More food than ever to enjoy in La Conner

Since purchasing the Scone Lady bakery from Christie Eichler in January 2020, D.J. Gallegos and Keneisia Smart-Gallegos have gotten some puzzled looks.

When customers ask Smart-Gallegos whether she is the Scone Lady, she politely says no, she is the Scone Lady’s wife.

Then she introduces her husband, D.J. – Mr. Scone Lady to his bankers.

Still others tell Gallegos how glad they are that his mom reopened the bakery.

Confusion vanishes with the first bite. Gallegos, who met “honorary mom” Eichler when he was earning his associate degree in culinary arts at Skagit Valley College, follows the recipes and techniques he learned from working with her for several years.

When the couple moved to Virginia and then Texas, Gallegos and Eichler stayed in touch. When she was ready to sell, the Gallegos were ready to return to Washington and take over the business.

Gallegos loves the freedom of owning his own business – and the huge demand for his product. “A lot of places where I’ve worked I have been severely underappreciated,” he says. “Everything we do here is appreciated.”

Excitement about new horizons is a shared theme among the three restaurants and two food businesses that are new, relocated, or changed hands in 2020 and early 2021.

“It’s nothing but positive over here,” says Kim Broadhead about moving the Stompin Ground across Morris Street.

With room to grow, and to add more food items and to nurture the garden to her heart’s content, she likes her new quarters. Offered space downtown,

“I prefer to stay on the fringes and I would have lost locals who don’t venture downtown, especially during touristy events.”

A porch along Morris Street, a walk-up window on 6th street and outdoor heaters are improvements coming soon.

When Seafarers Worldwide closed their office in the Stationhouse building next to the Sliders Café on Morris Street, new owners Jason and Sarah Lindeman saw an opportunity to offer the kind of healthy, reasonably priced dishes they liked. The new NW Fuel Café offers an eclectic mix of coffees, beers, mimosas, smoothies, sandwiches and acai bowls, a smoothie bowl topped with fruit.

“It’s been awesome,” says Sarah, “but for now we are a hidden secret. Our sign only says NW Fuel, so no one can tell we’re a food place.”

As they staff up, they will swap out the sign and ramp up their marketing. Meanwhile, they are building awareness through events like last weekend’s sidewalk chalk event, something they plan to make permanent.

“Mom and dad can have a mimosa and a beer while the kids draw,” says Lindeman.

The couple is already collaborating with fellow business owners. The chalk came from Mystic Art Supply on Commercial Street, whose owners are “a young couple with a baby coming, like us.”

Over on North First Street, Nathan Salter and Leslie Grove are excited to have opened the Salted Grape Bistro in the former Whitey’s BBQ.

“We like doing good quality food in a casual environment, that isn’t ridiculously expensive,” says Salter, who commutes from Bothell, where the couple owned a previous iteration of the Salted Grape.

They appreciate the response they have had from locals, especially their repeat customers. They are also tickled to meet the Swansons, the Hedlins and other farmers who supplied their Bothell location through the Puget Sound Food Hub.

Salter and his daughter came up with “Salted Grape”, which a playful combination of his last name with wife Leslie’s career managing a winery tasting room.

“Actually, salted grapes taste terrible,” he said. “They’re better if you peel the skin off, but they are not pleasant.” Which is why their Salted Grape salad uses slow-roasted, not salted, grapes.

David and Nora Kas commute to the Fork at Skagit Bay from their home on Fourth Street – except when they have to drive to Bellingham, where they also own the Fork at Agate Bay on Lake Whatcom.

When they bought their Bellingham location, they took over an established clientele with firm opinions about what was on the menu.

While the Fork at Skagit Bay, in the former Anelia’s, offers more latitude for menu development, “the restaurant is a living breathing animal that does what it wants to do,” says David. “You have to unleash it and give the people what they want.”

With 35 years of experience, the couple knows a lot about fine dining and craft cocktails. They make their own ice cream, crackers, bread and desserts. They appreciate the way merchants in La Conner look out for one another and look forward to “sharing straws” with other venues in town.

It is a tough business and David says even experienced restaurateurs face a steep learning curve when they open a new spot. Still, he is certain the next three years in the restaurant business “will be the best of my entire life.”

As other La Conner merchants are experiencing, those who have made it to the other side of COVID-19 find business locally is booming. “Post-COVID, we are up 30%,” Kas says. “We are so busy we are running out of food.”