For those of us who live in the City of Destiny, it comes as no surprise that the our city’s restaurant scene has become the talk of the Puget Sound area—including Seattle, our overly confident cousin up north.
We truly have it all. Tacoma residents have their choice of all kinds of cuisine: Korean, Russian, Salvadorean, Filipino, and even Samoan. Then we have all kinds of places pushing the menu so to speak, by playing around with traditional American cuisine and turning it into New American cuisine. We even have a former Top Chef contestant who co-owns and operates a Japanese noodle joint in the Stadium District.
What if we told you that Tacoma now features a hip and trendy restaurant that serves brunch seven days a week? Welcome to Honey Coffee and Kitchen, located downtown on S Fawcett Street in the Carpenters Building. The building features 22,000 square feet that serve as home to Alma Mater, an arts organization, art galleries, a concert hall, a recording studio, and of course, Honey, which is located on the first floor.
As you can imagine, the folks once behind Eleven Eleven and the now defunct Marrow do not mess around when it comes to sourcing food locally to create highly innovative dishes that seem deceptively simple. Not only do they keep the menu items creative and local, but they also have incredibly reasonable prices—especially for having such a hip menu and hipster vibe. Not a single dish costs over $12 and considering the innovative quality food that Honey serves, reasonable prices are nothing less than miraculous.
Ingredients come from Adam’s Mushrooms in Pierce County, and Honey sources whole pigs from Jack Mountain Meats in Moses Lake, Washington. The socially conscious restaurant also uses grass-fed Washington beef and sustainably sourced seafood.
At this point we’re betting that you’re pretty tempted to head over to Honey for some delicious brunch grub. Let us tempt you some more. Here are some of the dishes that you’ll find at Honey:
Pig head scrapple with maple syrup, fried duck egg, hash browns and brioche ($12); tamarind oxtail marmalade toast with fried duck egg, arugula salad, pecorino romano, baguette and hash browns ($11); potato roski skagen with Oregon bay shrimp skagen, caviar and rustic potato toast ($12); and Marrakesh market hash with fingerling potatoes, harissa spiced tofu, cauliflower and rustic potato toast ($11).
These are just a few of the items that Honey offers on its menu. Oh, and the hash browns are out of this world. Extremely crispy outside and yummy potato goodness on the inside. Honey’s should set the standard for hash browns everywhere.
We visited on a Saturday morning, were lucky to find parking, but of course had to wait for a table—although not too long. Parking is mostly curbside, but there are plans for a designated parking lot.
A big plus is the ample outdoor seating—furry four-legged friends are totally welcome.
Orders are made at the counter, where you are given a number and called when your order is ready.
However, considering the Food Network-style menu, the fresh and locally sourced ingredients, the hip ambience, and the incredibly low prices, a lack of table service is a very small sacrifice to make to eat at such a distinguished restaurant—especially one that serves brunch seven days a week.