Art Meets Charity at Brimmer & Heeltap

When one thinks of Brimmer & Heeltap, many things may come to mind: Chef Mike Whisenhunt’s bold, playful food, proprietress Jen Doak’s big smile and vast wine knowledge, our craft cocktail offerings, the locally crafted beers we love to serve, the warm and friendly service, the neighborhood feel of the place, our tucked-away garden patio…the list goes on and on (and on).

One thing that people don’t often think of when they think of B&H is its commitment to philanthropy. From the very first day that B&H opened, Jen has been dedicated to not only feeding our community, but also bringing people together, raising awareness about vital charity work being done on a local level, and raising funds for Seattle-based nonprofits.

In addition to encouraging her team to volunteer their time to neighboring organizations, Jen also works to support the community through the creation of commemorative prints to benefit charity. Each year, Brimmer & Heeltap collaborates with a local artist to create an anniversary poster for the restaurant; net proceeds from sales of the print go towards a deserving charity. “I wanted B&H to have some tangible, creative, and philanthropic placeholder for celebrating each year,” says Jen, of the vision behind the commemorative prints. “The goal is to work with a local artist and charity to celebrate each of their talents and causes.”

Jen explains that the inspiration for the Brimmer & Heeltap anniversary poster came from an old bar she visited in Paris called Willi’s Wine Bar. For years, the wine bar has created and sold “bottle art posters” to commemorate a moment in time, and to recreate the visual emotion of the wine that the bar serves its guests. Moved by this simple, powerful idea, Jen decided to take the tradition a step further by using B&H’s anniversary posters to support local charities and artists.

Artist Kristen Winn's design for the 2016 anniversary print to benefit Big Table. 

In 2015, Brimmer & Heeltap partnered with local artist Mike Klay, a graphic designer, musician and outdoorsman who designed an inaugural poster in honor of the restaurant’s one-year anniversary. Sales of this poster continue to benefit the Ballard Food Bank, an important local organization that strives to feed its neighbors in need. According to its website, the Ballard Food Bank distributes food to over 1,200 individuals on a weekly basis. Its commitment to providing nourishment and resources to those most underserved in our community is something that Brimmer & Heeltap is glad to support.

This year, Brimmer & Heeltap selected Big Table as the beneficiary of proceeds from our anniversary poster. Big Table is a fantastic local organization that advocates for cooks, servers, and other members of the restaurant industry. Its mission is to “see the lives of those working in the restaurant and hospitality industry transformed by building community around shared meals and caring for those who are in crisis, transition, or falling through the cracks.” Big Table’s mission is one that hits close to home, and one that we believe in so much.

The artist behind Brimmer & Heeltap’s 2016 poster is friend and neighbor Kristen Winn. Her hand-drawn poster design is inspired by food, art, and community – three important elements that work together in harmony at Brimmer & Heeltap. The pen and ink drawings on the poster are a lovely representation of the restaurant’s spirit, and some of the lines found within it even mimic those found in our beautiful garden. Keeping with tradition, net proceeds from the poster will benefit Big Table.

Moving forward, Brimmer & Heeltap is excited to continue partnering with local artists as part of a larger effort to support our community. A restaurant has the power to exist as a space where art, ideas, philanthropy, community, and food intersect, and we are thrilled to be a hub for all of these things and more.

You can check out our commemorative prints and find more information about the artists that created them here.

Author: Caitlyn Edson 

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

The Intricacies of Beef

Brimmer & Heeltap's Sous Chef Dallas Dziedzic writes about the many complicated facets of the cattle industry. 

Mark Twain once noted “Sacred cows make the best hamburger,” referencing the belief that how well you treat your beef is going to determine its quality.  This outlook has recently gained in popularity in the US.  From “Prime” to the “grass fed” and even the “dry aged” there are a lot of ways to add value to beef. What do all of these terms mean, and why do they matter? 

Do you think you could visibly assess the quality of beef just by looking at it? The USDA meat graders think that you should. They rate quality based on “Prime,” “Choice,” or “Select.”  By the USDA standards “Prime” beef is from well-fed young cattle, and has abundant marbling. “Choice” is considered high quality but has less marbling than Prime. “Select” is uniform in quality but leaner than Prime or Choice. To detect these differences, the USDA will take a core section from the cow between the 12th and 13th rib, which allows them to see if the meat is speckled with white bits of fat throughout (Prime) or consisting of only red muscle (Choice).

While marbling found in the steak is prized for its flavor and ability to retain moisture, it’s not everything.  There is also the technique of “dry aging,” a process that enhances an already established flavor. The meat will mature in a controlled setting, pulling away moisture and concentrating flavor.  The fat will become buttery and taste of blue cheese; the meat will become increasingly tender and its beefy flavor will intensify. Together these characteristics create harmony within the beef like a fine salumi.

At Brimmer & Heeltap we love serving thoughtfully prepared, high quality cuts of grass-finished beef. 

“Grass feeding” is another popular topic in the cattle industry. There are in fact some grey areas and complicated details to pay attention to.  “Grass-fed” beef in the US only has to be accessible to a pasture of grass, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that the cows will eat it. They may receive supplemental nutrition in the form of corn, grain, or hay. I believe what most people are thinking when they hear “grass fed” beef is something that is referred to as “grass-finished,” which means that the beef’s diet is not subjected to these supplemental grains. It will be tough to find a truly “grass finished” steak packaged in your super market. You have to get out to small town farmers that pride themselves on the quality of their beef – the kind of farmers that treat the cow like one of their own family members.

This practice is becoming more and more rare, and if it is being implemented, it tends to be a watered-down version. Commercial farms have found ways to increase their beef marketing without really increasing value. Not to mention the cattle industry creates more greenhouse gas than all of transportation combined (yes that means planes, trains and automobiles). In addition to the environmental damage greenhouse gasses cause, the commercial cattle industry uses an astounding 34 trillion gallons of water in a single year (about 2500 gallons of water per 1 pound of beef), compared to the hundred billion used for the oil industry. The cattle industry is booming, but with a booming economy comes serious environmental side effects.

If you’re passionate about cooking and eating beef at home, it’s important to know where the product comes from, and to be aware of some of the intricacies of the cattle industry. When possible, supporting the small-time, local farmer that grass finishes their beef will yield the best product.

For some information on how we approach beef and animal butchery at Brimmer & Heeltap, you can read Chef Mike Whisenhunt’s thoughts on the topic here.

Author: Dallas Dziedzic

Images: Will Foster Photography

Umami’s The Word

Farro, cucumber, pickled leeks, house-made Madras curry yogurt sauce, lamb lardons...the combination makes for a surprisingly complex, umami salad.

In the small, open kitchen at Brimmer & Heeltap, something mysterious, scientific, and absolutely mouth-watering is at work. Chef Mike Whisenhunt and his team are committed to working with an element of gastronomy that can be immensely challenging to properly harness. It’s been referred to in a multitude of ways, which only adds to its allure; a delicious “flavor-bomb,” or the “fifth taste” are some of its more common descriptors.

So what is it, exactly? It’s called umami, and it’s one of the things that makes the food we serve so deeply satiating and crave-worthy.

Considered separate from the four recognized food tastes – salt, sweet, bitter, and sour - umami is loosely translated from Japanese as "a savory taste" or simply, "yummy," and can be as difficult to articulate as it can be to detect in food. According to Brimmer & Heeltap’s Sous Chef Dallas Dziedzic, common examples of umami-rich foods include tomatoes, mushrooms, nutritional yeast, fish sauce, soy, and Parmesan cheese, most of which can be found on our menu when in season.  

 “We use fish sauce throughout the menu,” points out Dziedzic, who is on a mission to form a unique umami flavor at Brimmer & Heeltap. “The house-made yogurt with the lamb lardons on the fennel salad lend some of those same mouthwatering, satiating values,” he explains. “Or even the beans on the lamb with the crème fraiche...” It’s exciting to look at the menu at Brimmer & Heeltap and try to detect which elements of our current dishes likely contain umami flavors. Simple ingredients such as locally foraged mushrooms can sometimes pack a powerful punch, and at B&H, big flavors are definitely our thing.

Chef Dallas Dziedzic has spent many hours researching and experimenting to perfect umami-rich flavors for the menu at Brimmer & Heeltap.

According to journalist Amy Fleming, “umami” was coined in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda, a chemist at Tokyo University. Writes Fleming, “He had noticed this particular taste in asparagus, tomatoes, cheese and meat, but it was strongest in dashi – that rich stock made from kombu (kelp) which is widely used as a flavour base in Japanese cooking. So he homed in on kombu, eventually pinpointing glutamate, an amino acid, as the source of savoury wonder. He then learned how to produce it in industrial quantities and patented the notorious flavour enhancer MSG.” In addition to its loose association with the more commonly known food additive MSG, Fleming also astutely notes that umami is a “fascinating piece in the jigsaw of our gastronomic evolution.”

Umami is such a fascinating food concept that Chef Mike Whisenhunt has been hesitant to even use the word, for fear that diners wouldn't understand what it meant, and that the menu would feel less accessible to new guests. “I think it is essential that we continue to develop and make this a more conscious part of Brimmer & Heeltap’s style,” says Whisenhunt, who believes that umami has the power to contribute to the fun, bold, and playful flavors that make the restaurant’s food so unique and satisfying. Whisenhunt also acknowledges Sous Chef Dziedzic’s role in bringing umami flavors to life in the B&H kitchen. “I have to give a lot of credit to Dallas for really heading down his path of knowledge on the subject,” he says. “It inspires me.”

Dziedzic’s work with umami at Brimmer & Heeltap has involved extensive research, experimentation, and finding ways to recreate elements of MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) in a more organic way by utilizing ingredients B&H already sources. “For me, adding MSG was kind of cheating, so I looked to more natural options,” explains Dziedzic. “Learning that tomatoes, mushrooms (specifically dried shiitakes), Parmesan, potatoes, nutritional yeast along with dried and fermented fish all contain natural glutamate, was really the base of the umami bomb B&H uses.”

The Saur Broccoli Salad at Brimmer & Heeltap contains an "umami bomb" of epic proportions.

The best example of the “umami bomb” Dziedzic mentions can be found within the Saur Broccoli Salad that’s currently on the menu. The broccoli salad is comprised of a strangely satisfying combination of pickled serrano peppers, sesame seeds, popped quinoa, and black vinegar. The unlikely sum of its parts makes for a flavor experience so intense and nourishing it leaves you wanting more. Don’t just take our word for it – Seattle Refined recently named the salad among the five best vegetable dishes in the city. 

Chef Dziedzic explains that umami can be found in dishes that contain “rounded out flavors that make you want to go back for another bite.” Going back for another bite is exactly what umami is all about, and unsurprisingly, Brimmer & Heeltap is genuinely enthusiastic about food and beverages that inspire cravings among our guests. If you’re still unsure what umami is all about, we encourage you to come grab a seat at the restaurant and taste for yourself.

Author: Caitlyn Edson

Images: Will Foster.