U District Gets a New Vietnamese Coffee Shop with Phin Drips and Fruit Teas

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U District Gets a New Vietnamese Coffee Shop with Phin Drips and Fruit Teas

There’s some serious caffeine coming to campus. A new Vietnamese coffee shop called Sip House has landed in the U District, featuring a variety of beverages using the phin brewing method, a combination between a pour over and a French press that is slow, but produces rich flavors. It will also have a selection of fruit teas and iced coffee options (such as a mint mojito option), as well as some desserts coming soon, including souffle pancakes, salted egg sponge cake, and boba lava cake. This marks the second opening of a Vietnamese-focused coffee shop during the pandemic, following Coffeeholic House in Columbia City, which has drawn a steady number of takeout orders since debuting this spring. Sip House is also planning to launch a delivery service as well.

Central District French Restaurant L’Oursin Debuts Fast-Casual Pop-up

Among the more intriguing pivots from traditional sit-down restaurants includes Central District’s L’Oursin. The French restaurant launched its own pantry market earlier this spring, and is now getting into the fast casual game with a pop-up called Old Scratch. Drawing from co-owner Zac Overman’s North Carolina roots, the new takeout menu debuts this week with fried chicken thighs, fried shrimp, barbecue tofu, and a smash burger. The cocktails will also have some personal touches: there’s a peanut-and-cola-flavored old fashioned, a nod to Overman’s grandfather Earl, who used to pop salted peanuts into his glass bottle of Pepsi.

Ice Cream Chain Molly Moon’s Opens Its Bellevue Flagship

This weekend, local ice cream franchise Molly Moon’s opened its new Bellevue flagship store — its third shop on the Eastside. The 2,600-square foot space has a large kitchen, viewable from the sidewalk, where those passing by can watch the staff making batches of salted caramel, Cherry Chunk and Scout Mint Brownie, kind of like the Beecher’s Handmade Cheese flagship at Pike Place Market that has the open viewing window. There are seasonal scoops available for to-go orders, but the large production area seems to indicate that Molly Moon’s is really ramping up the retail aspect of the business during the pandemic, distributing pints to several local grocery stores, such as PCC Community Markets.