By Dave B.
What does it take to be a Vashon Island restaurant?
I have noticed many things over the years here on Vashon and one is the number of restaurants that have opened and closed. What I find interesting is that, as diverse a population as there is in the Pacific Northwest, we on Vashon are not.
We are a burgers and fries and beer crowd, it seems. I bet a lot of you disagree and that is fine, but think about it. Beyond May’s Thai food and Mexican food, there is not much variety. On top of that, as I have pointed out in the past, we have a large amount of pizza places, burgers, and sandwich shops.
Let’s analyze who has left the playing field.
Green Ginger, which I felt had some of the best Asian food in the area, closed after years next to the licensing office. Angela was a gem and the portions were generous and flavorful.
Bramble House has had multiple owners, and I liked it with farm-style entrees. Now it’s the Ramble Restaurant. Fun food and a great new lunch menu.
Saucy Sisters was ANOTHER pizza place and is now Colvo’s Tavern. The food was marginal, but I still felt bad when they closed, as it was someone’s dream. I recall it has been a few other’s dreams as well, only to close for various reasons.
The Red Bike was Bishops for a long time, and a gas station years ago. Now it’s the Pop Pop Bottle Shop. The Bike had the ONLY sushi in town and even though Sushi Chief Ki was as temperamental as it comes, at least we had sushi. Joe from Green Ginger would come into the Bike and bring food during the winter and we would eat and drink at the bar (usually with Bobby and Wilson). Bar drinks and Asian food – a perfect combo!
Homegrown was also located where Sam opened part of the Pop Pop, and I miss the wonderful breakfasts there.
Our current Island Queen has also been Zombies and Zoomies. It was once a real Dairy Queen.
Gravy had been Gusto Girls, and before that I cannot remember, but it has turned over several times. Even Gravy itself has changed two or three times in order to figure itself out.
On the north end, you had Megan and Adam start the Wild Mermaid and before that, for many years, it was ANOTHER Mexican restaurant with a great outdoor patio to watch the ferries come in. Now, it is a small store like it was back in the 1950s (with no gas).
Snapdragon has had several names, including Monkey Tree and one other I do not recall.
Ruby Brink has been an Italian restaurant, twice an Indian restaurant and a cocktail/bar meeting place, but with no parking has been an issue to some.
My point here is that, currently we have no good Italian food, no Asian food, no Indian food, no Sushi, no Greek, Ethiopian, African, or French, although we do have Syrian food trucks, thank God. Why?
Even when we did, why could they not make it here on Vashon?
I am not a businessman in the sense of managing a kitchen (even my own) and I know it is a lot of work, but why are we just not supporting foreign eateries? Why are we not more diverse in our palates?
Even on Monday, half the restaurants are closed. I get it, everyone needs time off but why Monday? I like eating on Monday …
What do you think?
