Acadia (1651 N 34th St.) is a new restaurant tucked into a garden-level commercial space in the Tableau world headquarters. Acadia rolled out their full menu just a couple of weeks ago.
Garden level in the new Tableau headquarters
Acadia is a fast-casual concept serving bowls, sandwiches, salads, coffee, and espresso. A light breakfast menu is available from 7–11 a.m. In the afternoon and evening, Acadia offers craft beer, wine, and snacks including cheese and charcuterie plates. While the weekday breakfast and lunch crowd will draw heavily from the 1,300 Tableau employees upstairs and other nearby businesses, Acadia has plenty to offer those of us who are only in the neighborhood in the evenings and weekends. Acadia is open M-F 7 a.m.–8 p.m. and on weekends 8 a.m.–2 p.m.
Acadia is run by first-time business owners and Wallingford residents Annie Koski-Karell and David Rogers. Annie has 10 years in the industry and has worked in José Andrés and Tom Douglas restaurants. She earned an MBA at the University of Washington and decided to open her own restaurant.
David is from the South and grew up on the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama. Several years ago, Annie visited David’s family on the Gulf Coast and also stopped in New Orleans. She was so impressed by the complex flavors of southern cooking that these travels inspired the Acadia collaboration. In the true spirit of home-style cooking, some of David’s mom’s recipes even make an appearance on the menu.
Local ingredients are plentiful at Acadia. They take pride in local and responsibly-sourced goods from businesses including Charlie’s Produce, Anchorhead Coffee, Uli’s Sausage, and Macrina Bakery. As the business matures, Acadia will work with additional local suppliers to find interesting produce and other regional items for the menu.
Our sourcing policies are inspired by the pioneering heritage of the Acadians, a people expelled from their Canadian homeland in the 1700s. Many Acadians resettled in lower Louisiana, passing their hunting and growing traditions to their Cajun descendants.
At Acadia, we pay respect to the Acadians’ spirit of self-reliance and closeness to earth through our clean label sourcing, which rejects additives and preservatives in favor of simple, natural, wholesome ingredients.
Z’herbes, roasted veggies, pulled pork, and rice.
While many Southerners readily admit to liking their foods fried, there are many popular healthy options. Acadia only focuses on the fresher, healthier side of Southern cooking. For example, Acadia offers an Z’herbes adapted from Gumbo Z’herbes which is composed of at least three types of greens and the “trinity” of Cajun cooking (onions, bell pepper, & celery). Sorry Paula Deen, you’ll never find a Krispy Kreme Burger (aka Lady’s Brunch Burger) on the menu at Acadia.
My wife and I stopped by on a quiet Sunday afternoon to try out their offerings. The brand new space is bright, modern, and thoughtfully decorated. One of the first things you’ll notice is the brightly-colored rows of porcelain-coated cast-iron Dutch ovens. Cast iron has long history in southern cooking, so Acadia followed suit with this visually-striking touch.
Despite all the fresh vegetable options, I was immediately drawn to the Carolina bowl that includes pulled pork, beans, three-cheese mac, and brown rice (that’s right: carb-on-carb-on-carb). The pulled pork is cooked Carolina-style which means the meat is rubbed with dry spices and cooked in a vinegar-based sauce. No sticky, messy BBQ sauce here!
The bowl came with small thimble of vinegar sauce on the side. The flavors were a little plain until I added the vinegar sauce and a good dash of salt and pepper. Personally, I’d prefer a bigger kick with the seasonings. I’d like to see them fully embrace the Southern spices that complement their ideas and ingredients. I would like to see Acadia offer custom levels of seasoning or create some sort of homemade house-blend Cajun seasoning left on the tables that could be added to-taste. Ultimately, the Carolina bowl came across as lean, healthy, and homemade. It was a very tasty lunch and I’ll definitely be going back for more!
My wife chose the mix-and-match option for her bowl and included Z’herbes, roasted veggies, pulled pork, and rice. The veggies tasted very fresh and homemade. She is very sensitive to spice but also found that her bowl needed the extra vinegar seasoning and wished for a bit more depth. Overall, we both found our bowls to be fresh, healthy, and filling. The portion sizes felt just right!
Enjoying my Carolina bowl and a Wander IPA.
After lunch, my wife and I introduced ourselves to Annie and David, who sat down and visited with us for quite a while. It turns out that David’s mom was in the restaurant sitting right next to us! She was in town, visiting from Alabama, and helping with recipes. She was particularly interested in what we thought about the Z’herbes. The five of us had a great conversation about the style and flavors of Southern cooking and the hard work that’s required to start a brand new small business. Annie is very focused on showcasing the healthy side of Southern cooking. Both Annie and David encouraged our feedback and are open to new ideas as they dial in the concept and refine their recipes.
Acadia has some great ideas, fresh ingredients, and a beautiful space. I wish Annie and David well and am excited to have a new restaurant in the neighborhood that’s also owned by Wallingford residents. Annie and David are very friendly and approachable. They’d love to hear what you think about their new restaurant!
Food is pretty good, but the portion feels much smaller with the sandwiches comparing to the bowls. It’s also funny that mac-n-cheese is a vegetable option as opposed to a carb option.
Food is pretty good, but the portion feels much smaller with the sandwiches comparing to the bowls. It’s also funny that mac-n-cheese is a vegetable option as opposed to a carb option.