Green is the Word

“The beautiful spring came; and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.” – Harriet Ann Jacobs

It never ceases to amaze us just how spectacularly green Seattle is this time of year. I guess that’s one of the upsides of living in such a rainy place. The garden at the restaurant is overflowing with an abundance of dreamy, cascading flora; it seems as if something new blossoms each day. Our West Woodland neighborhood looks lush and renewed, and more and more of our neighbors cruise by us on their bicycles and with many a happy dog in tow.  

We love this magical time of year and the bounty of fresh ingredients it brings to us to experiment with and taste. Once again our menu mirrors the emerald-hued city just beyond our front door, a thing we’ve come to love about the emergence of spring. Fresh herbs, along with foraged and found goodies from Washington’s literal backyard and our own garden, have truly brought our seasonally-inspired menu to life. As American author Harriet Ann Jacobs observes, we are indeed beginning to feel revived after such a long winter.

Creamed nettles with miso, glass noodles, and green garlic. 

Our spring salad features fiddlehead ferns, peas, pickled ramps, mustard seeds, and opal basil, among other green goodies. 

It makes us so happy when the dishes we serve are able to surprise our guests in some way. Many people don’t know that nettles, which have a somewhat short season here in Washington, are actually edible and not just pesky, prickly wild greens. Similarly, the gorgeous fiddlehead ferns we’ve been adding to our daily-changing spring salad have brought many a smile to the faces of people who never considered noshing on these tasty plants.

Our delicious prawn salad. 

Our prawn salad, prepared with herb oil, pickled chiles, pistachios, and green Szechuan peppercorn, is one of our menu standouts right now. This dish is unbelievably fresh, bright, and contains a multitude of textures that absolutely sing when enjoyed together.

Perhaps one of the things that makes springtime so beloved is the fact that it’s a fleeting time. Ingredients like our foraged nettles, ramps, and fiddleheads won’t be around for too much longer; come in soon and let them revive you.

Author: Caitlyn Edson

Images: Will Foster Photography

A Season of Fresh Flavors and Tiki Concoctions at Brimmer & Heeltap

If April brought us rain showers (and Seattleites can all attest that it did), here’s to hoping the rest of May brings all kinds of colorful flora, sunshine, and patio season vibes. We’re all restless for nights spent out in the garden and around the fire pit; we look forward to sharing many of these with you in the coming months. Read on for a little peek at how we’ve been gearing up for the wondrous spring and summer months ahead.

At B&H, there’s a level of playfulness in everything we do. We have a lot of fun concocting new drinks and testing ingredients for new dishes that our guests get to experience, after all. Our talented bar team is definitely embracing a lighthearted approach to building drinks right now; Kate and Brian have been hard at work concocting tiki-inspired cocktails for our brunch guests.

B&H Bar Manager Brian Hibbard predicts that 2017 will be a year where we see more tropical drinks in general, predicting that “more rum, more tiki, more pineapple, and more drinks that make you start empathizing with those who wear Tommy Bahama” will be on trend in the coming months. Bartender Kate Mcmahon happily agrees, explaining that she was first drawn to tropical flavors as a way to escape Seattle’s drizzly winter vibes. “I think it was me trying to escape winter somehow and imagining myself on a tropical beach somewhere, anywhere, sipping island booze and feeling so relaxed – and wanting others to feel that way,” she says.

The next time you come in for brunch be sure to try Ape of My Eye, a riff on a tiki classic made with rum, banana liqueur, cinnamon, and fire.

In the kitchen, spring flavors have taken hold and many dishes boast beautiful, delicious ingredients native to the Pacific Northwest. Our spring salad changes nearly every week depending on what foraged goodies Foraged and Found brings to us. Nettles, maple blossoms, miners lettuce, peas, opal basil, fiddlehead ferns, and other wild greens are making Chef’s seasonally-inspired dishes sing right now.

Chef’s spicy beef rib features a fantastic homemade bbq sauce, falling-off-the-bone-tender meat, and a bright and satisfying accompaniment of kale slaw with pickled cipollini onions. The culinary team brines these beautiful Painted Hills beef ribs for twelve hours, slow cooks them lovingly for about 8 more hours, before finishing this beautiful piece of meat on the grill. You have to be willing to get just a little bit messy when sharing this dish with friends and family. It’s bbq done the B&H way, with tons of flavor and care.

Although our food offerings change constantly, Chef Mike vowed long ago to keep his beloved steak tartare on as a menu mainstay. We’re happy to share that this already delicious snack has been elevated further with help from some seriously creative culinary efforts. The steak tartare you know and love is now topped with grated egg yolk that has been soy-cured and dehydrated, adding layers of umami flavor to this excellent dish.

Freshness is paramount during springtime in Seattle kitchens, and ours has so many gorgeous seasonal offerings for you to delight in. Tapioca puff chips dusted with a blend of dehydrated nettles, poblano peppers, carrot tops and garlic bring a zesty, crave-worthy edge to our snack list. Asian pear, beets, marinated root vegetables, and huckleberries are incorporated lovingly into many a dish. Come in soon to taste something new and unexpected!

It’s our sincere pleasure to serve you no matter what the season, but we can all agree that B&H feels extra magical this time of year. We look so forward to your next visit.

Author: Caitlyn Edson

Images: Will Foster

Spring Things

“Spring looks good on you guys,” one diner commented during a recent visit. He had just shared a plate of our new-to-the-menu English pea hummus with his dining companions, and bread, rice cakes, and scallops were on the way. 

With fresh flowers lining the walls of the dining room, our garden patio open, and a pantry filled with bright, leafy ingredients, we think spring looks pretty good on us too.

One cannot help but notice just how very green Seattle is looking these days. Lush flora is springing to life again after a cold, rainy winter, and beloved sunshiny days are getting Seattleites excited to spend as much time outside as possible. Have you enjoyed dinner and drinks outside on our beautiful patio yet this season? In a recent feature for Eater Seattle, writer Jason Price calls Brimmer & Heeltap’s outdoor dining area “one of the sweetest hidden patios (complete with fire pit) in the city.”  Another article describes it as “straight up dreamy.” We love inviting guests to dine on our garden patio, especially when they didn’t even know it was there!

Inside, it’s looking quite dreamy as well. You know spring has sprung when you see fresh flowers resting cheerily in tiny vases around the dining room. Each week, proprietress Jen Doak takes care to bring in a new batch from our neighbors at Ballard Market. With soft breezes and bright light coming in through the open windows and filling the dining room, inside is just as pretty of a place as out to break bread with friends on a warm spring evening.

The thing that really makes Brimmer & Heeltap shine this time of year, of course, is our menu. With English peas, snow peas, green curry, poblano peppers, miner’s lettuce, pandan, and sorrel being utilized by the kitchen, there are an abundance of vibrant, fresh, and wonderfully seasonal offerings to choose from.

New to the menu is Chef Mike Whisenhunt's tasty English pea hummus served with homemade grilled flatbread. A play on traditional hummus, our version is made with sesame oil and served with fresh peas and pea shoots. Each bite is like a taste of spring. Scallops are also having a moment on our menu. Seared perfectly and served with pickled Cipollini onions, snow peas, and foamy, aerated poblano pepper aioli, this dish is not to be missed! Also new to the menu are rice cakes served with green curry, pea vines, pistachio and mint. This combination of ingredients makes for a dish that is comforting without being too heavy. Balanced and bright, the rice cakes are a playful, flavorful homage to spring.

Come in soon to try these new additions to our menu. Pull up a chair with friends at your favorite table, or, better yet – get cozy around the fire pit and treat yourself to an al fresco dining experience. We’ll have the rosé waiting!

Author: Caitlyn Edson

Images: Will Foster Photography