On a late fall evening, with the sun falling behind the horizon, the dim of twilight pushing out the warm evening sun, and the night’s chill creeping forward to fill the space left behind, there are few things more inviting than a cozy candlelit dining room full of food, drinks, and conversation.
Tucked away on the edge of downtown Bellingham, Elk St. Tavern has been in operation for just over a year, offering a place to eat, drink, and talk in warm comfort.
At the core of the project is Tera Richardson, the head bartender who transferred over from Elk St. Tavern’s partner restaurant, Redlight Kitchen and Bar, to head the new establishment. Years of working for Redlight paid off when Tera was offered the chance to head the new project.
“I started at Redlight. I was hired on as a food runner—so, support staff shift—and over a couple of years, I became a server, and then a bartender, and then I became a lead over at Redlight,” says Tera. “Last year, around February, they asked me if I’d be interested in leading the bar program over here when we opened in August.”
Tera has worked in the food service industry for years, originally at family restaurants, but she has always had an interest in stepping into the world of bartending. She was given the chance when she was recruited by Teo Crider, the at-the-time general manager at Redlight, and current general manager and partner at Elk St. Tavern.
“I felt like there was a part of the hospitality industry that I hadn’t accessed yet,” says Tera. “Teo kinda opened the doors for that, and provided me with an opportunity that helped me excel in that industry.”
This new side of work did come with a learning curve, but it also helped Tera appreciate the behind-the-scenes work that goes into creating the perfect experience for bar patrons.
“I felt like there were a lot of things I had never thought of before, like presetting plates or little tiny service things that make the experience for guests better,” says Tera.
This unique experience lets Tera and the other Elk St. Tavern staff cultivate a community of regulars, which in turn allows them to experience new things and meet interesting people.
“I feel like I’ve found so many great connections with people and opportunities, like people will ask me to bartend their weddings, and I think that’s such an intimate, cool experience that I’d never have gotten if I’d stayed at a family restaurant…I met my realtor through this job,” adds Tera.
As head bartender, Tera does her best to make the personal and artistic side of bartending shine for her team. Each season, all the bartending staff create their own custom cocktail, a process they all look forward to each time the menu changes.
“It’s a really good way to exercise this being a creative job and not just a service job, and I’d never want it to feel any other way,” says Tera.
Tera has her own favorite cocktail to serve, one tied to her familial roots in Thailand. The “Mine All Mine” rum cocktail is made with taro (a starchy root vegetable native to Southeast Asia) infused rum, taro powder, lime juice, and Bua loi—a traditional Thai dessert—syrup. The purple shade of the drink can be a surprise to patrons.
The drink requires hours of prep time to make, and that time isn’t just unique to the “Mine All Mine” either. Every cocktail is made from handmade ingredients, adding a personal touch to each one, to ensure every customer has the best experience possible.
“We hand juice everything every day,” says Tera. “I think that’s something that customers don’t know immediately when they come in, and they see a $15 cocktail on the menu. They’re like, ‘That’s expensive,’ but at the same time, there’s someone downstairs juicing your lemon juice, caramelizing the taro for your rum, and making syrup for it.”
Each custom cocktail carries a similar amount of work, especially in the design phase, when it’s unclear how the experimentation will go. The thought put into creating drinks also helps balance out the physically demanding side of bartending.
“It’s such a good way to exercise the artistic part of your brain when having a job like this is very physically straining a lot of the time,” says Tera. “Bartending hurts your body, and it’s a good thing for everyone to feel excited about something.”
1017 N. State St., Bellingham, elkstreettavern.com
Photograph by Joshua Grambo
