The mobile medical clinic

If you happen to be in downtown Edmonds around lunchtime Tuesday, you can catch a glimpse of “HOPE,” the Edmonds Mobile Medical Clinic providing care for those without health insurance. According to Lynn Heitritter, a registered nurse who coordinates the services HOPE provides weekly at the Edmonds United Methodist Church (EUMC), the medical clinic truck will be parked outside the Rusty Pelican restaurant, 107 5th Ave. N., at around 12:30 p.m.

The reason for the clinic’s appearance outside the restaurant? Heitritter shares this story: She and her husband dined recently at the Rusty Pelican, and asked if the restaurant might be willing to provide food for volunteers at the clinic. “I was thinking perhaps some brownies,” Heitritter said. Instead, owners Marilyn and Peter Limberopoulos invited the 10-12 volunteers who work at the clinic to have a free lunch at the restaurant on the first Tuesday of each month.

“I’m just so amazed at their generosity,” Heitritter said. “What a lovely gift this is, and not just once, but every month.”

To thank the Rusty Pelican, Heitritter received permission from the Edmonds Police Department to park the 40-foot truck in front of the restaurant Tuesday and offer tours to the staff.

The Edmonds Mobile Medical Clinic sees patients weekly from 8-11:30 a.m. Tuesdays at the United Methodist Church, 828 Caspers St. The clinic operates under the non-profit Puget Sound Christian Clinic with support from the Verdant Health Commission.

The Rusty Pelican offers a warm welcome to customers. (Photos by Lara Alexander)

By Lara Alexander

Edmonds loves its brunches and now has a new place to add to the mix. Friday morning, the Rusty Pelican opened on 5th Avenue North, across the street from the Edmonds Historical Museum, in the space previously occupied by Olives.

The restaurant interior.

Owners Marilyn and Peter Limberopoulos and their daughters Johanna Limberopoulos and Stacy Gunsaules are feeling pretty good about opening day. “The people have been wonderful,” said Marilyn as she sat at a back table, observing the patrons coming and going and thanking the frequent visitors who came to welcome the family business and give their good wishes. “Everything is going good! There were a few wrinkles with the thermostat and the toaster, and I was panicking, but my husband told me to calm down!”

Marilyn says that she enjoys shopping in Edmonds and had been silently looking for a new business location. She had been eyeing an old house and considering opening an ice cream parlor, but realized that the building would require too much work. Walking back to Main Street, she passed the empty restaurant front and noticed the lease sign. “I called my husband and told him — I found the perfect location!”

Marilyn and Peter are not new to the restaurant business. They have owned the Rusty Pelican in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood for 10 years, the Gyro Delight in Lynnwood for five years, and a restaurant in Chicago for 25 years before that. “My grandma owned a restaurant too. Between us all, we have over 80 years of experience,” she said.

The experience showed on opening day. The staff looked genuinely happy and relaxed, bakery items lined the display, and food arrived to the table quickly and without any fuss. All of the staff are transplants from the Wallingford location and will work both restaurants. All, that is, except their employee Rose, who is happy to be able to walk to the new Edmonds spot from home. Marilyn said they will let her skip the commute to Seattle!

Freshly baked cakes await you.

“Hospitality and good service are our main goals,” said Marilyn, “There will always be a family member here when we are open.” Self-described workaholics, Peter works 110 hours a week and makes all of the soups and salad dressings from scratch. Marilyn does all of the baking. “And we never say no to a customer. If we have the ingredients, we will make it for you!” she added.

The Rusty Pelican is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. seven days a week, with an extensive breakfast and lunch menu that are both served all day. They anticipate having a robust to-go order business in addition to those who eat in; on opening day they already had the orders coming in from surrounding businesses. Although the whole menu is available to go, soon they will begin selling boxed lunches, delivered locally.

Boxed lunches, made with the business crowd in mind, will offer a choice between four salads, four wraps and four sandwiches. Each box will include a bottled water, small salad and handmade cookie and will sell for about $12 each.

The restaurant will also be available for private events in the evening. “There are a lot of condos in Edmonds, and we know many people have limited space for parties,” explained Marilyn. Patrons will be able to use the restaurant for their own celebrations for no rental cost beyond the cost of food. It just takes a guarantee of 20 guests to reserve the private event space.

Rusty Pelican Cafe in Edmonds
107 Fifth Ave. N.
425-582-8250
www.rustypelicancafe.com

Rory’s of Edmonds has an entire St. Patrick’s Day menu that includes a Bowl of Green Balls (seasoned meatballs with pesto garlic cream sauce), cream of reuben soup, a St. Patrick’s Day sandwich (brisket cooked in Guinness), and a shepherd’s pie made with Irish whiskey. Served now through this Sunday, March 18.

Jack Murphys, Edmonds’ authentic Irish bar, will offer live Irish  by Whiskey Galore from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Friday and will open at 10 a.m. Saturday with a variety of Irish whiskeys, beers, Irish coffee and — of course– hot corned beef sandwiches.

A Very Taki Tiki Bar & Grill invites revelers to join the bar’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration with an Irish band starting at 3 p.m., and bagpipers at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. DJ Manny will perform from 9 p.m.-close, and there will be free swag, green beer, food specials and dancing.

Have a place you’d like to suggest? Add a comment below!

Demetri’s Woodstone Taverna next to Brackett’s Landing is hosting its second annual Super Bowl party, starting at 2:30 p.m.  with reserved seating for $35. Demetri’s is roasting a succulent whole pig in the woodstone oven, and will also be serving wings, mac & cheese, bacon-wrapped dates, firecracker shrimp, potato skins, garlic fries, Caesar salad, flat breads, hummus & pita, pork and beef sliders, and taquitos. In addition, Demetri’s will be giving out  prizes throughout the game, including hats, T-shirts, growlers and even a snowboard. Reserve your space by calling 425–744–9999.

American Brewing Co. in the Harbor Square business complex will be serving sandwiches, snacks and beer with the game on the big screen.  Receive a raffle ticket for every pint ordered and a drawing every time the  American League football team (New England) scores.

And while you’re there during the holidays, have your photo taken by the burger joint’s pink Christmas tree.

According to the news release sent by KCTS, “Everyone has their opinion on the best sushi bar, burger joint or hidden-away neighborhood gem. Now Northwest eaters will have a chance to see how their favorite local spot stacks up on ‘Check, Please! Northwest.’” The show is already one of the top-rated locally produced series in five other cities including Chicago and San Francisco, the release said.

Every week, Check, Please! brings three guests from all walks of life together to hash it out over their favorite restaurants. Each guest picks one restaurant for the other two reviewers to visit anonymously. After sampling each other’s recommendations, they reconvene on the show to discuss, dispute, and celebrate their dining experiences. At the end of each show, restaurants are rated based on the panel’s discussion.

“Our viewers are going to love this series,” said producer Nicole Metcalf. “Seattle is a food lover’s paradise. Check, Please! lets regular diners take center stage to share and defend their opinions on the best food our city has to offer.”

You can apply to be a guest on “Check, Please! Northwest” here. The show premiers on Thursday, March 8, 2012, at 7 p.m.

Jack Murphys will have 12 beers on draft, eight casked wines and at least a dozen Irish whiskeys. (Photos by Lara Alexander)

A cozy fire will greet customers.

By Lara Alexander

The necessary permits and and licenses have been issued for Jack Murphys, the Irish-inspired bar opening soon in downtown Edmonds. Owners Brian Taylor and Louise Favier are expecting to open sometime before Christmas. They still have some staffing to work out, product still en route, and minor construction items to attend to. “We could open tomorrow,” says Taylor, “but we want to do things right.”

Taylor and Favier are not new to the business of bar keeping. They own bars in Brooklyn, N.Y. and Bellingham, as well as postage-stamp-sized Daphnes on Main Street in Edmonds, next door to the movie theater. Daphnes is modeled after a Parisian neighborhood bar and plays the part very well. Taylor acts as his own interior designer and does a fine job.

Jack Murphys from the outside, located on 4th Avenue North a half block north of Main Street.

“Jack Murphys is our take on all the little Irish bars that we saw when we lived in Cork,” explains Taylor. He acknowledges that he won’t stay completely authentic, as he also wants to cater to his customers’ taste, serving Guiness colder than is traditional, for example.

Jack Murphys will be serving 12 beers on draft, all from Ireland or the Pacific Northwest, including Guiness, Smithwicks, Kilkenny Red, and Edmonds’ own American IPA. They will also have eight Walla Walla wines, all served on draft from casks. The winery, Proletariat, in a cost- and environmental-savings strategy, does not bottle any of its wines, selling them instead in reusable casks. Customers can also expect to find at least a dozen Irish whiskeys to choose from, among other liquors.

Guiness will be served, although colder than tradtion to cater to customers' tastes.

Although Taylor stresses, “We are a bar, not a restaurant,” limited food will be available for hungry patrons who can order at the bar, “There will be no table service,” says Taylor, a statement he plans to stick to while acknowledging that for customers, it will take some getting used to. All dishes cost $6 and will be served in a small cast-iron pan with a knife and fork rolled into a napkin. The menu includes mac and cheese, a warm cornbread sandwich, and Irish bangers & mash.

Jack Murphys is named for the owners’ son Jack and also for Murphy, a close family friend. Look around the bar and you will notice small nods to both local and family history. A piano in the back of the room is a reminder that the space used to be a piano- tuning business run by Dick Steves, the father of local travel guru Rick Steves. Irish racing medals decorate a table, each one won by Favier as a young woman. Signs reference the town of Kilkenny, where Favier’s father lives.

The Snug, a cozy private room, is an Irish bar tradition.

For a truly Irish experience, customers can reserve the “Snug,” a cozy private room at the front of the house. Traditionally, a snug was used by modest ladies, priests or other wanting to drink in private. Jack Murphys’ Snug has a door that locks other customers out, and a second door with a window that opens to the bar staff for ordering another round.

Taylor and Favier first acquired the space on 4th Avenue North in March of this year and have been steadily working toward opening day. “We had some of the usual delays and some more unusual delays,” says Taylor, referring to his bout with prostate cancer this summer. Things are looking good for Taylor’s health now and he is even looking ahead to a possible new project in Seattle’s Columbia City neighborhood. He isn’t holding his breath though; Favier has him on a one-year restriction from anything new.

Jack Murphys is expected to open before Christmas Day. It is located on 4th Avenue North, half a block north of Main Street in Edmonds. They will be open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

A culinary adventurer, Lara Alexander grows, cooks and writes about food from her home in Edmonds. You can read about her garden and kitchen fun on the blog Food-Soil-Thread.

David Carlos took this photo of the Panera Bread and Bakery construction across from Aurora Village Thursday. The business is scheduled to open the first part of next year.

'Tis the season at Chanterelle, where Santa found his way onto the outdoor dining area Monday. Owner Brooke Baker says she purchased the jolly statue at the now-closed Food Emporium in Lynnwood.

The Rusty Pelican Cafe is owned by Peter and Marilyn Limberopoulos. The couple also owns Gyro Delight in Lynnwood.

Here’s some information about them from the Rusty Pelican website:

We are a family owned restaurant, originally from Chicago where we had a restaurant for 25 years. We moved to the Seattle area in 2000, and have had the Rusty Pelican for 7 years. Peter and Marilyn have been married for 31 years and in that time they have either owned or worked in restaurants. Peter moved from Greece to the United States when he was only 16 years old and began working in a restaurant as a busser. He later worked at 2 restaurants cooking for large banquets as well as a steak house where he met Marilyn.

At the age of 26 Peter thought to use his knowledge and opened a very successful restaurant with his 3 brothers that sat 300 people. He then left it to his brothers after owning it for 25 years to join friends in the Seattle area who worked for him in Chicago.

Marilyn has also had a long career in restaurants starting work at the age of 8 working at her grandmothers Sweet shop and has been working in them ever since.

We have twin daughters who are also partners in the restaurant as well as our other business serving authentic Greek fast food called Gyro Delight in Lynnwood. Peter is the chef at both restaurants.