The long-awaited waterfront restaurant, Westward, and its counterpart, Little Gull Grocery, opens on Tuesday, September 3. The new full service restaurant and grocery (with its own 156 ft dock!) is conveniently located off the Burke Gilman Trail at Eastern (2501 Northlake Way).
Westward and Little Gull Grocery are owned and operated by Skillet founder, Josh Henderson, under the Huxley Wallace Collective. Here’s a little summary of the two new spots from their website:
Westward is a water-inspired full service restaurant and bar located on North Lake Union – a contemporary northwest mediterranean joint open every day for lunch and dinner, serving a full brunch on weekends. The approach is natural and continually evolving, reflecting the simplicity of great products and the changing seasons. The wood-burning oven is at the heart of the kitchen and is an integral element in the restaurant. Each seat has a view of the lake and the city. A large patio and beach area will provide space to enjoy the summer and shoulder months, and the 150 ft. dock provides boat parking for a meal or an afternoon whiskey. The menu includes imaginative, Mediterranean-influenced fare and delightful small bites.
Little Gull Grocery is a cozy 22 seat oyster bar and grocery located waterfront on North Lake Union. Its cool, clean and whimsical design provides the perfect space to enjoy fresh and locally harvested oysters, along with an icy cold beer or glass of your favorite wine (preferably both). It is directly connected to sibling restaurant Westward. At the helm is national oyster shucking champion and local oyster legend David Leck. He plans to carry an incredible range of oysters from across the US, heavily focused on the best the Northwest has to offer. Little Gull will also offers a grocery to ‘grab and go.’ Perfect for picnics and stocking up for the boat. Offerings will include bottles of beer and wine, charcuterie, little snacks and wool navy blankets.
Westward will offer lunch and dinner (and coming soon: brunch on the weekends). The restaurant will have seating for 60 inside and a large patio will accomodate up to 40 outside. There will be 10 parking spaces in addition to street parking.Make your reservations here. Hours of operation will be Sunday through Thursday, 11:00am to 10:00pm; Friday-Saturday, 11:00am to 11:00pm. See their Facebook page for more information.
I hope Josh Henderson has changed his tune and will forgo adding a health care surcharge to his customers’ bills. Unless he chooses to itemize all costs of doing business (i.e. rent, utilities, napkins, etc), this is nothing more than a passive-aggressive protest against offering his employees health care coverage.
Thank you for linking to the article, Doug. I had not read that before and it will certainly make me re-think whether I eat at these restaurants in the future.
I had not read that article either! While I love a new business popping up in our neighborhood, I’m not happy to learn about how this person may treat his employees! Especially in an occupation where physical injury is common. Very disappointing..
I don’t know if Westward had anything to do with the recent cleanup of the “pocket park” next door, or the general cleanup of the street and stairs to the BGT nearby, but if so, thanks to them! And I hope they (or whoever) continues to keep it looking tidy – quite an improvement!
The recent “cleanup” next door involved cutting down 6+ foot native Oregon grape plants. More a ground scraping (apparently some landscape folks prefer a blank canvas) than a cleanup. Actual cleanup activities – hauling out years of garbage and asphalt that had been dumped there – had been done by University Sunrise Rotary Club in months past.
Just a follow-up to my original comment. I went to the Huxley Wallace Collective Facebook page, and in response to someone’s query about the health care surcharge, they responded, “We are offering health care to our staff and there is no surcharge on our menus.”
Great news! I can’t wait to check out this new neighborhood spot.
Appreciate the follow-up, Doug.
We went last night for the reservations-only soft opening. Delicious and a great add to the neighborhood! We started with a dozen oysters, the fried chickpeas with Aleppo pepper and the smoked manila clam dip with homemade potato chips. The chickpeas were crispy and spicy, the clam dip was filled with clams and, unlike most clam dips, was light and tangy–they use greek yogurt instead of sour cream + cream cheese and it makes a difference. The chips could hold their own in any bar in town.
We then shared an emmer and smoked peach salad, with mache and parm–warm, smoky, filling. Frankly, this could be a main it was so flavorful and filling. For our mains we shared the octopus Bolognese with homemade tagliatelle and a small order of the wild boar meatballs served with both spicy peppers and sweet Hungarian peppers. I would never have thought to pair octopus with Bolognese but it worked, it was light and creamy and worked with the end of the vinho verde that we were drinking. The boar was probably the most unctuous boar I’ve ever had; boar is from Oregon (where a lot of the locally served wild boar comes from) and the cuts are all ground together, so you get the fatty parts combined with the many lean parts.
For dessert we shared the sweet corn panna cotta with local berries. Super fresh fruit (and damn our berries have been good this year!) and the panna cotta had the essence of sweet corn with the creaminess of a perfect panna cotta.
Total for all that plus drinks was $185. You could definitely eat for less, especially if you focused on Little Gull or the starters and veg sections of the menu, but not bad for a full meal, drinks and a beautiful view on a great evening! We will be back after they open on Tuesday. (Oh, and I can confirm–no health care surcharge!)
I wrote to the owners to ask about the healthcare surcharge. Here’s the reply:
“We are offering health care to our staff and there is no surcharge on our menus.”