Taste
Review
The Cheekiest Happy Hour in Town Banter After Hours WRITTEN BY GAIA CRANS | PHOTOGRAPHED BY COCOA LANEY
I
F YOU WANT to feel like you’re
on a sunny beach vacation without leaving Bellingham, After Hours is the place to be! The combination of cozy seating, chill music, bright boho decor, and arrangement of tropical plants will make you feel like you’re lounging in a hammock with the sea breeze in your hair and sand between your toes. After Hours first opened in March 2022 as a second Banter (formerly ANMLY) location, with Banter as the morning joint and After Hours as the evening joint. “Our cafe space has come a long way, and we’ve figured out how to work within the confines of it, but 76
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at the end of the day, the physical space itself holds us back,” says Owner Emile Diffley, whose ultimate goal with After Hours was to create a playful, cheeky environment that also serves high-quality products. “This was a cool opportunity to step into a space where we could expand our seating capacity, and have the resources of a fully equipped commercial kitchen to continue to get creative with.” The After Hours menu is constantly changing as the inventive kitchen and bar tweak in-house recipes, play around with fun and unique ingredients, and search for ways to improve. Along with the food’s creativity, the menu is also
intentionally set up to accommodate dietary limitations. “We have an awesome team that is driven, passionate, and has the necessary skill set to make this restaurant thrive,” Diffley says. One crucial member of his team is Chef Kai Despain, who works alongside Diffley to make mouthwatering creations using his keen palate and ingenuity. One of Despain’s favorite dishes is the Teriyaki Bowl ($15). “I spent four years working at a Japanese sushi bar when I was 15, so teriyaki is very close to my heart,” Despain says, and Diffley is influenced by past experiences in a similar way.
