Elk St. Tavern is the new kid on the block and sibling restaurant to Bellingham’s beloved Redlight Kitchen & Bar. We talked to Elk St.’s head chef, Karla Burcham, to bring you an inside look at this new eatery.
“The food at Elk St. is inspired by tavern classics, but updated,” says Burcham, who worked with Redlight’s former kitchen manager and chef, Noah Burns, to develop the dishes, and Redlight’s Andrea Tjoelker to create the desserts. In addition to burgers, steaks, and Caesars, you’ll find seafood and fresh produce, all “done in ways that you hopefully haven’t seen before.”
Photograph by Teo Crider
Using local ingredients wherever possible is also a focus. They source materials from Puget Sound Food Hub, Preservation Meat Collective, Watertank Bakery, Samish Bay Cheese, Twin Sisters Creamery, among others. Burcham says “it’s a long list” that she hopes “continues to grow.”
Photograph by Teo Crider
To Burcham, their Burger with Bacon & Cheddar “really represents everything we are trying to achieve,” thanks to the “attention to every component that takes it to the next level.” They make their own bacon, pickles, and cheese blend in house and grind the burgers fresh every day. Burcham also favors their Geoduck Crudo, as geoduck is an iconic PNW ingredient that she doesn’t often see on menus in the area.
Photograph by Teo Crider
Of course, good food goes hand-in-hand with a great environment. Burcham says that to her, eating at Elk St. is like visiting the Shire, an idyllic realm that fans of “The Lord of the Rings” will recognize. Elk St. is an intimate yet communal space where the food and drink provide “little unexpected journeys” and “opportunities to experience something new.” 1017 N. State St., Bellingham, elkstreettavern.com
Read on to see the full Q&A with Elk St.’s head chef, Karla Burcham.
Q: What sort of cuisine is Elk St. serving?
A: The food at Elk St is inspired by tavern classics but updated. The goal was to put a lot of familiar, comfortable, and classic dishes on the menu, but give them a twist to make them fun and exciting again. The dishes take inspiration from all over the place, basically just following our current cravings. You’ll find tavern classics like burgers, steaks, Caesar salad and fried brussels sprouts done in ways that you hopefully haven’t seen before. You will also find a lot of seafood on the menu, classics like chilled prawns with cocktail sauce and grilled oysters done our way.
Q: How did you develop the menu?
A: I worked closely with Noah Burns, former kitchen manager and chef at Redlight, to develop most of the dishes. We started with a basic outline of dishes or ingredients we wanted to see on the menu and let our specific tastes guide the way from there. Working with him was such a joy and his knowledge and experience helped shape the course of the menu. He also pioneered our fry program and produced the best fries in Bellingham (at least in our opinion). I worked with Andrea Tjoelker to develop our desserts. She is the mind behind the desserts at Redlight and her taste and expertise made two desserts that I would happily eat every day.
Q: Are there any dishes you think are particularly representative of Elk St.? Or that you’re excited by/proud of?
A: The burger really represents everything we are trying to achieve with the restaurant. At its base, it’s a very traditional and familiar burger. But it’s the attention to every component that takes it to the next level. We grind the burgers fresh every day, cure and smoke the bacon ourselves, make the dill pickles in house, blend our own version of American cheese, and source the best buns we can get. I’m also a big fan of the geoduck crudo. Geoduck is really an iconic PNW ingredient, but in the decade I’ve lived in Bellingham, I don’t ever remember seeing it on a restaurant menu. Getting the chance to showcase something so special to the area was very exciting to me.
Q: Do you source any of your ingredients from local growers/suppliers? If so, how much and who?
A: A big focus going into opening this restaurant was to try to use local ingredients wherever possible. Having the crudité on the menu gives us a great opportunity to showcase local produce. We receive most of our produce through the Puget Sound Food Hub. It’s a farmer collective that streamlines the process of wholesaling for farms and other local producers and has helped us to source and buy as much as we can from our local farms, like Crow Farms and Hedlin Family Farms. The beautiful blue oyster mushrooms come from our friends at Cascadia Mushrooms. Our beef comes from our friends at Preservation Meat Collective. All our bread comes from Watertank Bakery. The work of Rachael Sobczak, owner and baker, is a big part of what makes our burger so special. Our cheese comes from Samish Bay Cheese and Twin Sisters Creamery. We also work with Moonrise Meadows Farms and Nimbus Farms. It’s a long list and my hope is that it continues to grow.
Q: How do you want folks to feel when eating at Elk St.?
A: It may sound corny, but every time I think about the experience of eating at Elk St., I think about the Shire. It’s such a comfortable space that feels cozy and intimate, but the feeling is also communal and exciting. There are little unexpected journeys to experience through the food and drinks. We want it to be warm and inviting but still provide opportunities to experience something new.
Q: I know Teo said to direct beverage questions towards him, but generally, how do you think the beverage menu fits with the food menu?
A: didn’t place any particular focus on coordinating the drinks and food while developing the opening menus. However, when we started to finalize the menus and tasted everything together, we were delighted by how well the food and drinks complimented each other. There is a drink for every dish and getting to discover those different combinations was part of the fun.
Q: Any exciting plans for the future of Elk St.’s menu?
A: My goal is to continue to find ways to highlight local products that people aren’t as familiar with. I’ve always been an adventurous eater, and I hope to make Elk St. somewhere that people trust to try something new. The warm, comforting food of winter is my absolute favorite and I’m excited to share more with everyone who comes through our door.
