It was the week before Christmas, when all through the public house, plenty of creatures were stirring, clinking beer glasses and causing a rouse. Teeming with regulars, folks avoiding holiday shopping by way of beer and the scent of a tireless grill, chef/restaurateur John Howie’s Beardslee Public House is filling a niche as a brew-savvy eatery in Bothell, Washington.
The Seattle suburb has been looking for a new identity and it seems to have been found: Bothell itself is quickly turning into a destination for beer. With neighboring town Kenmore counting its uptick of homebrewers and professional breweries of its own (not to mention Bothell is the new home to a McMenamins’ Anderson School, hotel/restaurant/bar), the eastside ‘burbs are drawing in tourists and Beardslee is here to satiate them.
Named for the boulevard in which it sits, the Beardslee Public House is the latest addition to Chef Howie’s restaurant group and not only houses its eponymous brewery but its distillery, Wildwood Spirits Co., downstairs. With the brewery establishing in 2014, the public house opened in August to feed hungry University of Washington, Bothell campus students and beer-thirsty locals alike.
If you’ve ever been to a John Howie restaurant, you know the chef and his team plate up two things really well: beef and seafood. Understanding their strengths, Beardslee plates up modestly elevated and recognizably creative pub grub, from the top of the menu to the bottom. Needing familiarity with your Beaver Bait blonde ale? Try the beer nuts (salty and sweet or sweet and spicy) or the House-made Brewing Grain Pretzels with smoked gouda, honey butter and mustard dipping sauces. Pair your Greenleaf India pale ale with a jalapeno hummus infused with the same beer, or get messy with the grilled Kalbi-marinated Pork “Meat Candy.”
To cleanse the palate, the Kale, Red Cabbage & Carrot Salad is topped with red onion, sunflower, pumpkin and hemp seeds then tossed in a Dijon-cider vinaigrette. Moving into entrees, Howie’s team turns to more traditional public house fare: burgers, brats and breads. Don’t mess around—get the American Wagyu ½ pound burger and take it cooked their way. American Waygu beef is placed between two buns of house-baked potato roll, slathered with house-smoked onion spread and stacked with lettuce and tomato. Leaning more toward sausage? Try the sampler where you pick two types of 1/3-pound saug (brat, spicy Italian, hot link, garlic chicken and pork) and dip it into stout-infused whole grain mustard. With more than half a dozen flatbreads to choose from, keep it to Howie’s sweet side of meat and order the Charcuterie Pizza, with toppers of Italian sausage, salami,
coppacolla, prosciutto and speck, in addition to Roma tomatoes, roasted, Parm and and olive oil base.
Tastes of all beers brewed on-site are offered and encouraged, like the hoppy yet roasty Sasquatch Cascadian dark ale, the refreshing Widow Maker Belgian-style wit or the Four Ginger IPA, a moderately hop-forward ale that kicks you in the face with fresh, Thai, pickled and candied gingers. Need something stronger? Try the Avaition, a classic gin cocktail reinvented with Wildwood’s Kur gin, maraschino liqueur and crème de violette.
The hours are happiest at Beardslee from 3-6 p.m. daily, gluten-intolerant folks are welcomed with an independent menu sans gluten and soup’s on for lunch and dinner everyday. Pack your bags for Bothell and heads to Beardslee for a few.
