins
written and photographed by Jackie Dodd
1 ½ ounces Big Gin ¾ ounces lemon juice ½ ounce simple syrup Soda water Shake gin, lemon and simple syrup, then strain over ice. Top with soda. Garnish with lemon wedge and serve in a highball.
20 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
Seattle Lites a Path CLOSE YOUR EYES for a second. Imagine you’re in 1970s Seattle. Imagine you’re boating on Lake Washington in late July, clad in cut-off Levis and a concert T-shirt. You reach into a red-and-white Coleman ice chest and pull out a beer. What is it? Even if you weren’t alive in the 1970s, let alone of beer drinking age, that tableau conjures an image and you already have a beer in mind. It’s a beer that makes you happy, a beer that predates industry snobbery, awards and billion-dollar buyouts. That refreshing, low ABV, compulsively drinkable beer in your fictitious hand is the inspiration for the beer Seattle Lite Brewing is making right now. To understand what Seattle Lite Brewing is, you first must know what it isn’t. It isn’t going after Rainier and macro lagers, or anyone else for that matter. It isn’t blazing a trail or looking to be the next Sierra Nevada. It isn’t interested in franchises, reinventing craft beer, or shaking the trees of a rapidly growing industry. It is making deliciously drinkable, nostalgic, Seattle-inspired light beers, and it really hopes you like it. When owners Dan Martinez and Seiky Huerta decided to take the colossal leap from beer fans to brewery plans, they wanted to brew beer that captured that hometown feeling, “We are Seattleites, we’re hometown boys,” Martinez said. Of course, triple IPAs and esoteric kettle-soured beers are great, AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
but they wanted to focus on offering the Pacific Northwest beer scene a beer with Seattle nostalgia and an option for a low-ABV lager brewed right in their own backyard. They’re just a couple of local boys using local ingredients to sell in the neighborhood tap rooms and bars they swell with pride at being offered in. The name is a play on the intersection of the Seattleites that they are, and the lowABV beer that they brew. It’s “lite” beer for Seattle’s own. For an indication of Martinez and Huerta’s vision of growing a community, look no further than the space they occupy. A charming, all-ages, petfriendly, patio-flanked taproom sits in the scrappy little neighborhood of South Park, an area that has seen a growing revitalization evidenced by the ever-expanding list of delightful shops, restaurants and breweries moving in to the hyper-walkable neighborhood.It’s a fortuitous space—recently vacated by Burdick Brewery—that put them in the path of now-business partner Chris Smith and brewer John Marti from Lowercase Brewing just down the road. “He’s so talented,” Martinez said of Marti. He still seems slightly shocked and grateful that the man responsible for the great beer at Lowercase is the man behind the mash tun of his own beer, which not only lives up to the promise, but is exactly what you want it to be, pint after pint.
come feast with us!
Live
food + drink
CRAVINGS CHEESE In the small community of Bow located in the Skagit Valley, you’ll find Golden Glen Creamery making cheese and butter the best way they know how. Visit the store during the week or check out retail locations all over the state. Don’t miss the clove, caraway and cardamom cheddar. 15014 FIELD ROAD BOW www.goldenglencreamery.com
SOURDOUGH BREAD You can’t visit Endswell Bakehouse directly, but that’s part of what makes it special. Catch the delicious and delicate sourdough bread (along with other treats) weekly at the Eastsound Farmer’s Market during the season and find the baked goods in restaurants around the island. ORCAS ISLAND
ARTISAN ICE POPS At the National Lentil Festival, you can get a free bowl of chili from the world’s largest chili bowl.
Gastronomy
National Lentil Festival written by Cara Strickland THE PALOUSE IS KNOWN for growing the best lentils in the country. Every August, the area celebrates with a two-day festival filled with lentil-related activities (this will be the thirty-first year!). Kick things off with free lentil chili from the world’s largest chili bowl, live music, a cooking demo, local beer and wine, and a variety of vendors. Saturday brings a fun run, lentil cook-off, lentil pancake breakfast and more recreation and athletic events—there’s three-onthree basketball and a softball tournament, along with more cooking demos and entertainment throughout the day. Bring your kids to Lentil Land, filled with hands-on activities the family will enjoy (be sure to check out the science tent). While you’re in the area, check out the hopping local food and drink scene. There’s plenty to eat even when you’re ready for a break from lentils, but don’t forget to take some home for later. PULLMAN www.lentilfest.com
22 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
With flavors such as chocolate avocado, cucumber, apple, mint and lime, and lemonade and lavender, these culinary-inspired icy delights from Fannie’s Ice Pops will be just the thing to delight your adult palate (and there are lots of kid-friendly flavors, too). Catch these at area farmers markets and several retail stores. SPOKANE www.fanniesicepops.com
PIE It’s not a visit to Whidbey without a stop at the Whidbey Pie Cafe for a light lunch and slice of something luscious. Don’t miss the loganberry. If you can’t make it to the cafe, check the website for retail options. 765 WONN ROAD GREENBANK www.whidbeypies.com
Photos: Stephanie Forrer
food + drink
BEST PLACES FOR
WINE WITH A VIEW AMAVI CELLARS Open daily for tastings, you’re welcome to bring a picnic and enjoy the patio or gazebo, right in the heart of Washington wine country. From Amavi’s cabernet sauvignon to its cabernet franc rosé, every wine is 100-percent estate grown. 3796 PEPPERS BRIDGE ROAD WALLA WALLA www.amavicellars.com
MARYHILL WINERY This family-friendly winery sits on a bluff, offering a wonderful view of Mount Hood and the Columbia River. Hang out on the patio with a picnic, play bocce ball, and enjoy live music on summer weekends, all while sampling Maryhill’s impressive lineup of Washington wines (there’s a varietal for everyone here). 9774 HIGHWAY 14 GOLDENDALE www.maryhillwinery.com
ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS Located on the grounds of a historic estate high on a cliff, you’ll find Arbor Crest’s original tasting room. The grounds offer lots of nooks and crannies for picnics, and you’ll want to play with the original large format checker board. Bring dinner all summer long for concerts twice a week—more intimate concerts on Thursday nights and larger ones on Sunday evenings. 4705 N. FRUIT HILL ROAD SPOKANE www.arborcrest.com
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Duck Soup sources fresh seafood. The crème brûlée is a must-try. The menu changes by season.
Dining
Duck Soup written by Cara Strickland IF YOU’RE LOOKING for a taste of the islands, look no further than Duck Soup, recently reopened after a full renovation—the restaurant sources as many ingredients as possible from the bounty of the island, making its seafood, meats and produce fresh and delicious, and constantly changing based on the season. You won’t want to miss the cedar-infused crème brûlée, for one, but each dish is beautifully presented and usually features an unexpected or interesting ingredient. The creativity doesn’t stop with the food—the cocktails are well balanced and carefully constructed, often from fresh and local ingredients. Try the Oh, Snap!, with snap pea and mint purée, peppermint, lime, agave and gin for a refreshing thirst quencher. One of the bartenders makes a local line of shrubs, and syrups are made in house, perfect for mixing up a mocktail. FRIDAY HARBOR, SAN JUAN ISLAND www.ducksoupsanjuans.com
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE 23
farm to table
Farm to Table
A Berry Good Haul
Celebrating one of Washington’s most prevalent superfoods written by Corinne Whiting
Washington is the nation’s top blueberry producer.
ANY WAY YOU spin it, things look deliciously ripe for Washington’s summer blueberry scene. The state continues to be the nation’s top producer of these coveted, spherical superfoods, with last year’s harvest totaling 129 million pounds. Within that impressive haul, 85 percent of these berries are now organic. The sweetest news for blueberry loyalists—this year has seen the addition of 1,000 acres, and growers have optimistic projections about conditions such as the weather and number of pollinating bees. Blueberry farms exist on both sides of the Cascade Mountains. In mid-June, the harvest begins on eastern farms; around mid-July, the action comes to Western Washington. The peak harvest can last until October, making this one of the longest-running seasons in North America.
On the Farm Since 2011, Britt Fletcher and his family have taken advantage of the region’s prime conditions at Mutiny Bay Blues, their organic blueberry farm on Whidbey Island. The farm sits in 24 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
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the midst of many microclimates and gets a bit less rainfall, due to a slight rain shadow from the Olympic Mountains. Though Fletcher anchors the Freeland operation, it’s a fullfledged family affair as the Fletchers grow organically, farm sustainably and sell locally. They also rely on farm manager Ken Petry and his family, who are “crucial to the success of the farm, too,“ Fletcher said. During harvest, the farm employs about thirty people to hand-pick, sort and package tens of thousands of pounds of berries. Although the Fletcher family bought the land in 2001, they took a decade to decide it didn’t make sense to grow wheat and barley here. “Although you can always adjust the pH level of the soil, it’s easier to start with what you need,” he said—and blueberries like the low pH naturally found on Whidbey. “Why fight the soil?” he asked. For blueberries, Fletcher said, it’s all about the “p” words: the soil’s “pH” and how the beds are prepared, planted, pruned, picked and packaged (pickers here are encouraged to taste a few berries as they go). The family put in 3,500 more plants last May and elevated their grand total to 20 acres of organic
farm to table
Mutiny Bay Blues has 20 acres of blueberries, plus 180 acres with woods, hay fields and other enterprises.
blueberries. The farm now has nearly 200 acres that include lush woods, hay fields for grass-fed beef, a pond and two barns, one of which it rents to a distillery that makes products with the blueberries. The main picking and packaging begins in mid-July for a fiveto six-week period, depending on the weather and varieties, since some mature at different times. The farm grows four primary varieties and twelve other varieties in four test rows. Fletcher’s favorites? Liberty, Patriotic and Legacy—his palate leans toward those not overly sweet. Products such as preserves and granola can be found at the seasonal farmstand. “When you’re small,” Fletcher said, “it’s about making yourself a little different.” Loyal fans also find the farm’s products at local stores such as PCC Community Markets and Red Apple Markets, plus Whidbey Pies, Orchard Kitchen and the Inn at Langley. For most of Fletcher’s career, he held “paper-pushing” positions. “Having something tangible is so much more rewarding,” he said. He really enjoys the job creation aspect of his role, too, especially giving kids as young as 14 the same opportunities he had as a berry-picking youngster. He jokes that he was likely no one’s favorite helper, since he ate nearly as many as he picked. Fletcher also finds owning a business intellectually stimulating and likens it to “having a mini-MBA,” since you must master subjects from marketing to supply and demand. “We know we’re small, and we don’t want to be a commodity blueberry—we want to be a special blueberry,” Fletcher said.
Because of that, the family takes great care in everything it does, always operating by a “quality first” mantra. “It takes some art, and some science,” Fletcher said.
In the Kitchen When it comes to working with blueberries in his Seattle kitchen, chef Ryan Donaldson of Ballard’s Gather Kitchen & Bar said, ”I like that blueberries bring their own acidity that gives them both a sweet and tart flavor profile.” His team predominantly sources from Bow Hill Blueberries and Hayton Farms, both in the Skagit Valley. For Donaldson, inspiration comes while wandering farmers markets early in the morning. “Foods that grow in season together almost always go together,” he said, “so I find myself trying out flavor combinations I may never have thought of before, because I see them in the market.” He also loves talking to the producers. “Food is their passion and lifeline,” he said, “and I always like to hear how they use and care for the food they grow.” When it comes to scoring the freshest finds, Donaldson advises choosing berries with smooth, firm skin. “I like to rinse my berries in really cold water, pat them dry, lay them single layer and then cover them with a damp paper towel,” he said. This helps them maintain that “nice pop” found when biting into the perfect blueberry. We can nearly taste it from here. AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
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farm to table
Washington Recipes
Blueberry Shortcake
Metropolitan Market / SEATTLE
Blueberry Bites Blueberry Chimichurri
Cook the shallots and garlic in a sauté pan over medium high heat with 1 tablespoon olive oil until lightly browned on the edges but not burnt. Add all remaining ingredients to a blender and purée on high until smooth. Adjust seasoning as needed.
Gather Kitchen & Bar / SEATTLE Ryan Donaldson MAKES 1 PINT 1 large shallot, sliced thin 2 garlic cloves, sliced thin 1 tablespoon plus 2 ounces olive oil 1 cup blueberries 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar ¼ cup chopped parsley 2 tablespoons chopped parsley ½ teaspoon dried coriander ½ teaspoon dried cumin 2 teaspoons black pepper 1 teaspoon salt
TO USE This sauce goes perfectly with a multitude of proteins and vegetables, especially right off the grill, including scallops, halibut, steak (especially ribeye, flank and skirt steak) and barbecue pork shoulder steaks as well as ribs. It also makes a great, bright condiment for fish and steak tacos. The acidity in the sauce will allow it to hold up chilled for at least a month.
Barbecued Pork Ribs with Blueberry Glaze with Corn, Farro and Fresh Blueberry Salad Ben Paris / SEATTLE Quinton Stewart SERVES 4-6 FOR PORK RIBS 2 slabs (about 3 pounds) baby back ribs 2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly 3 sprigs rosemary, picked FOR GLAZE 1½ pounds blueberries 2 tablespoons sugar ½ cup white balsamic vinegar ¼ can Coca-Cola 1 tablespoon black pepper Balsamic vinegar to taste FOR SALAD 2 cups fresh corn kernels 2 cups cooked farro 1 cup blueberries 1 cup fresh basil leaves Juice of 1 lemon Olive oil to taste Salt and pepper to taste
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MAKES 6
FOR PORK RIBS AND GLAZE Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Score the ribs’ silver skin with a sharp knife and peel away from the concave side of the rack. Season ribs with sea salt, pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Evenly sprinkle the garlic slices and rosemary on the surface, wrap the ribs in foil, and bake for 60 minutes. The ribs can be cooled down at this stage and reserved in the refrigerator for up to a few days. Combine all glaze ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to a blender and blend on high for one minute or until smooth. Season to taste with salt and balsamic vinegar. Brush ribs with blueberry glaze and grill over medium heat. Turn ribs every two minutes or so, glazing repeatedly to build up a thick coating of the caramelized sauce. Once they are seared nicely, set ribs off the heat onto a cutting board and portion into smaller sections. FOR SALAD Toss ingredients for the farro salad with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and fresh cracked pepper. Plate the salad on a large platter and arrange the sections of pork ribs on the top. Sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt.
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FOR SCONES (MAKES 12) 2¼ cups all-purpose flour ¼ cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling on top 2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1½ cups heavy whipping cream, more for brushing on top FOR SHORTCAKE 2 pint blueberries 2-4 tablespoons sugar, depending on the sweetness of the fruit 6 prepared biscuits, scones or shortcakes 1 cup whipping cream, whipped and sweetened, or ice cream FOR SCONES Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease or line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Slowly stir in 1 ½ cups cream to make rough, soft dough. Add more cream if needed. Do not over-mix. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead two or three times, just until dough comes together. Divide dough into two pieces. Pat each into a 6-inch circle, ½-inch thick. Cut each into four to six wedges. Alternately, pat or roll into one slab, then cut with a round cutter. Place scones, about 1 inch apart, on prepared baking sheet. Brush with additional cream and sprinkle with a little granulated sugar if desired. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden and baked through. Serve warm or cool. FOR SHORTCAKE Toss the blueberries with sugar and add other fruit as desired—strawberries, raspberries, sliced peaches, nectarines or plums. Taste and adjust sugar, as you like. To assemble, split scones in half lengthwise. Toast or warm as desired. Lay the bottom on a plate and top with the fruit mixture. If desired, top the biscuits with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
farm to table
Metropolitan Market’s Blueberry Peach Shortcake. AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
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home + design This vacation home in Seabeck is a simple cabin with views.
Off the Beaten Path Low-key vacation homes allow their owners to relish Washington’s far-flung corners written by Melissa Dalton
A Modern Cabin in Hood Canal
Andrew Pogue
EVERYONE VACATIONS a little differently. While some need the hustle and bustle of a foreign city, others, like John Connor and Julie Cohn, seek the opposite. One of their favorite destinations is their cabin outside Seabeck, a former mill town on Hood Canal, which has a population of just more than 1,000 people and sports a general store, pizzeria and espresso stand. “The fundamental tenets of Western civilization are all there,” Connor said. “Coffee shop, pizza, groceries and beer—it’s got everything.” Connor and Cohn discovered Seabeck and the Hood Canal area more than twenty years ago, when his family started having summer reunions there. After returning every year, the Houston, Texas, residents decided to make the relationship permanent and bought land to build a retreat of their own.
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HOW TO SEASIDE HOW TO SEASIDE Everyone needs a beach town.
Everyone needs a beach town. A place to relax, recreate, or contemplate the A place to relax, contemplate complexities of therecreate, universe.orIdeally with athe side complexities of the universe. Ideally with a side of beer-battered cod and a locally brewed pint. of beer-battered cod and a locally brewed pint. Seaside is just such a place. Seaside is just such a place. Busting with shops and great places to eat, miles Busting with shops greatpromenade places to eat, of sandy beaches andand a grand to miles stroll. ofBig sandy beaches and a grand promenade stroll. enough to have the kayaking, hiking,torazor Big enoughand to have hiking, razor clamming kite the yingkayaking, seemingly to yourself. clamming and kite ying seemingly to yourself. So why not come and Seaside for yourself? So why not come and Seaside for yourself? And make Seaside your beach town. And make Seaside your beach town. seasideOR.com seasideOR.com
Midnight Oil Soap Co.
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Eritage Resort
Fly from Walla Walla and check your first case of wine for free! Learn more at TasteAndTote.com
Andrew Pogue
home + design
Their 8-acre parcel outside Seabeck is in a forested spot with sweeping views of Hood Canal. “It kind of feels like the edge of the world,” Eric Walter said. Walter owns the Seattlebased firm mw | works architecture + design, and partnered with Brent Heath of E&H Construction to craft a simple cabin getaway for the couple—one that, like Seabeck, delivers everything they need and nothing they don’t. The design process started with a 20-foot square foundation, which had belonged to the site’s previous home that had been torn down. “We chose to reuse that foundation, so that gave us this constraint right out of the gate. It forced us to think about what was important and what could fall away,” Walter said. “There was a desire to keep it simple, but there was also a necessity to work within this footprint and make it efficient.” The resulting 1,140-square-foot cabin appears as a straightforward box, with open living spaces on the first floor and two bedrooms and shared bathroom on the second. Exterior oxidized tight-knot cedar siding and blackened cement infill panels allow it to blend in with the trees. Inside, floor-to-ceiling glass frames canal views downstairs, while upstairs skylights admit natural light into the bathroom and let the couple stargaze from bed. Walter limited the palette to just a few textures, combining alder floors with walls covered in white-painted MDF and pine plywood. “We didn’t want any drywall,” Connor said, citing how the material turns to mush during floods. Thanks to the design-and-build team’s attention to detail, precise reveals around the interior paneling give it a more modern look. “It almost feels like somebody clicked this house together, like Legos,” Connor said. “Having those wood walls really changes the feel of the house. It feels very solid and very warm.” For the couple, the real attraction to Seabeck and its surroundings is the chance to spend long, relaxed days outside hitting the hiking trails that start at their front door, where they can savor the “wildness” that inspired the home’s design. “Ideally, the house isn’t making a statement greater than the place it sits,” Walter said. “So, our first response, and I think theirs, too, was to try to do something that was pretty modest and receded into the forest, rather than make a mark there.” 30 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
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Haris Kenjar
Open living spaces and floor-to-ceiling windows keep this Seabeck home simple.
home + design CLOCKWISE FROM TOP An unobstructed view of the water is this Orcas Island home’s centerpiece. The home was deliberately placed to make it hidden from the water. Wool carpeting and wood finishes cover the interior.
Sean Airhart
Haris Kenjar
An Orcas Island Retreat For this vacation home on a waterfront site on Orcas Island, architect Joe Herrin will be the first to tell you he took a counterintuitive approach to its placement. “We nestled it into a low point on the landscape, [whereas] a lot of people would put it on top of the promontory for more panoramic view potential,” Herrin said. Herrin, a principal at Seattle’s Heliotrope Architects, grew up boating in the San Juan Islands, so this tactic made perfect sense. “We didn’t do that. We nestled it down, which made it less visually imposing from the water,” Herrin said. Giving the house a low profile has the added bonus of protecting it from harsh weather, with which Herrin is also well-acquainted. “It just gets absolutely hammered, like 80to 100-mph wind gusts,” Herrin said. “You have to design it as though a fireman is standing in front of it with a fire hose and just shooting it right at the house.” To that end, retractable stained cedar exterior doors can handily “button up” the home when the storms start. Despite fortifying it against inclement weather, immersion in nature was at the top of the wish list for the clients, who are Seattleites with two young children. “It’s all about the outdoor experience in the islands,” Herrin said. “The owners had fallen in love with the place for the natural beauty.” Design moves big and small facilitate that appreciation, from the 9-by-27-foot glass apertures on two sides to the exterior grading of the land that ensures the deck doesn’t require a guardrail. “This allows the view to remain unobstructed by a 3-foot-high railing in the foreground,” Herrin said. Because it’s a vacation house, there’s no need for copious closet space, since most visitors are living out of a suitcase, and things like Christmas decorations can be stored back at home. The footprint was trimmed down to approximately 1,600 square feet, with a quality envelope, including stained cedar ceilings and walls, prioritized over the size. Interior designer Andy Beers of Ore Studios worked with the family over a three-year period to create a cozy and unpretentious furniture scheme that was durable enough for young kids and didn’t compete with the architecture. “The site is so beautiful and the way that the house is placed in the site is so beautiful, that nothing we did could overpower that,” Beers said. Natural materials such as wool carpeting and leather upholstery complement the wood finishes, while meaningful pieces, such as the dining table handmade by the owner from a piece of elm found on Bainbridge Island, take pride of place. From the green roof planted with native landscaping to the end-grain hemlock floors, everything about the home conveys a reverence for its context. “The San Juan Islands are my favorite place in the world, I just love them,” said Herrin, who’s still a boater and frequently spends his weekends at his own cabin a twenty-minute kayak ride away. “When I go boating and I’m going along the shoreline, I don’t want to see things that are less beautiful than the natural surroundings.” AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
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Sean Airhart
home + design
A flagstone patio, such as this professional installation on Orcas Island, can instantly upgrade your outdoor area.
DIY: Flagstone Patio SOMETIMES A STAYCATION is the answer rather than a vacation. In that case, having an outdoor destination at home can make any weekend or after-work evening more relaxing. Here are tips for creating an informal flagstone patio, composed of irregular pavers and plantings in between the rocks. 1 LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
4
When siting the patio, plan to allow it to follow the land’s natural grade and encourage proper drainage, so rainwater won’t pool and snow melt won’t flow toward the house’s foundation. Measure the area’s square footage to know how much stone to buy.
A gravel base stabilizes the pavers so they don’t move or tip underfoot, and facilitates drainage. Pour the gravel evenly and pack it down with a hand tamper until it reaches a height of 4 inches. Pour a 2-inch layer of sand over the top and level it with a rake.
2 STOCK UP
Since flagstones have irregular shapes, it can be a bit of a puzzle fitting them together. Buy extra so there’s some flexibility with placement, and make sure they are about 2 inches thick so they don’t crack under pressure. EXCAVATE
Clear the designated area of grass and soil. Dig down about 6 inches, plus the depth of the purchased stone. The overall depth should accommodate a 4-inch layer of crushed gravel beneath the pavers, as well as a 2-inch layer of sand, and still allow the patio to be level with the surroundings. Tamp the exposed soil. 32 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
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POUR AND PACK
5
ARRANGE
Place the stones in the preferred pattern, moving each piece back and forth to set it firmly in place. Leave about a 1-inch gap between stones for plants. Choose desired groundcover, such as moss for a shady spot or hardy mint that releases a scent when tramped. Fill gaps with a mix of sand and soil, then plant and water. CHILL
Add seating and a firepit, then kick back and relax after all that heavy lifting.
home + design
Patio Pleasers Liven up your outdoor areas with these weather-friendly picks
Have an ugly wall that could use some decoration? Since paintings and prints won’t work outside, try hanging several Wally Eco Vertical Garden Wall Planters for some lively ornamentation. The planters are made from 100 recycled milk jugs that are BPA free and come in twelve punchy colors. www.wallygro.com
As a Pacific Northwest resident, browsing catalogs for outdoor furniture can feel like a game of questions: Sure, that’s nice, but how will it stand up to our weather? Billy Losleben takes the guesswork out of the equation with the handmade concrete outdoor dining table. The statement-making design is a sharp and modern take on the classic picnic table. Even better, its concrete and steel construction is “fit for survival” here. www.concrete-project.com
The Sunday Lounge Side Chair from Portland’s Revolution Design House combines a powder-coated steel frame with an optional outdoor cushion. The frame color and the upholstery are fully customizable, which makes a stylish backdrop for your next Sunday afternoon hang. www.revolutiondesignhouse.com
Placemats aren’t exactly necessary for outdoor dining, but sometimes the table just needs a little gloss. Enter the durable silicone placemat from Modern-Twist, made of food-grade silicone free of BPA, lead, latex, phthalates and other harsh chemicals, and hand-silk-screened in a variety of eye-catching patterns. www.modern-twist.com AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
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mind + body
Gail Brodsky
Professional Tennis Player Age: 28 Hometown: Brooklyn, New York Residence: Woodinville
NUTRITION Breakfast: Cup of black coffee with a teaspoon of butter and a glass of fresh juice made with raw beets, celery, apples and lemon. Snack: Pita chips with hummus or baba ganoush. Lunch: Turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread, cup of fresh berries or a banana, or a protein smoothie. Dinner: I absolutely love cooking and really enjoy treating myself and my family to a delicious meal. One of our favorite go-to meals is chicken tequila fettuccine made with spinach fettuccine. Another is a Southwest chicken pot pie made with grilled chicken, black beans, corn, red onion, bell peppers, pico de gallo and mozzarella packed into a Pillsbury dough crust (because I can’t make my own). We love it because it is filling, nutritious, and who can resist a flaky crust?
WORKOUT My personal trainer, Donny Mateaki, puts me through some seriously rigorous workouts that allow me to be pretty flexible with my caloric intake. Bear crawls, gorilla jumps and side plank walks are all common exercises. We also do a lot of core work and interval running. For tennis, I spend about an hour and a half on court five times a week. A lot of players like to spend more time on court for training, but I believe if the intensity is high for a short period of time, the outcome of the practice is better, and players tend to not burn out or get tired of the sport.
INSPIRATION My greatest source of inspiration is definitely my family. I hope that one day my children will be able to look back at some of the things I have done and be proud of their mother. I also want to be able to show my daughter that she has no limits to what she can accomplish.
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Making a Comeback
Gail Brodsky has re-entered elite tennis after years off to start a family.
Gail Brodsky returns after retirement and two kids written by Maggy Lehmicke A LITTLE MORE than seven years ago, Gail Brodsky was ranked among the top 200 female tennis players in the world. Today, with two young kids on her arm, the Woodinville-based mom is back on court and making waves. “For me, it was a huge motivating factor to see girls I’ve competed against in the past doing so well,” Brodsky said, referencing top American players such as Sloane Stephens and Coco Vandeweghe. “It made me realize I actually have a chance.” After five years of retirement, the 28-year-old Brodsky took to the court again in 2017, hitting with local players before making the decision to start traveling and competing again. She played her first tournament and decided to make a second run, all while balancing her new life as a mom and tennis coach. “My priority is being a mom—that comes before training or anything else,” Brodsky said. “I kind of got training in wherever I could. I really committed to fitness and started to work out about five times a week. It was very intense, and my trainer and I would try to get as much in as we could in that short time.” As for her accomplishments since re-entering the professional tennis world, Brodsky continues to surpass expectations—including her own. After
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less than a year of being on court again, she won a $60,000 International Tennis Federation Tournament in Ashland, Kentucky, helping her achieve one of her main goals. “I gave myself three years to make it to the Grand Slams and was able to earn myself a wild card into the U.S. Open the first year out there,” she said. “That was huge for me.” In a short year, Brodsky’s WTA ranking sailed back to the top 300. Despite her early success and reinvigorated passion for the game, she realizes that the next year is likely to be more difficult. “The goal for the end of this year is to keep climbing in the rankings and moving forward,” she said. “I would really like to play all the Grand Slams next year, but I’m not putting that much pressure on myself. I’m doing this for the fun of it and so I don’t have any regrets later on in life.” Brodsky said her mindset as a mother has changed the way she thinks about competing. “I’m really enjoying playing in the tournaments I never got to compete in when I was younger,” she said. “It’s a whole different experience now from when I was growing up. Now, it’s for my kids.”
OCT
10-13 16TH ANNUAL
artist in residence Patrick Nguyen, aka Dozfy, fuses art and cuisine with his menu drawings.
Feast Your Eyes
Dozfy’s menu art has gained momentum and a cult following written by Naomi Tomky photography by Jackie Dodd
MUCH OF PATRICK NGUYEN’S art is small and disposable, which doesn’t exactly seem like the way to build a booming career. Known as Dozfy, Nguyen built a following for his signature drawings—small line sketches doodled onto the paper menu of whatever restaurant at which he is eating. Now, Dozfy has found a way to turn the drawings into an experience for other diners, creating interactive dinners with many of the city’s top chefs and bounding into a career that ties together food and art. 36 1889 WASHINGTONS’S MAGAZINE AUGUST | SEPTEMBER
2019
Patrick Nguyen
His menu sketches began in 2015 when he still lived Remembering that, Dozfy mused on how to have MORE ONLINE in Atlanta. The then-hospital efficiency expert doodled people interact with his menu art. “How do I make it See more of on a receipt, then threw it away when he got up to go Dozfy’s work at an experience?” In March 2018, he created the first “Eat www.1889mag. to the bathroom. When he came back, a friend had With Your Eyes” dinner. He had found the intersection com/dozfy dug it from the trash to keep. Soon after, he noticed between food and art, and now invited a third party— the lion he’d drawn on the cocktail menu hanging behind the the live audience—to join. “Timing was crucial,” he said of his bar at Leon’s Full Service. While Dozfy hadn’t seen the worth first tentative steps into the innovative genre—a gentle dance in his work, other people did—he started to gain traction and with the chef and the servers to enhance each others’ crafts recognition for his art, each piece signed with the name Dozfy. through collaboration, rather than distract. When he and his wife moved to Seattle not long after, he Using the familiar framework of a restaurant also gave Dozfy jumped into the art full time. the latitude to play with the art—diners became comfortable His Instagram following soared as he ate his way around his interacting with him through various games, with drawings as new home city, leaving behind evidence of his presence in the the prizes, and as he drew chalk murals or created small pieces form of a black menu topped with a white line drawing. His of art for diners to take home. The events are a bit different every art is clean, crisp, and symbolic—like the lion for Leon’s or the time, an evolving art form, but the centerpiece is that diners carrots that appear on a mural inside the remodeled FareStart enjoy a meal and witness the creation of a new piece of Dozfy art. in Seattle (carrots are the first task new participants in the “Menu art was just me and my wife,” he said. “Then the program are assigned). But what sets his art apart from other restaurant,” once he started leaving his sketches behind. “Now sketchers isn’t the drawings themselves, but where and how the audience is part of the art.” And that audience is growing. they’re made. In recent months, Dozfy represented the city of Seattle on a “Some people can have a conversation with anyone,” he media tour through Japan and Korea, painted oyster shells at the explained, “but that is not my forte.” Instead, he expresses Hama Hama Oyster Rama, and completed the mural in the new himself through the art he draws on menus. “That’s my FareStart restaurant. Diners can see his rotating chalkboards at language.” The drawings came about because his wife enjoyed Edouardo Jordan’s Salare, a pillar full of his drawing at Shota eating in new restaurants, and leaving behind the art became Nakajima’s Adana, and multiple paintings in various media at his way of expressing appreciation for what the restaurants do. Mutsuko Soma’s Kamonegi. He’s not sure where he will take Soon, he transitioned from doodling on menus for free to his art next, but he hopes to figure out how to grow his art to accepting commissions to create murals on restaurant walls bigger, more widely seen mediums. He offers “The Bean” in and chalkboards. But there was still something that felt one- Chicago (“Cloud Gate,” by Sir Anish Kapoor) as an example of sided about his art. An art school mentor of his had once said how he’d like to see people interacting with his art on a large there are three parts to the art—“the art itself, the artist and the scale—bringing his intersection of food, art, and audience to audience,” and that the third was most important to making a more folks. “I want to activate people, to tap into fun, but also living as an artist. to say something.” ABOVE, CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT Dozfy sketches a bird while dining at Arashi Ramen in Ballard. A large Dozfy piece. Restaurants display Dozfy’s work on napkins and menus.
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Petar Marshall
STARTUP 40 WHAT’S GOING UP 43 WHAT I’M WORKING ON 44 MY WORKSPACE 46 GAME CHANGER 48
pg. 46 Yakima’s Bite Club serves up multicourse meals in surprising locations.
startup
Audley to the Rescue Culling beauty from produce that’s perfectly imperfect written by Corinne Whiting photography by Morgen Schuler
Jenna Newbrey seeks to cut food waste by turning ugly produce into delicious food.
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startup
A FEW YEARS AGO, Jenna Newbrey was visiting family in Chelan when she witnessed “truckload after truckload of perfectly good apples” going to waste as they traveled to what she called the “apple graveyard.” A huge strike at the port meant no fruit was getting exported—causing the price of the bins to drop exponentially and the perfectly usable products to get tossed by the wayside. After speaking with hardworking farmers in Washington’s Skagit and Whatcom counties, Newbrey learned this was a widespread problem—40 percent of crops were going to waste. The registered dietitian—with an MBA in sustainability, food and agriculture—quickly decided it was time to take charge and do something about it. She seemed perfect for the task, too, thanks to her expertise in building out sustainable food supply chains for health care systems, and her experience in helping regional producers gain access to lucrative institutional markets. Newbrey points to two issues—first, there’s the challenge of sheer food waste that ranges from 40 percent of a farm’s total harvest being discarded to the excess that’s seen at grocery stores. While some items get tossed because they’re the wrong size or shape, other factors like export issues come into play, too. Then, there’s the side that Newbrey feels most passionate about—economic troubles affecting already-struggling farmers. “The fact that they’re not able to monetize half their harvest is really sad,” she said. So what was her solution? Getting her hands on these passed-over goods and putting them to great (and tasty) use. Though Audley’s business model has recently shifted away from smoothies, the company’s main aim remains—creating healthy products chock full of flavor, the highestquality nutrients and, according to its website, “a whole lot of love for audley [oddly] shaped fruits and veggies.” These days, the company is focusing on soups and is in the final stages of developing a cauliflower curry and tomato bisque creation, soon to roll out for a large client.
“We pivoted away from ready-to-drink consumer-focused products,” Newbrey explained, “after realizing we could have a much bigger impact reformulating current institutional products with higher quality ingredients at a lower price point.” Audley now sells to large distributors and is in the midst of collaborating with a high-end chain of sandwich shops. When it came to naming the startup, Newbrey was having a terrible time until she finally combined both of her kids’ names (Audrey and Brinkley) to form “Audley.” “[The name] accurately represents what we do—embracing the weird in produce and turning it into something delicious.” The company works with farmers all over the region, dependent upon which ingredients are needed. “This region is unique in that we have a farmer-owned aggregation and distribution center (co-op) where our growers can drop our product and get paid for aggregating and distributing to our co-packer,” Newbrey explained. “We work with an incredible family-owned copacker in Lynwood to develop recipes and get delicious products to market.” At the beginning, Newbrey experienced struggles felt by most entrepreneurs—a lack of money and time. Newbrey continually returned to the question: “What are the pieces I’m really good at and most passionate about?” The turning point came, Newbrey said, once she began tapping into pre-existing partnerships, asking others for help and learning from the farmers themselves. “I’ve been leaning heavily on the network I’ve culled,” she said. Newbrey admits this business has required tons of hard work on the back end. “But it’s completely worth it if I can help someone turn their business around,” she said. “I absolutely love being able to know I am actually working with our growers to create viable, thriving businesses.” And not to mention—creating delectable things along the way.
“[The name] accurately represents what we do— embracing the weird in produce and turning it into something delicious.” — Jenna Newbrey, Audley founder and CEO AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
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MEDICINE.WSU.EDU |
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what’s going up?
Maryhill Winery opened a tasting room at Waterfront Vancouver this spring.
Wine and Beer Around Washington
New tasting rooms abound in the state written by Sheila G. Miller
WINE AND BEER hold a special place in Washington. Now, there are more places to drink them. In Seattle, Urban Family Brewing will relocate from its Magnolia neighborhood location to a new spot in Ballard in late 2019 or early 2020. Urban Family Brewing, known for fruit-forward beers and sours, is a fan favorite. Over in Walla Walla, Valdemar Estates opened a new tasting room this spring. The Spanish family
Maryhill’s new space has extensive offerings.
winery selected Walla Walla as the location for a winery outside Spain, and Marie-Eve Gilla is the head winemaker. This spot, south of downtown, is already hopping. And in Vancouver, wine offerings continue to improve. First, Maryhill Winery opened its tasting room in Waterfront Vancouver this spring. Now, Walla Walla’s SuLei Cellars is also pouring, albeit in its new downtown storefront on Main Street.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
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what i’m working on
Boundless Hope Boundless offers affordable services to immigrants navigating the system interview by Michelle DeVona
IN 1989, XIAO WANG traveled from China to the United States to rejoin his parents, who had immigrated to Arizona. Like many immigrants attempting to navigate the complicated U.S. immigration system, his parents had little choice but to pay a lawyer to ensure their green card applications were done correctly. Thinking back on what his parents went through when he was a child, Wang, who’d previously helped build and launch programs such as Amazon Go, knew there had to be an easier way for immigrants to complete their government paperwork successfully. In 2017, Wang co-founded Boundless, a technology company that provides assistance for immigrants to complete their green card and naturalization applications through an online platform at one-fifth the cost of a traditional lawyer. Now, almost two years after it first launched, the company has assisted more couples with their marriage green card application than any law firm in the country. How did you initially come up with the idea for Boundless? Immigration is really hard. It was hard thirty years ago when my parents and I gave up everything to come over from China. We paid a lawyer nearly five months of rent to complete our green card applications because it was so high stakes and we didn’t know if we were doing it right. Sadly, the process has since gotten more complicated and the lawyer fees have gone up. It wasn’t until late 2016 that I finally asked, “Why is immigration so hard?” After talking with hundreds of families, lawyers and government policy experts, I realized it’s fundamentally due to a lack of information. With technology and data, this can finally change. I felt like I could see a clear path to solving this critical problem, and more importantly, felt like it had to be solved. How does Boundless ease the immigration process? 44 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
Xiao Wang wants to help immigrants with the challenge of paperwork.
Currently, families are caught between two confusing and potentially tragic options. They can spend thousands of dollars on a lawyer or they can try and do it themselves, spending weeks or months painfully researching what to do, with little confirmation if they’re doing it right. With Boundless, all families can now have affordable access to the tools, information and support previously only available to those who could afford high-priced attorneys. We help families identify what they are eligible for, complete the right forms accurately, connect them with a vetted immigration attorney at no extra charge, and provide support throughout the entire process. We have established a practice that has helped families feel positive emotions for the first time through their immigration process. Was Boundless a response to the current administration’s effort to make immigration more difficult?
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
No, the problem of fear and complexity in immigration has existed for generations. However, given that we are in arguably the most tumultuous immigration climate in generations, the importance of being a measured, trusted voice for all families has never been higher. We have dedicated significant resources to shining a light into the “black box” of the immigration system. How do you plan to grow the company from here? We are just getting started. Currently, we help families with marriage green cards and naturalization. However, this represents just a small proportion of immigrants that need assistance. Over the next few years, we will become the one-stop shop for all family-based immigration, building out products and services to help all of the millions of families that come to our website every year.
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For more than 40 years, we have aligned our clients’ values with their investments through divesting companies from their portfolios that didn’t aligned with their values. Through Ferguson Wellman’s GSI strategy, clients are investing in companies focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. GSI is designed for individuals, foundations and endowments seeking companies that are measuring and improving their practices around sustainability, emissions, diversity, equity and community impact. Our Global Sustainable Investing team: Jason Norris, CFA ; Tara Kinateder; Peter Jones, CFA
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my workspace
My Workspace
Breaking Bread
With an obsession for food and a desire to show people something extraordinary, previous MasterChef contestant Shawn Niles, along with chefs Gilbert Kalombo and Lara Bodine, started Bite Club Yakima in 2017. Each member of the group is also a pastor, extending their mission to break bread with the community.
Yakima chefs bring the bounty with an underground dinner club written by Molly Allen photography by Petar Marshall
Bite Club is an exclusive, underground dining club, allowing members to opt for unique dinners twice each month. The location changes each time and is revealed only two days prior to the dining event, adding to the club’s mystique.
The three chefs, along with their spouses, set up a five-course meal with expertly staged table décor and a menu that takes you on a culinary journey. According to Niles, one of the biggest rewards is being able to introduce someone to something new.
46 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE AUGUST | SEPTEMBER
2019
my workspace
With the location changing for each meal, no two kitchens are alike for this group, but they have learned to be nimble in any space offered, whether serving in the chef’s garden of a winery, a 100-year-old home or on the ninth green of a golf course.
The club started as a way to give the community a special treat, but it has turned into much more. It has offered camaraderie among community members and local businesses, while a portion of the proceeds support Urban Kitchen Yakima, a cooking school for at-risk area youth.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
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Carol Zahorsky
game changer
Foraging For Life ‘The Mushroom Queen’ reigns on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula written by Matt Wastradowski EVERY FALL, the 43-square-mile Long Beach Peninsula becomes the unofficial mushroom capital of the Pacific Northwest. Foragers scour the region’s damp forests, set on finding chanterelles, porcini mushrooms and more. Restaurants make mushrooms the centerpiece of seasonal dishes. This six-week Wild Mushroom Celebration includes restaurant specials, mushroom-centered dinner events, fungi-themed art workshops, foraging hikes and more. The queen of the region’s fungal fiefdom is Veronica Williams, an 88-year-old native of Hungary who does seventy sit-ups every morning before crawling around the forest floor to track down mushrooms—in addition to ferns, berries and other wild plants. She then supplies her foraged goods to restaurants throughout the Long Beach Peninsula and the northern Oregon Coast. This is a practice Williams has spent eight decades honing. Growing up in Hungary’s Carpathian Mountains, Williams first joined her mother to forage for mushrooms at just 3 years old. “We lived off whatever you could pick,” she said. “And everything was there for you to pick—everything.” Williams was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of mushrooms she found—and hasn’t stopped picking since. Her family left Eastern Europe in 1949, and Williams eventually settled in South Bend, Washington, just inland from the Long Beach Peninsula. Since then, Williams has become something of a local legend for her foraging prowess. Williams insists she can spot mushrooms while cruising along Highway 101, has foraged all over the United States and Canada, and has written two books on mushrooms—one a foraging guide, the other a cookbook. She’s sold her finds at farmers markets and to numerous restaurants throughout the region, including Pickled Fish at Adrift Hotel, Astoria’s Bridgewater Bistro, Blue Scorcher Bakery & Cafe—and the list goes on.
Veronica Williams’ mushroom foraging has had a huge effect on the Long Beach Peninsula’s food scene.
For all Williams’ expertise, she brings more to the restaurant than mushrooms and wild celery, said Chína Martinez, general manager at the Pickled Fish. In addition to her friendly demeanor and passion for foraging, Williams takes time to educate the Pickled Fish kitchen staff, often giving instructions for cleaning and preparation alongside her hauls. “One thing I really appreciate about Veronica is that she’s the freest and the best form of education,” Martinez said. “She’s so open with all her knowledge. She’s very eager to teach people and share her knowledge.” For Williams, the thrill of the hunt—and sharing that joy with others—is no less enchanting than when she first stepped into the forests of Hungary more than eighty years ago. “Mushrooms are mysterious,” she said. “When you think they’re going to be there, nothing. But sometimes, they surprise you. And I like surprises.”
Williams insists she can spot mushrooms while cruising along Highway 101, has foraged all over the United States and Canada, and has written two books on mushrooms—one a foraging guide, the other a cookbook. She’s sold her finds at farmers markets and to numerous restaurants throughout the region. 48 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
Sample the Bounty of the San Juan Islands – This Fall! From wine tastings to a brew fest, farmers markets to farm tours, and film festivals to cozy lodgings, the San Juan Islands are a delectable fall feast for the senses.
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Get Your Feet Wet Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center Museum
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Exit 44 on I-84 columbiagorge.org 509-427-8211
Exit 82 on I-84 gorgediscovery.org 541-296-8600
Stevenson, WA
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Discover the culture, rich history & diverse landscapes along the Columbia River
Tamástslikt Cultural Institute Pendleton, OR Exit 216 on I-84 tamastslikt.org 541-429-7700
nothing seems more glamorous than a career in the food world. Whether you’re cooking on the line in a busy restaurant, creating wine or putting the finishing touches on a truffle, it sounds to some like a dream come true. For Thane Hawkins, Michael Poole and Tiffany Ran, these dreams became a reality, though none started with a career in the food and drink industry in mind. In fact, they were engaged in careers many other people dream about for different reasons. Their stories are a good reminder that sometimes the most fulfilling paths are the ones we don’t expect.
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Second Act l Three Washington food professionals on their career transitions written by Cara Strickland
photography by Charity Burggraaf
AT LEFT Tiffany Ran makes Taiwanese food at her pop-up, BaBaLio.
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Thane 52 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
Hawkins AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
From Monsters, Inc. to Mourvedre A chance to take a few classes in film started history and English major Thane Hawkins on the road to his first career in the fledgling animation industry. One thing led to another, and by way of Vancouver and New York City, he was soon in the San Francisco Bay Area working on a new crop of animated movies—Antz, Monster House, Shrek, and Monsters, Inc. among them. Hawkins described his role as “somewhere between the director, photographer and the art director,” focusing on color and lighting and other elements of visual experience. Meanwhile, Hawkins began to cultivate another passion—wine. With Napa and Sonoma in his backyard, he spent his free time learning about different varietals and stylistic differences. During a leave of absence, Hawkins moved to Oregon, where pinot noir became his focus. He began to dream of bringing big reds to Oregon for those who wanted an alternative to pinot. Though he continued to work in the arts world, including as a teacher, wine was calling him. After working harvest for local winemakers and making wine in his garage, he knew he was hooked. A day job in the visual arts world coupled with a local viticulture program kept him busy, but not too busy to continue experimenting with wine. By the end of 2013, Hawkins had transitioned to wine full time, opening his first Hawkins Cellars
tasting room in Dundee, Oregon, with the goal of bringing farther north the big reds he loved from his California wine country days. Hawkins began to appreciate the wine coming out of the Yakima Valley. Though you can still buy some of his Oregon wine, now most of his energy goes into making wine at his small facility in Underwood. Hawkins’ partner, Deb Michaelson, owns property on Underwood Mountain and introduced him to what might be Washington’s only cool-climate growing region. He’s focused on creating interesting wines from grapes mostly grown there. “I like working with interesting varietals with different, interesting flavor profiles,” Hawkins said. “I just like making wines that are a little bit out of the box.” Though he’s happy with his current gig at Hawkins Cellars, he always has his ears open for the next thing. “At some point, I just became a believer in fate,” he said. “I’m always kind of keeping my antennae open towards where I should be going, not necessarily in terms of a career, but just tweaking the business model on an as-needed basis.” Though it might seem like a large leap from visual arts to wine, Hawkins sees a lot of similarities. “They both require a blend of aesthetic and science or technology—you need to understand both worlds to be successful.”
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
ABOVE, FROM LEFT Thane Hawkins at the vineyard in Underwood, the state’s only coolclimate growing region. Hawkins Cellars is today primarily based in the Yakima Valley.
“AT SOME POINT, I JUST BECAME A BELIEVER IN FATE. I’M ALWAYS KIND OF KEEPING MY ANTENNAE OPEN TOWARDS WHERE I SHOULD BE GOING, NOT NECESSARILY IN TERMS OF A CAREER, BUT JUST TWEAKING THE BUSINESS MODEL ON AN AS-NEEDED BASIS.”
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Tiffany Ran
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From Line Edits to Line Cook Tiffany Ran had never worked in a restaurant and didn’t have any chef contacts, but she was passionate about food. With a degree in journalism, she hoped to break into the food writing world. During a stint as an intern at Yes! magazine on Bainbridge Island, she stumbled across a restaurant just getting ready to open. She asked to talk to the chef to see if she could be a fly on the wall and write about it, and he said yes. But as the restaurant started to get going, Ran had a choice—watch and take notes, or pitch in and help—and she chose to roll up her sleeves and get to work. That restaurant turned out to be Hitchcock, and the chef Brendan McGill. Ran’s decision to help get things started led to her first stage—an unpaid internship crucial to the culinary world, learning to cook from McGill and the other members of his staff. Within a couple of years, Ran moved to Seattle, still trying to balance writing with cooking. She had an internship with Seattle Met and became an interim editor at Northwest Asian Weekly, but more and more, her heart was in the kitchen. Once in the city, she became a line cook at Renee
Erickson’s The Walrus and The Carpenter, going on to work with Mutsuko Soma on Miyabi 45th and Kamonegi. The desk job during the day and cooking all night got to be too much—she chose to tell stories in the kitchen instead. Though Washington had been her home for nearly a decade, Ran was still homesick. Born in Taiwan, she’d grown up in the L.A. area, where it was easy to find Taiwanese cuisine—in Seattle, not so much. After lots of urging from friends in the food community, last year she launched her own Taiwanese pop-up: BaBaLio (aka BB6), as a way to explore the flavors she missed. “It never occurred to me throughout all the years I was learning to cook that I should be making Taiwanese food,” Ran said. “I think you always get the sense that the Western cooking is the real cooking.” While she explored Taiwanese cuisine in her own kitchen late at night after work, it took a comment from a colleague to start thinking about cooking it for other people. “‘You should appreciate that you’re homesick because it makes you curious, it makes you want to explore that,’” Ran remembered. “That stuck with me.”
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
BELOW Tiffany Ran, who runs a Taiwanese pop-up restaurant, peels a stalk of celery for a dish.
CHECK OUT TIFFANY RAN'S ONCE-A-MONTH POP-UPS AT WWW.BABALIOTAIWAN.COM (BE SURE TO RESERVE EARLY, AS THEY USUALLY SELL OUT)
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“IT SEEMS LIKE SOMETIMES ALONG THE WAY ANOTHER DOOR OPENS AND YOU WALK THROUGH THE DOOR—YOU JUST NEVER KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN.”
Michael Poole 56 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
From Fireman to French Macarons When Michael Poole was a new recruit to the Seattle Fire Department, he wanted to be where the action was. A downtown station was willing to hire him, but only if he could cook. Though he’d always been interested in the culinary life of his family, he’d never cooked so consistently before. “That’s where my culinary journey began,” he said. He started with hearty meat-and-potatoes meals, but soon began to branch out. “I started buying Bon Appétit and Gourmet magazines, and I would challenge myself with more sophisticated recipes.” Eventually he won the firefighter seafood cookoff three times in a row—the next year they invited him to be a judge—and both the regional and national firefighter chili competitions, prompting Rachael Ray to invite him on her show. After a couple years, Poole started a concession business on the side, selling Jamaican food at street fairs and eventually doing some catering. The business was successful, but he put it on hold when he decided to go through the process of becoming a lieutenant, which took two years. Once that hurdle was complete, Poole started thinking about new dreams—a friend mentioned a course at Le Cordon Bleu that could be taken a chunk at a time. Poole decided to give it a go. He started spending three months a year in
Paris, learning the art of French cooking. Along the way, a friend offered him a job working in her chocolate factory just outside Paris, and he learned chocolate making. He graduated in four years as class valedictorian. His catering clients had grown accustomed to asking what new techniques he’d learned in Paris, and they were delighted when he started making chocolates for the end of the meal. Eventually, he began selling them through retail venues, garnering more awards. Now, besides his work at the fire station, from which he plans to retire at the end of this year, he mostly teaches classes in chocolate making and French macarons. He’ll still cater for a loyal clientele, but his hope is to be able to teach more once he retires from firefighting—he doesn’t cook as much there anymore, but will still fill in once in a while. Beyond that, he’d like to be able to take groups on chocolate tours around the world. Looking back on his varied career, it’s clear his path wasn’t planned. “It seems like sometimes along the way another door opens and you walk through the door—you just never know what’s going to happen,” he said. For Poole, Ran and Hawkins, the unknown turned out to contain many delicious surprises.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
ABOVE, FROM LEFT Michael Poole pours chocolate into a mold. Poole’s chocolates are sold at retail venues, and he teaches others to make them as well.
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MAKING A NAME THE QUEST TO PROTECT SALISH SEA PRODUCTS, AND TO SHARE THEIR QUALITY WITH THE WORLD written by Naomi Tomky | photography by Brandon Sawaya
If some in the seafood industry have their way, the Salish Sea will become synonymous with flavorful seafood.
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AUGUST AUGUST || SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER 2019 2019
CHAMPAGNE, COLOMBIAN COFFEE, STILTON cheese … and Salish Sea sustainable seafood? The idea of an AOC, or protected designation of origin, is an old one in Europe, where regions fiercely protect their local traditions from imposters. It has slowly made its way to the rest of the world. Now Riley Starks wants to create one that marks halibut, salmon, Dungeness crab and other delicacies of the Pacific Northwest as uniquely of this region, demanding the high standard of quality as other protected products, such as Prosciutto di Parma or Roquefort cheese. Starks’ name may ring a bell for local food lovers—in 2010, he brought chef Blaine Wetzel to his tiny Lummi Island bed and breakfast, changing the course of Pacific Northwest gastronomy and catapulting The Willows Inn onto worldwide best restaurant lists. But Starks has since sold the Inn and is now committed to the same ingredients that helped Wetzel earn stardom—specifically, the fish that swim near the island and the sustainable, traditional reefnet fishing culture of the Lummi Tribe that shares it. As executive director of the nonprofit Salish Center for Sustainable Fishing Methods, he works with tribal fishermen including president Lucas Kinley, and grocers and restaurateurs such as Larry Mellum of Pike Place Chowder, to educate the public about sustainable fishing methods and the health of the waterways of the Pacific Northwest (specifically, Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and into British Columbia’s Strait of Georgia, cumulatively known as the Salish Sea) through the seafood on our plates.
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Riley Starks is leading the charge to designate Salish Sea products. AT RIGHT, FROM TOP This year, fish from the Salish Sea will have a tag identifying it as such. Hannah Miner uses string to bind rope around an eyelet as Starks’ team prepares for the upcoming fishing season.
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THERE’S SO MANY NEW PEOPLE TO SEATTLE WHO DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE SALISH SEA THAT IT’S A GREAT WAY FOR THEM TO BECOME A PART OF THEIR ENVIRONMENT AND DO SOMETHING POSITIVE, BASICALLY JUST BY RECOGNIZING AND BUYING THE PRODUCT.” In March, members of the Suquamish Tribe paddled their canoes up to the pier at Seattle’s Bell Harbor and began calling out the names of well-known chefs and fishmongers. One by one, chef Renee Erickson, as well as the new owners of the Pike Place Fish Market and the chef of Anthony’s Pier 66 each stepped up to receive a very special fish from the Suquamish: Salish Sea halibut. Once nearly destroyed, the local halibut fishery has made a comeback and now opens only
to tribal fishermen. The season is short, but the fish is sweet and those in the know covet the annual chance to taste one of the region’s greatest treasures and the fruits of a sustainable seafood success story. Until this push, the tiny, three-weeklong halibut fishery in the region has been lumped together with the rest of the West Coast halibut fisheries. The 200,000 pounds of Salish Sea halibut making its way into restaurants and stores had no labeling that set it apart from the 20
million to 30 million pounds coming down from Alaska’s six-month season. The only thing that did set it apart, in fact, was its flavor—Salish Sea halibut don’t participate in the great migration of halibut that go from Oregon to Alaska, Starks said. “They live their adult life in the Salish Sea, where they’re eating spot prawns and Dungeness crab.” Sounds like a good life, right? The difference shows in their flavor and their texture. But without labels, “You could notice sometimes [the fish] is better than others,” Starks said. “But you won’t know why. There’s zero effort to designate the origin.” That’s why this year, for the first time, each of the halibut handed over from the canoes came marked with a round blue tag with an orange diamond in the center, circled by the words “Salish Sea Certified.” Part of the problem before, Starks explained, is that there was no way to tell the halibut apart. “I have been around for a long time, I know the difference,” he said of the quality of Salish Sea halibut—and other seafood. But the tag gives others the opportunity to buy the best local fish. “There’s so many new people to Seattle who don’t know anything about the Salish Sea that it’s a great way for them to become a part of their environment and do something positive, basically just by recognizing and buying the product.”
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CLOCKWISE Volunteer Dan Miner, left, and staff member Ben Fuik attach a line of buoys. The gearyard on Legoe Bay. Fuik, left, and Olivia Latimer, right, tie ribbons to a line used for guiding fish over their net. Joni feels the breeze while riding on a boat with Starks.
F
or Starks and the Salish Center, events like the canoe delivery create awareness around the labeling, and the labeling creates a differentiation that allows them to charge the kind of premium needed to sustainably fish the better product. He holds up Copper River salmon as the end goal: a label the late culinary marketer Jon Rowley managed to take from obscure fishery to a brand name synonymous with quality for savvy seafood eaters in the Pacific Northwest—and a booming business for fishermen who adhere to the quality standards it laid out. But Starks doesn’t stop with a trademarked brand. He envisions even bigger recognition—that coveted protected designation of origin bestowed upon only products deemed so specific to their home region that nothing similar can be grown, produced or caught anywhere else in the world. He hopes to see the Salish Sea’s sustainable seafood viewed in the same way as a Napa Valley wine—just naming the location connotes a certain quality. When it comes to sustainable seafood, Starks said, consumers have mostly heard horror stories that are “dragging people down.” The idea behind the halibut celebration, August’s Paddling for the Pinks fishing derby in honor of pink salmon, and October’s Dungeness Crab events is to highlight products that are success stories, he said. The fisheries that have been saved from being nearly wiped out and are now thriving, like the Baker Lake sockeye salmon, revived from near extinction to a run of 50,000. “People can see what’s harvested here, fall in love with it, and want to protect it,” Starks said. In the long run, the goal is to raise money to help protect it. The money raised through the labeling and the Salish Sea certification goes to five designated nonprofits dedicated to the health of the Salish Sea and its fisheries. The Northwest Straits Foundation, the Regional Fisheries Coalition and
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PEOPLE CAN SEE WHAT’S HARVESTED HERE, FALL IN LOVE WITH IT, AND WANT TO PROTECT IT.”
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Long Live the Kings focus on habitat restoration, while the Oceans Initiative studies the orca habitats in the region and provides guidelines for regulations to boost their populations. The fifth nonprofit is the Salish Center itself, which Starks hopes will bring in enough money to be self-sustaining, with the fishermen paying for the medallion but earning that money back through the sale of the premium fish—an upcharge he estimates will look like about $1 per pound to the consumer on what might otherwise be a $20 per pound halibut. Though the Salish Center is new— opened in 2017—Starks’ push for
differentiation of Salish Sea methods and toward sustainability is not. He’s been a reefnet fisherman in Legoe Bay of Lummi Island for close to thirty years, and has been educating people about the sustainable fishing method since 2001, first through the Willows Inn, and later through the seafood company Lummi Island Wild. Lummi Island Wild, where Starks was the marketing manager, evolved recently from a co-op into separate fishing gears, and Starks ended up with one of the gears. He recognized nobody could afford to have him do the kind of sustainable fishing education he’d been doing for years, and so he decided
to go out on his own as a nonprofit educational platform—the Salish Center. “We’re still in the dream stage,” he admitted. “It’s awesome, but scary as hell.” The dream is to get the governor on board and try to get corporate buy-in from places such as Microsoft and Amazon, who are bringing people into the area. He knows his work is cut out for him. “It’s only going to work if it’s a recognizable logo with buy-in from the public.” But if they can get people to taste it, to try what they’re selling, he’s confident. “I can’t think of a product that’s harvested here that is better,” he said. “If it doesn’t taste good, the story doesn’t matter.”
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In Search of Solitude written and photographed by M. Laine Photography WASHINGTON HAS NO SHORTAGE of stunning vistas. It also has lots of hikers willing to traipse the trails for a good look at them. Adventure wedding and elopement photographer Meghann Grah knows the secrets to having a scenic spot all to yourself—here, she shares her advice.
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1
Mount Storm King
4 miles, roundtrip
Not up for an early wake-up call, but still craving solitude? Starting your hike in the late afternoon or evening will do the trick during summer months. Mount Storm King is the perfect perch to watch the sunset, but it’s not for those who fear heights. There are two steep, roped sections to summit this small mountain that are best done in dry weather. This short thigh-burner is worth it for the remarkable views up top.
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2
Lake Stuart
9 miles, roundtrip Lake Stuart is located in the coveted Enchantments. It’s easier to reach than its more popular neighbor, Colchuck Lake, but is just as beautiful. When hiking to your destination in the dark, make noise or chat with your hiking partners to prevent surprise encounters with wildlife. After watching sunrise, hiking back to your car in daylight will feel like an entirely different trail. You’ll spot many things you missed along the way.
2
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High Rock
4
Snow Lake
3.2 miles, roundtrip
7.2 miles, roundtrip
Steep, but short, is what I like about hiking to High Rock. If you’re lucky, the fire lookout will be open, and you’ll have a warm place to wait for sunrise. I recommend arriving before first light so you can enjoy the full effect of the sunrise. Plus, if it takes you longer than expected, you still won’t miss the big show.
Not all sunrises are golden. Even with tons of planning, you might not get a spectacular view. Appreciate the serenity regardless! Hiking to Snow Lake is worth it in any weather, although I recommend only traversing this trail in summer since there is avalanche danger throughout winter. If you’re unsure of conditions, check www.wta.org’s trip reports and hike descriptions.
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TRAVEL SPOTLIGHT 72 ADVENTURE 74 LODGING 76 TRIP PLANNER 78
pg. 74 Summer in the Yakima Valley means a visit to the orchards.
Yakima Valley Tourism
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travel spotlight
Travel Spotlight
Mrs. Beesley’s
The iconic I-5 eatery Mrs. Beesley’s now accepts credit cards.
The homey kitsch goes perfectly with the delicious grill menu written by Christopher Warner photography by Ben McBee LOCATED ABOUT HALFWAY between Portland and Seattle along I-5, Mrs. Beesley’s provides a welcome oasis for the hungry and weary traveler. The small diner with the large iconic EAT sign has been serving happy customers for more than six decades, specializing in oldfashioned hamburgers and shakes. Dan and Dixie Beesley cleverly recognized the need for a cash-only food stand when the interstate first opened in the area. The couple recently retired and handed over operations to another husband-and-wife team, Ron and Julie Zion, who wisely retained the name along with the same Pacific Northwest kitsch and tasty grill menu. One major change, however, is the acceptance of credit cards. Enjoy.
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E XPLO
ORS
of
AV
THE FL E R
FEATURING A VARIETY OF FOOD AND DRINK FROM THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA. LEARN MORE ABOUT UPCOMING CULINARY EXPERIENCES AT FORTWORDEN.ORG/EAT-HERE/
200 BATTERY WAY, PORT TOWNSEND, WA 98368 | 360.344.4400
adventure
U-pick stands abound in the Yakima Valley.
Take Your Pick Yakima’s fruit stands make for a fun weekend adventure written by Daniel O’Neil
COMPARED TO A grocery store scene of unripe fruit languishing under fluorescent lights, the Yakima Valley resembles Eden. Cherries, peaches, apricots, nectarines, apples and pears, basking in a canopy of vibrant green, all dazzling in the sweet summer sun—this is where fruit actually comes from. In Washington, there’s no better place to buy fresh fruits and vegetables and learn about how they’re grown than from the orchards, farms and fruit stands that dot Yakima’s rustic landscape. Grab an empty cooler, your sweet tooth and go taste for yourself.
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Since the mid-1800s, fruit trees have flourished in Yakima, an area so sunny it calls itself the Palm Springs of Washington. At the turn of the century, irrigation of rich volcanic and sedimentary soils quickly yielded plump crops of tree fruit like apples and cherries. Orchards outnumbered homes in Yakima until the 1950s, when new residents began driving to the nearest barns to buy fruit directly from the grower. The tradition continues today for locals and visitors. Two hours east of Seattle, Yakima’s orchards and fruit stands make for a delectable day trip—all roads in Washington seem to lead there. The Yakima Valley Travel Guide maps out dozens of places to buy farm-fresh fruit, and you never know what you’ll find on their tables each day. Produce is sold by the pound, box or wholesale bin. Cartons and bags are free, or bring your own. As for choosing the best fruit, use your nose to sniff out the ripest pieces. A stop at three or four retailers or orchards fills a day, and a car, with fresh produce. One modern classic is Barrett Orchards, opened in 2004 in north Yakima. Fourth-generation farmers from the valley, Mark and Cheryl Barrett nestled their fruit stand in a 45-acre orchard. “You’d be surprised how many people come across the mountains,” Barrett said. “They want to go to the farm.” Barrett’s and other stands have picnic areas, so pack a lunch, liquids, a hat and sunscreen, because Yakima summers get hot. Wandering the rows of trees to sample fruit is encouraged, and, at Barrett’s, an interpretive trail leads through the art of growing cherries, Yakima’s signature summer produce. “We built this as a destination, an orchard experience,” Barrett said. He even offers U-pick cherries for a short time each year. Different varieties of sweet cherries grow from mid-June to late July, coloring the trees and tables like fireworks. Lapin, Skeena, Tieton, Bing, Chelan, Rainier and Selah are a few. “Cherry season is my favorite time of year,” said Eric Johnson, who runs the business his great-grandfather, a Swede, planted in 1904. The original 1916 Johnson Orchards packing warehouse serves as storefront today, an orchard oasis in the heart of town. Which cherries to buy depends on the time of season, but, “Bing and Rainier, when picked right, are the best,” Johnson said. Besides the succulence of big-name varieties, the Yakima Valley promises rarities like the Burlat, a soft-flesh dark cherry which distributors ignore. Precision Fruit, however, just north of Yakima alongside Interstate 82, does sell elusive cherries like Burlats when available. It also sells antiques. Dedicated to retail, Precision has offered a cornucopia of Yakima Valley fruit since 1946. “Our valley produces great stuff, but we also have great people who produce it,” said Jim Burkett, son-in-law to the store’s second-generation owners. Just like Barrett, Johnson, and the valley’s other stands, Precision Fruit provides a selection of the freshest Yakima fruit as it arrives each season. For tree fruit lovers, this means peaches, which take over in mid-July and sometimes continue into October. Whether for canning or eating, Elberta peaches reign supreme. The heirloom variety is delicious in so many ways—Barrett Orchards sells Elbertas in peach smoothies,
Photos: Yakima Valley Tourism
adventure
Johnson Orchards’ original packing warehouse now serves as the fruit stand.
Johnson Orchards in homemade peach pies, and Precision as its top-selling canned fruit. Peaches make for a great find on stands’ second-quality tables, where the price of a pound encourages binge eating. But money is always well spent on tree-ripened peaches picked earlier that morning. Fruit destined for grocery stores tends to be picked green, and once it turns peach in color it never tastes like its sweet, perfumed, juicy counterpart on the farm. Besides Elbertas, the Sugar Lady, Sweet Dream, donuts and late-ripening O’Henry represent some of Yakima’s peach bounty. A full experience of Yakima Valley fruit requires several visits, in summer and fall. By mid-July, apricots and nectarines come in. Pluots and plums appear in mid-August, when pears also begin. For an abundance of fresh peppers of every sort, stop by Krueger Pepper Gardens in south Yakima. Johnson Orchards grows enough pears to propose ten varieties at once by mid-summer. Apples end the season, and Barrett Orchards celebrates the harvest with October Days, which includes cider pressing, a pumpkin patch and a hay maze for the kids. Rain comes infrequently to Yakima. Valley fruit stands also sell local, freshly picked vegetables in season—think asparagus, tomatoes, corn and zucchini—to complete the basket. Local honey, wine and more typically line the shelves. “We’re like a mini farmers market,” Johnson said. Certified organic fruit is available at many stands, and grown at places like Barrett’s. In this new era of online grocery shopping, a trip to the farm seems imperative. Plus it’s fun, and a good reason to get in the car. More than just a simple transaction, buying fresh fruit from the source grows a connection to the land and to the people who cultivate it. In the scenic Yakima Valley, this means passionate growers and sellers and a garden of delights plump with variety and riper than you’ve ever tasted. AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
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Photos: Bellevue Club Hotel
lodging
ACCOMMODATIONS
The hotel offers sixty-six guest rooms in a range of price points to fit your needs. Club rooms feature a patio, premier rooms include a fireplace, and all rooms have deep bathtubs and spacious showers. Want to bring along your furry friends? Dogs under 30 pounds are welcome with prior arrangements. If you need more than just a room, Bellevue Club Hotel is equipped with event spaces in a variety of sizes.
DINING
Besides twenty-four-hour room service, the Bellevue Club offers four on-site dining options. From the quick café vibe of Luna Express to the casual lunch and dinner fare at Splash (you’ll find it right by the pool), a drink and appetizer at the Cosmos Lounge or a more elevated experience for breakfast through dinner at Polaris, there’s something for everyone. As a hotel guest, you’ll enjoy complimentary continental breakfast during the week, or a dining voucher over the weekend.
AMENITIES
As a guest of the hotel, you gain temporary membership to the Bellevue Club, offering you access to tennis, squash and racquetball courts, three swimming pools, hot tub, sauna and steam room, several fitness centers, a gym, and a running or walking track. You can join exercise classes such as aerobics, yoga and barre, hook your kids up with youth activities, and have access to the full-service spa. The hotel town car can take you wherever you need to go within a few miles, making your travel experience even more seamless.
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT The hotel is right in urban Bellevue. The sixty-six-room hotel has a variety of room sizes. Guests of the hotel get temporary access to the Bellevue Club and its amenities.
Lodging
Bellevue Club Hotel written by Cara Strickland PART OF A membership-based athletic and social club, this Bellevue institution offers a boutique hotel experience convenient to the city of Bellevue and neighboring locales. Though it’s settled in an urban area, the architecture and greenery make it feel hidden away. 11200 SOUTHEAST SIXTH STREET BELLEVUE www.bellevueclubhotel.com
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For more information about the DoubleTree by Hilton Spokane City Center, or for details about our Hilton Honors program, please visit us at www.Spokane.DoubleTree.com.
trip planner Cape Disappointment State Park’s lighthouse overlooks “the graveyard of the Pacific.”
Long Weekend at Long Beach The Long Beach Peninsula is beautiful, quiet and a perfect spot for a getaway written by Lauren Kramer
WHEN YOU IMAGINE quiet walks along a seemingly endless shoreline, sandcastle building with little hands digging next to you, serene, ocean-inspired meals and blissful silence but for the whoosh of the waves, you’re picturing Long Beach Peninsula. This 28-mile tongue of land cradled by the Pacific Ocean, Willapa Bay and the Columbia River binds a handful of sleepy communities that feel lost in time and almost completely unchanged over the years. Come for the soothing melody of the ocean, the joy of biking through sand dunes with the wind in your hair and the exhilaration of forest hikes to jaw-dropping vistas. If you love the beach, three days on this littleknown peninsula will calm your soul, intrigue you with its history and leave you breathless with its beauty. 78 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
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Day BIKING • BEACHES • WINDOW SHOPPING We checked in at Adrift Hotel, a beachside property where the waves are so close that earplugs are placed in each bedroom, in case guests can’t sleep through the tumbling sound. Meticulously remodeled in recent years, Adrift offers complimentary beach bikes, making for an irresistible way to explore the coastline. We took to the Discovery Trail, an 8-mile paved bike path that winds through the sand dunes, past bright yellow bursts of fireweed, alongside dune grass blowing in the wind and sandpipers scurrying close to the shoreline. At the peninsula’s southernmost hamlet, Ilwaco, stop for lunch and a salty cucumber cocktail at the Salt Hotel & Pub, a harborside restaurant
VisitLongBeachPeninsula.com
trip planner
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT At Pickled Fish, the food and views are a perfect match. The Discovery Trail and others offer solitude. Fish and chips are the perfect order at Long Beach.
where the ahi tuna on the tacos is reeled in straight from the water. Stroll along the harbor and it’s easy to tell that fishing is Ilwaco’s main attraction. Starting in May, sturgeon- and salmonfishing charters depart daily from the port, taking anglers out in search of a great catch. While there isn’t much shopping on the peninsula, the majority of retailers are situated along Long Beach’s colorful Pacific Avenue. Cool off after an invigorating bike ride with an ice cream cone and wander between the galleries, gift shops and souvenir stores filled with unique treasures. Don’t miss a visit to Marsh’s Free Museum, a hard to miss, one-of-a-kind store that combines seaside curios with a collection of preserved animal heads, unusual antiques and photographs of the area from bygone days. Like most shops on the peninsula, this one has an undeniably quirky personality. Folks eat early here, so don’t wait ’til late before you head out for a meal. The Depot Restaurant, five minutes down the road from Long Beach in Seaview, is a great choice for an intimate meal. The restaurant is run by Michael Lalewicz, one of a handful of talented chefs who have made their home on the Long Beach Peninsula. You can’t help but bump into history in these parts. The Depot’s building started as a platform station in 1888 for the railway system that moved visitors between the peninsula’s communities. The train schedule and other historical paraphernalia are displayed on the restaurant walls and make for interesting reading as diners tuck into king salmon, ribeye meatballs, housemade hummus and a range of dishes prepared with a level of skill and careful ingredient-sourcing that defies this relatively isolated location. 80 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
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Day HIKES • LIGHTHOUSES • HISTORY Start your day with an energizing smoothie at Roots Juice, Java & Salads in Ilwaco, a roadside espresso stand that whips up a fabulous liquid breakfast but also serves hearty avocado sandwiches easily eaten on the go. Your destination, Cape Disappointment State Park, is one of several places on the peninsula with an intriguing name. It was named Disappointment by Captain Meares in 1788, when he failed to cross the bar where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. A notoriously dangerous crossing, it’s a place where millions of gallons of fresh water collide with ocean swells, creating waves that reach heights of 40 feet. Thanks to dense fog, fierce currents and a shallow, shifting sandbar, some 2,000 vessels have sunk here since 1792, earning it the nickname “the graveyard of the Pacific.” One of the many picturesque beaches at the park, Dead Man’s Cove, earned its name because of the sailors’ bodies that would wash up on its shores. There’s a fabulous array of forest hikes at Cape Disappointment, with trails that lead uphill to its two lighthouses, and down toward the sand dunes and the beach. On the coastal forest loop trail, the sheer girth of trees at least 200 to 300 years old is compelling, while the hike past Dead Man’s Cove to Cape Disappointment lighthouse has a series of spectacular scenic overlooks, each better than the one before it. For dinner, head to Pickled Fish at Adrift Hotel for fried fish, chips and microbrews overlooking the rolling waves.
Looking �hrough �he windows of our pas�.
Discover local s�o�ies at �he Columbia Pacific Heri�age Museum
10-4 Tues-Sat • $5.00 admission •Thurs FREE 115 SE Lake St • Ilwaco WA, 98624 • 360-642-3446 www.columbiapacificheritagemuseum.org
Adrift Hotel • Inn at Discovery Coast • Ashore Hotel Shelburne Hotel • Pickled Fish • adrift distillers
LONG BEACH PENINSULA, WASHINGTON
trip planner
EAT Pickled Fish www.pickledfishrestaurant.com The Depot Restaurant www.depotrestaurantdining.com 42nd St Café & Bistro www.42ndstcafe.com Roots Juice, Java & Salads www.facebook.com/ilwacoroots
STAY Adrift Hotel www.adrifthotel.com Shelburne Hotel www.shelburnehotelwa.com At The Helm www.atthehelmhotel.com Salt Hotel & Pub www.salt-hotel.com
PLAY Oysterville Sea Farms www.willabay.com Cape Disappointment State Park www.parks.state.wa.us/486/CapeDisappointment Additional information www.visitlongbeachpeninsula.com
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP The beaches are long and quiet on the peninsula. North Jetty Brewery has tasting trays perfect for vacation. Oysterville Sea Farms sells bivalves straight from the bay.
Day BIVALVES • BREWS • VIEWS Tuck into a hearty omelet at the 42nd Street Café & Bistro, a cozy mom-and-pop eatery in Seaview, before you head north on Highway 101 for Oysterville. This super-small, quiet community with a population of 17 has an interesting past, thanks to its delicious bivalves. In 1855, the oyster trade was so strong that the growing town had a school, college, newspaper, courthouse and church. By the 1880s, however, the oyster beds were declining and Oysterville gradually became the sleepy, national historic district it is today. Admire the beautifully preserved homes on a quick drive through its streets and pause for a walk around the cemetery to see the graves of its pioneers. Prominent among those tombs is that of Chinook Chief Nahcati, who first revealed the location of the rich oyster beds to those settlers. If you have a yen for bivalves, visit Willabay at Oysterville Sea Farms, the last oyster cannery in the peninsula, where 82 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
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clams, crabs and oysters, harvested the same day, can be eaten on the deck overlooking the beautiful Willapa Bay. We hunkered down for a historic night at the Shelburne Hotel in Seaview, the oldest hotel in continuous operation in the state. With its wood-paneled walls, stained glass windows and original clawfoot tubs, the Shelburne’s fifteen rooms date back to 1896 and have been lovingly preserved and restored. Work off dinner at the hotel’s fine dining room with a walk on Seaview beach at sunset, and before you head home, be sure to sample some of the innovative alcoholic beverages being crafted on the peninsula. Adrift Distillers in Long Beach has a delectable cranberry liqueur and a selection of great gins and whiskies, while the North Jetty Brewery & Tap Room’s raspberry hef is a light, fruity brew perfect for a summer afternoon.
northwest destination
Hood River combines views with tons of outdoor activities.
Charm Offensive
Hood River pairs small-town feel with lots to do written by Sheila G. Miller IF YOU COULD build the perfect town from scratch, it might just be Hood River. On the Columbia River in the heart of the Gorge, Hood River has nearly everything you could want—stunning views of Mount Hood (and several other mountains on the Cascade Range), a waterfront and hillsides bursting with outdoor activity offerings, a charming downtown and lively food and drink scene. Yes, it’s windy. But nobody’s perfect—and at least here, as the wind whips your hair wildly around your head, you can watch windsurfers and kiteboarders glide along the river. 84 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
For a town of its size—fewer than 8,000 people call Hood River home—there are buckets of options for recreation and entertainment. First note: remember that sometimes things are famous because they’re awesome. Such is the case of the Fruit Loop, which runs through Hood River County and highlights nearly thirty farmstands, wineries, antique shops and other stops. The loop really gets going as the fruit ripens in July, August and September, and you can pick up plump cherries, perfect pears, apples and a bonanza of other fruits. Add a few jams, a bunch or two of lavender AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
Hood River has just about everything you could want—stunning views of Mount Hood (and several other mountains on the Cascade Range), a waterfront and hillsides bursting with outdoor activity offerings, a charming downtown and lively food and drink scene.
and a bottle of pinot and you’re doing it right. Don’t miss the cookies at Packer’s Orchard & Bakery, or the restaurant options in Parkdale. With your snacks packed, you’ll be ready for some outdoor activity. There are dozens of hiking and biking trails throughout the Columbia Gorge—waterfalls and views are easy to come by here. An interesting option is the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail. Once upon a time, this was U.S. Highway 30, where drivers carefully picked their way along the cliffs above the Columbia River Gorge. Today, three disconnected sections of the highway are open to hikers and bicyclists. Check out the Mosier Twin Tunnels section. Start just a few minutes east of Hood River in the tiny town of Mosier at the Mark O. Hatfield East Trailhead and meander up for about 1½ miles to the Twin Tunnels, used in the early years of the highway. You can also use Sol Rides for an electric bike tour to this area or several others in the region. Keep going the full 4½ miles to Hood River, or turn back and stop at Mosier Company for a snack and a beer. Speaking of beer, Hood River has long been known for it—longtime star Full Sail Brewery has been a steadfast member of the community since 1987, and it’s still a wonderful place to visit, grab a beer and do a free tour. But today, there are more options. Double Mountain Brewery has a delightful, low-key taproom downtown, where you’ll be able to try any number of beers and if
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT Celilo Restaurant is downtown fine dining. The Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail allows bikers and hikers to take to the old highway. Hood River Hotel is historic and classy.
you’re smart, get the Truffle Shuffle pizza. Or head down to the city’s recently developed riverfront, where you can try beers at the new Ferment Brewing Co., or knock back a couple at pFriem Family Brewers. While you’re at the waterfront, you may want to try your hand at a water sport. Hood River WaterPlay can rent you a kayak, a standup paddleboard or a jet ski, among other equipment. It can also set you up with windsurfing lessons on its private stretch of beach—you’ll look like a local in no time. A must-stay is the Hood River Hotel. This National Register of Historic Places property is vintage done right. The old building has been lovingly restored and the lobby and common areas, with their black-and-whitechecked carpeting and mounted animal heads, feel very much like you’re in an ultrahip Portland establishment. Bonus—the restaurant adjacent to the lobby, Broder Øst, has the Scandinavian brunch of your dreams. Finally, don’t sleep on the restaurant options in Hood River. Sure, you’re full from all the Fruit Loop samples, but Celilo Restaurant is worth it. A small menu of local ingredients, Celilo does everything well, from the risotto to the salmon. It’s all fresh, and the restaurant is a pretty downtown setting. In the morning, try Pine Street Bakery, tucked into the Heights neighborhood. This spot serves lattes and breakfast sandwiches, and perhaps you’d like a fruit hand pie to go for the drive home? AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
HOOD RIVER, OREGON
Aubrie LeGault
northwest destination
EAT Celilo Restaurant www.celilorestaurant.com Double Mountain Brewery www.doublemountainbrewery. com Solstice Wood Fire Pizza www.solsticewoodfirecafe.com Pine Street Bakery www.pinestreetbakery.com Broder Øst www.brodereast.com
STAY Hood River Hotel www.hoodriverhotel.com Best Western Plus Hood River www.bestwestern.com Columbia Gorge Hotel & Spa www.columbiagorgehotel.com
PLAY Fruit Loop www.hoodriverfruitloop.com Mt. Hood Railroad www.mthoodrr.com Hood River WaterPlay rentals and lessons www.hoodriverwaterplay.com Full Sail Brewing www.fullsailbrewing.com
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1889 MAPPED The points of interest below are culled from stories and events in this edition of 1889. Oroville
Bellingham Friday Harbor North Cascades National Park
Mount Vernon Coupeville
Port Angeles Forks Olympic National Park
Port Townsend
Shelton Aberdeen
Newport
Marysville Everett Chelan
Bellevue
Tacoma
Colville Okanogan
Seattle
Port Orchard
Republic
Winthrop
Leavenworth
Renton Kent Federal Way
Wilbur
Waterville
Spokane Davenport
Wenatchee Ephrata Ritzville
Montesano Olympia
Mount Rainier N.P.
Ellensburg Colfax
Chehalis
South Bend
Pullman Yakima Pomeroy
Long Beach Cathlamet
Kelso Longview
Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
Richland Prosser
Pasco
Dayton
Walla Kennewick Walla
Goldendale Vancouver
Stevenson
Live
Think
Explore
14 Washington State Fair
40 Audley
72
Mrs. Beesley’s
22 National Lentil Festival
43 Maryhill Winery tasting room
74
Johnson Orchards
23 Arbor Crest Wine Cellars
44 Boundless
76
Bellevue Club Hotel
24 Mutiny Bay Blues
46 Bite Club
78
Pickled Fish
36 FareStart
48 The Mushroom Queen
84
Hood River, Oregon
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Asotin
FALL
IN
TO
THE
HEART
OF
THE
COLUMBIA
RIVER
GORGE
Slow down and enjoy
the views of the Columbia Gorge from our backdoor
HOOD RIVER’S BEST PLACE TO
BEST WESTERN PLUS COLUMBIA RIVER INN stayandtastehoodriver.com
bwcolumbiariverinn.com • 1-800-595-7108 • Cascade Locks • I-84 Exit 47 Each Best Western branded hotel is independently owned and operated. ®
B•L• D Antiques Gift Shop Gorge Views
Experience Riverside, an exceptional restaurant in a surprisingly special hotel.
1108 E. Marina Way, Hood River, OR 97031 • Exit 64 off I-84 541-386-2200 • 800-828-7873 • hoodriverinn.com • riversidehoodriver.com
Cascade Locks THE HEART OF THE GORGE
Follow us on
~ www.cascadelocks.com
bridgesidedining.com • 541-374-8477 • I-84 Exit 47
Until Next Time
Home Sweet Home written by Adam Sawyer | illustrated by Allison Bye
2019 BECAME THE YEAR that a catalog with items such as log splitters, heirloom seeds and emergency generators became my grownup equivalent of the Sears Christmas Wish Book. In the summer of 2018, my partner and I moved into an off-the-grid-ish home roughly 40 miles west of Mount Rainier. It has a propane generator-powered battery array for electricity, well water and septic, but we do have internet—I have to be able to work and stream Netflix. Thus the term, off-the-grid-ish. I felt like life’s next chapter was coming, I just wasn’t sure what that would entail. I had been living in Portland for more than a decade and loved it. But quietly and almost without knowing, we were collecting a substantial list of reasons for an exodus. My partner worked in Washington. The traffic was getting worse, the cost of living increasing, and on down the line. Commonplace complaints that are part and parcel with living in a metropolitan area, but nothing that made me sour on the city. However, we also had dreams of peaceful country living. After enough map study we noticed a number of sweet spots that were far enough away, but close enough to a city. I can work from just about anywhere, as long as there’s wifi. So we came up with a list of things we wanted in a house and agreed that if it was out there, we’d go. About a year after opening ourselves up to the idea, that place presented itself and we became the proud owners of a home in the woods. There were a few things we weren’t anticipating, though, not least of which was that the right place happened to be off the grid. Shockingly, not only were we both open to it, we were excited by the prospect. Were we wholly unprepared
88 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
for such an endeavor? You bet. Were we also aware of that and willing to get educated with no net in a rural trial by fire? Absolutely. We have now completed a full year of living at the home we lovingly refer to as Whiskey Jane. It hasn’t been a cake walk. We had to take a few showers with hand-pumped well water and enjoyed a few evenings by candlelight when the generator died. We discovered terrifying new nocturnal forest sounds, as well as how much wood isn’t enough for winter. And we took an immersive crash course in battery equalization charging. Then again, summer evenings were spent on a porch illuminated by the Milky Way. We grew our own food, learned to forage and learned to fix. Never underestimate the power of YouTube videos. I am also far more in tune with the world around me—intimately aware of its cycles as well as mine, and how we dance together. I still make it to Portland once or twice a month, and truly enjoy the visits. But we couldn’t be more satisfied with the move, our home, and especially our willingness to embrace life’s accidental next chapter, up in the woods of Washington.
PREDATOR RIDGE/ SHAWN TALBOT
KALAMALKA LAKE/ DESTINATION BC/ANDREW STRAIN
A C T I VAT E Y O U R G E TAWAY VERNON, BRITISH COLUMBIA
SILVER STAR PROVINCIAL PARK/ ROBB THOMPSON
OKANAGAN RAIL TRAIL/PREDATOR RIDGE/ROBB THOMPSON
Situated in the heart of the Okanagan Valley’s fruit and vegetable country, Vernon has an abundance of fresh fruits and produce. Vernon chefs love to use local ingredients and local eateries are full of home grown, flavourful surprises taking inspiration from around the world. Moreover, this charming, scenic region boasts a wide variety of award winning wines, tasty ciders, fine spirits, and exotic teas. Everything is made with quality ingredients, with most grown in and near Vernon. The Vernon foodie experience pairs perfectly with the Okanagan Valley’s outdoor lifestyle. Surrounded by lakes, golf courses, trails, and provincial parks, Vernon is the key to your North Okanagan Adventure.
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1
VERNON TASTING TRAIL
2
FOODIE HEAVEN
DAVISON ORCHARDS
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BRIAN SPROUT
1 Davison Orchards
1 Scenic Sip—Lake Country
2 Planet Bee Honey Farm
2 Honeymoon Meadery
3 Midtown Bistro
3 Marten Craft Brewery
4 Ratio Coffee and Pastry
4 The BX Press Cidery & Orchard
PLANET BEE
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5 Olive Us Olive Oil &
Vinegar Tasting Room
DESTINATION BC
CAMILLIA COURTS
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5
JAIME LAUREN PHOTOGRAPHY
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6 Farmstrong Cider Company
7 Triple Island Cheese
7 Edge of the Earth Vineyards;
The Village Cheese Company
OKANAGAN SPIRITS
TAMBELLINI DESIGN STUDIO
1.800.665.0795 | tourismvernon.com #ExploreVernon
5 Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery
6 Vernon Farmers’ Market
8 Terroir Cheese;
TAMBELLINI DESIGN STUDIO
LOVE AT FIRST SIP
OVINO Winery; Lavina Estate Winery
Washington’s Magazine
DIY Flagstone Patios
Craft Light Beer?
Boss Blueberry Recipes
August | September 2019
Ta x-F Ev ree e Da ry y!
TRIP PLANNER: LONG BEACH PENINSULA PG. 78
THE BOUNTY ISSUE
CAREER SECOND ACTS 3 FOOD PROFESSIONALS WHO MADE RIGHT TURNS
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August | September
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