Ballard's Landmark Totem House Will Indeed Become a Third Red Mill Location, Offering Fish, Chips and Burgers

The owners of one of the city's most enduring, bacon-bedecked burger joints have officially signed a 10-year lease on the Totem House, the 65-year fish-and-chips spot near the Ballard Locks that closed unexpectedly in the final days of 2010.

Over at the Seattle Times, Nancy Leson reports that Red Mill Burgers owners Babe and John Shepherd have already papered up the windows and begun renovating the Totem House, keeping the totem pole and other semi-gaudy Native American-ish trappings, but reconfiguring the tiny dining room and adding some Northwest-appropriate cedar countertops and an outdoor seating area. The Shepherds plan to keep the Totem House's fish, chips, and chowder heritage alive, only now diners can get a Red Mill burger and the shop's crazy-good onion rings here too. Not too shabby.

Leson has been chronicling the couple's long-held desire to move into the Totem House. In addition to the original Red Mill Burgers on Phinney Ridge, the Shepherds have a second location in Interbay.
· Red Mill Totem House: it's a go at Ballard landmark [Seattle Times]
· It’s official: Red Mill Burgers is coming to Ballard [My Ballard]
· Rumor (Red) Mill: burger folks have eye on Totem House [Seattle Times]
[Photo by Joe Mabel/Flickr]