What's Shakin' Bacon?

Mmmmm...bacon! | Photo by Will Foster

It's hard to believe that it's been an entire year since we started serving brunch to our wonderful Ballard community. Time flies when you're having fun (and noshing on amazing food), right? We've made so many new friends this year; from families with hungry little ones to folks who normally work nights but trek over on weekend mornings for a delicious meal, we've delighted in getting to know all of our new regulars. 

A lot has changed since we first opened our doors for brunch. (Goodbye oxtail soup and hello ramen loco moco!) Our current menu features glorious, homemade slabs of bacon and pork loin, French toast with tart cherries and luscious lemon curd, and homemade ricotta accompanied by grilled bread and seasonal fruit. We're also happily serving menu favorites like Chef's hot puffed black rice with mango and warm, sweet coconut milk, and the b-e-s-t Belgian waffles you've ever tasted. That's right, we said it! 

We've got a special family-style menu that we offer to large groups of people to encourage breaking bread with the ones you love. This menu features larger, shareable plates of waffles, beautiful ricotta and fruit, scrambled eggs with fresh herbs and cheese, and other delicious offerings. 

We're always enthusiastically slinging classic brunch cocktails as well as inventive and fresh tiki-inspired drinks. Our brunch bartender Kyle also creates a daily cocktail special intended to pair perfectly with your meal. Make sure to ask your server about the special cocktail of the day, or better yet, pull up a seat at the bar and nerd out on spirits with Kyle. 

If it's been a little while since you've been in to dine with us for brunch, chances are there are many new menu items to try on your next visit! Tart and sweet berries, stone fruit, deliciously juicy heirloom tomatoes, lovingly-prepared pork loin, creamy mascarpone grits, and a garden's worth of beautifully fresh herbs are all having a moment on our ever-changing, seasonally-inspired brunch menu. Even our cocktail program has experienced a springtime revamp, with more than your average mimosa or Bloody Mary to accompany your rich, hearty breakfast.

Come in soon to grab a seat on the patio and start your weekend morning off with delicious food, genuinely friendly service, and a gorgeous setting. 

Author: Caitlyn Edson

Images: Jazzlyn Stone  & Will Foster

Vendor Spotlight: Steven Smith Teamaker

Photo credit: Will Foster Photography. 

It should come as no surprise that we’re really into details. We obsess over the finer parts of service and food preparation because we know that doing so is one of the things that makes coming in to dine with us such a positive, welcoming experience. From the way we arrange our table settings, to the ingredients we use in every cocktail or dish, to the vendors and farmers we work with – these details matter to us, and they speak to what we’re all about.

With this in mind, we want to shine a spotlight on one of our beloved vendors: Smith Teamaker. Based in Portland, Oregon, the artisan tea company was founded in 2009 by talented husband and wife duo Steven and Kim Smith. “The Smith name has grown to stand for uncommon quality, taste, and innovation in the Super Premium tea category,” the company explains, a nod to the decades of experience Steven Smith gained while succeeding in starting acclaimed tea companies Stash and Tazo.

Smith, who passed away in 2015 due to complications of liver cancer, made a tremendous mark not only on Portland’s tea scene but on a global level during his lifetime. As journalist Molly Harbarger writes, “Smith co-founded two of the most important tea companies in the U.S., and a third namesake brand that is doing some of the most exciting experimentation with tea in the world.” The Oregonian contributor Richard Read echoes her sentiment, writing, “A quietly charismatic and humorous man, Smith took creative and financial risks to help make tea to Portland what coffee is to Seattle…. He reinvented tea much as Starbucks revolutionized coffee, Oregon craft brewers transformed beer and Northwest vintners refined wine.”

Read also points out that “Smith’s success inspired dozens of other high-end tea start-ups, elevating consumer standards and expectations. His palate was so refined, having sampled hundreds of thousands of varieties, that Portland entrepreneur Steve Lee considered him to be one of the world’s top tea tasters. At one sip, Smith could tell which part of the world a tea came from and often which plantation had produced it.”

Today, Steven Smith’s legacy lives on at Smith Teamaker, a company that prides itself on being innovative and unconventional, as well as philanthropic. “As an American tea company devoted to uncommon good taste in your cup, we source the finest teas and botanicals from friends in India, China, Sri Lanka, and Africa. In most cases, these are growers, exporters, and tea brokers we’ve worked with for over 15 years,” the company explains. “Every blend begins with a moment of inspiration – maybe a nicely aged cask of merlot, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream – that is then perfected with decades of experience and a fine feeling for flavors and fragrance.”

We absolutely love Smith's Lord Bergamot blend. | Image via Steven Smith Teamaker 

At Brimmer & Heeltap, we’re incredibly inspired by Steven and Kim Smith’s passion for tea and the attention to detail that Kim continues to employ in their business. We love serving their bold, delicious teas; The Lord Bergamot blend that we carry has been a particularly beautiful addition to the menu. Described by Smith as having “a flavor somewhat superior to traditional Earl Grey,” this offering is made with select teas from India’s Assam valley and scented with bergamot flavors from the Reggio Calabria region in Italy. Our current menu also contains their Brahmin, Mao Feng Shui, Jasmin Silver Tip, Peppermint, and Big Hibiscus flavors – teas that we enjoy drinking just as much as our guests do.

For more information about this exceptional teamaker, visit Smith Teamaker online. And, be sure to stop in soon for brunch or dinner to try a cup of Smith tea for yourself.

Blog author: Caitlyn Edson

Meet Us in the Garden

Everyone says that summer in Seattle doesn’t actually start until July 5th, but that sure doesn’t stop us from trying to get outside as much as possible before then.

At Brimmer & Heeltap, we L-O-V-E al fresco dining and we’re kind of obsessed with our garden patio – a charming, beautiful space that feels like a precious secret shared between friends. During their first visit to the restaurant, many guests admit that they never realized our patio existed. Even some of our neighbors and regular diners were surprised to find such a unique outdoor dining area tucked away behind the main part of building. Its secretive nature lends itself to a wonderfully intimate atmosphere, and is one of the things we love most about it. 

Perhaps one of the reasons why so few people know about our garden patio is because it actually hasn’t been there for very long. When Brimmer & Heeltap proprietress Jen Doak first stepped into the newly cleared out Le Gourmand, the restaurant that inhabited the space before it became B&H, she immediately recognized how much more impactful the space could be with some renovations. “Standing inside the vacant walls, I felt an instant connection,” she explains in this blog post. “I could see the potential unfolding before my eyes.”

“Standing inside the vacant walls, I felt an instant connection,” explains Brimmer & Heeltap's proprietress Jen Doak, of the old studio space. 

One part of the property that held significant potential was a one hundred-year-old 400 square foot studio that sits to the rear of the garden. Formerly used for dry storage by Le Gourmand, this studio space has since been refurbished and transformed into a gorgeous dining room that anchors an expanded outdoor dining area. It’s a stunning space that we use for private events throughout the year, as well as additional seating when the weather is warm. 

Seattle Met Magazine’s Kathryn Robinson describes this section of the restaurant, and the small seating area that leads to it, as an “enchanting hidden courtyard,” adding that it’s “a sun-dappled must on the romance tour.” Eater’s Megan Hill also sings the praises of our patio, calling it “straight up dreamy.” Ever since the expansion of the garden, Brimmer & Heeltap has been included on various lists of the best outdoor dining destinations in Seattle, a nod to the truly special feeling one gets when dining in this beautiful space. Eater mentions B&H in its roundup of great spots for outdoor dining and drinking in Seattle, as does the Seattle Met and Seattle Weekly, to name a few.

In addition to the dreamy annual flora that blooms there, the garden patio and back studio are dotted with special touches that really make this part of the restaurant come to life: One wall of the studio is actually a retractable garage door that helps provide privacy for private dining and special events in the studio, while still allowing guests to peer out into the garden beyond. A fire pit adjacent to the studio serves as a gathering place for friends who want to share snacks and stories in a casually intimate setting. Ceramic sculptures created by local artist Larry Halvorsen blend effortlessly into the garden where they are displayed; these fantastic custom pieces create depth in a way that feels organic. 

If you haven’t yet dined outside in the garden patio, we invite you to join us on the next sunny day. We love seeing our friends, neighbors, and guests breaking bread together outside in the summer air, and with new dishes and cocktails gracing the menu, as well as a brand new brunch menu to enjoy on the weekend, now has never been a better time to come by and dine al fresco at Brimmer & Heeltap.

Author: Caitlyn Edson

Images: Will Foster Photography

Morning People

Chef Mike Whisenhunt's hot puffed rice served with sweet, warm coconut milk and fresh mango. 

Mornings just got a lot tastier in Ballard, you guys.

After months of extensive menu testing, crew training, and intense planning, Brimmer & Heeltap has officially launched its brand-spanking-new brunch program. We are so pleased to announce that we are now feeding the hungry masses not one, not two, but THREE mornings every week on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Can I get a hell to the yeah!?

If you’ve ever been to Brimmer & Heeltap in the evening, you know that the space itself possesses a very special, animated quality. From the excited, laborious clangs and clinks coming from the open kitchen, to the lively chatter of friends coming together to nosh on Chef Mike Whisenhunt’s signature menu in the adjacent dining rooms, there is a very present sense of joie de vivre that invigorates each of us that works here. It’s what makes this job such a delight.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when we opened our doors to welcome guests to dine with us for brunch for the first time earlier this month. Would that same sense of playfulness and energy be present during the daytime, I found myself wondering? Neighbors, friends – I am so happy to report that being at Brimmer & Heeltap in the morning is just as wonderful as it is at night. Spring’s early light floods the main dining room in the most incredible way, and spills into the nooks and crannies of the restaurant, reminding me what a truly unique and beautiful space it is. The kitchen crew is hard at work preparing the thoughtful, dynamic, boldly-flavored food that our regular guests have come to know and cherish. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee mingles with the fragrant blooms of the garden, and a wonderfully serene feeling washes over our little corner on NW Market Street.

Not one to ever dabble in the ordinary, Chef Whisenhunt’s brunch menu is a deeply satiating combination of sweet, savory, and umami flavors, unique textures, and complex combinations of ingredients. The Dungeness crab salad with smoked fingerling potatoes and lemongrass green goddess dressing has been met with great praise by guests, as has the giant lemon pancake served with seasonal berry syrup, a menu item that absolutely lives up to its name. His hot puffed black rice, served with fresh mango and warm, delightfully sweet coconut milk, is the grown-up Rice Krispies you never knew how much you needed. The thick-cut bread slathered with house-made jam and peanut butter frosting is ridiculously tasty. The slab of bacon is out-of-this-world good.

Thick cut bread, toasted to order and slathered with housemade jam and peanut butter frosting. 

Our fried duck leg and Belgian waffle awaiting a hungry diner. 

The "Italian Panache" - a delightful combination of Carpano dry vermouth, lime, grenadine, and egg whites. 

If you love brunch as much as we do, you know that a good cocktail can be the best way to kick off your weekend, or quell your hangover. Our list of brunch libations showcases an array of vermouths and is a thoughtful, fresh complement to the bold flavors you’ll find coming from the kitchen. During our opening weekend we delighted in seeing so many friends and regular diners sitting at the bar sipping sweet coconut milk and tasting our refreshing, unique brunch cocktails for the first time.

Now that our brunch kickoff weekend has come and gone, we are more excited than ever to share mornings with you. We are looking so forward to seeing friends come and spend their mornings drinking and dining on our garden patio together. We can’t wait to see moms, dads, and their little ones trying new foods and flavors together for the first time. We’re so stoked to serve our fellow cooks, servers, and bartenders on Friday mornings before they start their long work weekends. Perhaps more than anything else, we are so excited to share this new, delicious side of Brimmer & Heeltap with you. So come in soon, and come hungry.

Brimmer & Heeltap now serves brunch weekly on Friday, Saturday, and Sundays from 9am-2pm. You can reserve your spot for this weekend here.

Author: Caitlyn Edson

Images: Will Foster Photography