Bryan Benn and his team from Taki Tiki Bar & Grill on Main Street opened Off Main Restaurant & Bar in the space previously occupied by Hamburger Harry’s on 5th Avenue South.

They have done an extensive renovation on the inside and there is wonderful heated outside dining with gas fire pits. It definitely has a sports bar vibe with televisions on every wall in the restaurant.

Off Main will soon be offering happy hour specials as well as live music. Right now they are featuring great options for a quick bite or a full meal with dishes created by Chef George Larea (formerly at Elysian Brewing).

He has created a menu with starters that are perfect for sharing with the table; salads that can be made into main courses by adding a protein; five main dishes and four burgers with fries for those missing Hamburger Harry’s burgers.

There are good options for vegetarians and vegans including a “Power Bowl” of spinach, carrot, peppers, edamame, cabbage, pepitas, noodles and a house peanut dressing that sounded delicious. The cocktail, mocktail, wine and beer menu is comprehensive and will be more fully developed with Happy Hour specials.

We started off with an order of the Cottage Bakery’s pretzels ($14) that included three warm pretzels and a house-made cheese sauce. The cheese sauce tasted like it had beer and a hefty dose of garlic in it and was a great accompaniment to the pretzels.

We shared the Off Main Caesar Salad with grilled chicken ($24) and the Off Main Street Tacos with halibut ($24). The salad was generous and the grilled chicken was cooked perfectly. While the menu said that it had romaine and gem lettuce, the night that I was there the salad only had romaine. It was a hefty portion, which made it perfect as my main entrée.

The three tacos included homemade corn tortillas (a nice surprise) and were accompanied by a delicious mango pico de gallo, pickled red onion and cojita cheese. The house-made spicy salsa was very mild. I wish that it included an order of chips, fries or a side salad.

We shared their homemade chocolate mosaic cake ($10), which was probably the only disappointing dish of the evening. Garnished with canned whipped cream and Hersey’s syrup, it tasted like a frozen Sara Lee cake and made me wonder if the cake was made in-house.

I am grateful that we have another casual place in town where you can have a full meal with good service for under $100. Our waiter was Renz, who worked for Hamburger Harry’s for over a decade. He is still learning the menu’s ingredients and like any new restaurant there are small issues that will no doubt get worked out. We ran into several Hamburger Harry’s regulars who have already adopted Off Main as their regular dinner hangout.

If you are looking for a great place to watch a sports event this could be your new place. Off Main can accommodate large groups too. Off Main will probably give its sister restaurant a run for its money — but then there is always room for more eateries in town. Let’s welcome them to the neighborhood.

Location: 610 5th Ave. S., Edmonds, WA. 98020
Phone: 425-220-1133

— By Deborah Binder

Deborah Binder lives in Edmonds with her family. She loves to cook from scratch using produce from the gardens she created and maintains with her husband. She attended culinary school on the East Coast and focused on desserts, pastries and bread. She’s worked for restaurants and caterers in the front and back of the house (kitchen) on both coasts. Her current interest in food is learning to eat for health and wellness, while at the same time enjoying the pleasures of the table. Deborah loves experimenting and developing new recipes. As Julia Child once said, “Everything in moderation including butter.” Deborah can be contacted at jaideborah@yahoo.com.