This is a late-lunch review.
We came in after breakfast service had stopped for the day, but with full intention of eating an entire meal. It was an effortless change of course to manage, and now, on the very next morning, we're getting ready to head up and try the breakfast again. This place is that good.
It's downtown Everett, and on the surface, some of the buildings look rough enough that you could be forgiven for not expecting anything fancy anywhere you go in. In fact, this building looks about that rough, but this joint's reputation so far precedes it that we had no doubt about how good everything was going to be.
Inside, it's a long, narrow, high-ceilinged brick shoebox, with a few skylights brightening spots here and there. The old wooden beams give it a bit of a historic maritime warehouse feel. The mid-century scandinavian tables and chairs fit right in, and the blond-wood-clad bar in the middle does as well. Even though the furnishings seem a half-century newer aesthetically than the structure does, it all works beautifully.
One of the first things you see is the pastry case, and please, pay attention to that. These guys know what's up with a bag of flour. All the baked goods are amazing. Next to that is the cheerful, friendly young person taking your orders, answering questions, making you feel completely taken care of even when there's a line. And there's always a line. They just always take care of ya.
You get a table number and leave your name. They call you up for your drinks, and bring your food to you at your table. We got two sandwiches, a biscuit, the soup, two coffees, and an iced tea.
Wetmore sandwich
Not a huge sandwich. Stop being such a pig--it's delicious! You can always order seconds, ya hog. Crusty, thick, chewy bread, finished on a panini press for the perfect extra iota of crunch. Salty sweet ham, brie just melting, nice combination of flavors.
Biscuit
Comes out with whipped butter and preserves that were maybe golden raspberry or stone fruit. Absolutely fantastic stuff all around. The biscuit isn't that low-country style where you could pull it apart and it looks like a deck of cards with all the layers, I'd guess you could describe this as more French. Smooth, golden-brown exterior. Flaky light crumb inside. I could eat 17 of these. Don't tell my pancreas.
Corn chowder
Awesome fresh corn, nice and sweet--sweet enough to add to the sweetness of the soup overall, for sure. Very light consistency, almost brothy by chowder standards, but still very much a chowder. Gremolata (parsley, lemon, garlic) drizzled over the top. In the end, this is a very mildly-flavored soup, with probably 75% of the flavor being the corn sweetness. I could go way bigger with other flavors, but this is super comforting and it's easy to see why it's always on the menu and always popular.
Iced tea
Solid, flavorful, always a welcome addition to the table.
Pourover coffee
My sister and I each got a cup of the Salma Bermudez "advanced fermentation" coffee, made via pourover. Just black coffee for each of us. So damn good. Huge nutty, lightly citric, and chocolatey flavors in a very refreshing and delicious cuppa mug. It was $8 and at least 5x as good as most coffees that cost half as much (if they don't actually cost more than half). I'm getting another cup of it within the next couple hours. Even at that price.
The kids here are super focused throughout, dialed right in on what they're doing. Everything comes out perfectly prepared, every time. It's wonderful to get coffees and foods prepared attentively by people who really care.
The crowd here is everyone under the sun--hardhats, hipsters, hippies, tree huggers, students, churchy types, bland suburbanites (like me), and probably a ton of others I'm forgetting. If you're in the area and they're open, come in, get food or coffee, and enjoy yourself. read more