Fairhaven food crawl: A perfect day full of unique local eats for tourists and locals alike
Fairhaven has great local spots for great food, drinks and desserts to enjoy during Ski to Sea weekend and beyond.
The Bellingham Herald has put together the perfect Fairhaven food crawl, full of unique eats and dishes that tourists and locals alike should explore. When you’ve tried these restaurants, there are plenty of others to try in the Bellingham neighborhood.
Let’s start with breakfast, brunch and coffee:
The Harris Avenue Cafe
The Harris Avenue Cafe serves breakfast and lunch and is connected to its neighboring coffee and pastry shop, Tony’s Coffee & Espresso.
The cafe’s menu offers omelets, breakfast chimichangas, French toast, burgers, sandwiches and vegetarian dishes.
The Harris Avenue Cafe also has a kid’s menu and a variety of beverages.
The cafe is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays, and Tony’s coffee shop is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The cafe and coffee shop duo is located at 1101 Harris Avenue.
Magdalena’s Bistro and Crêperie
Magdalena’s Bistro and Crêperie is not only known for its generous efforts to help Ukraine, but for its traditional perogies and crepes.
The bistro’s menu features both sweet and savory crepes, Polish perogies, sandwiches, coffee and salads.
“Magdalena’s is a family-style restaurant. Everything that we are making is made from scratch using our family recipes and also we are using our own creativity and inspiration to provide new specials,” Magdalena Theisen, owner and chef, wrote in an email.
Not only is Magdalena’s locally owned and sourced, but it offers some of the only traditional Polish perogies and Brittany crepes in the area.
“I came from Poland, where pierogi are very central to the cuisine. We make them in-house, from scratch. Crepes are in the classic Brittany style, we are very proud of them, and to our knowledge, we are the only restaurant in the U.S. making crepes in this way,” Theisen wrote of her buckwheat crepes.
Whether you are craving a sweet crepe like lemon curd or mascarpone, or something more savory with eggs and sausage, Magdalena’s offers great brunch options for any taste.
Magdalena’s Bistro and Creperie is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, and is located at 1200 10th St., Suite 103.
Evolve Chocolate and Cafe
Evolve Chocolate and Cafe is located on the second floor of Village Books and Paper Dreams and offers salads, espresso, housemade desserts and chocolates.
“When we decided to open Evolve, we knew we wanted to create something that wasn’t predictable but something that felt familiar, a space that would always be inviting. Being housed inside a community bookstore brings a clientele that is different from a traditionally situated restaurant, we have been able to create menus that encompass all the Sweet, Sips and Savories for anyone who might visit us,” Christy Fox, chef and co-owner wrote in an email.
Evolve has dishes such as eggs Benedict on potato cakes with citrus ginger hollandaise, a polenta bowl with roasted veggies, and a goat cheese and apple cider gastrique.
Sweets such as chocolate truffles, a chocolate cakette filled with tangerine curd and citrus-ginger tarts are also available.
For coffee lovers, drinks are made from local Bellingham Coffee Roasters coffee. Evolve also has its own housemade chai using spices from The Spice Hut in Bellingham for tea lovers.
“We are always evolving and that means there is always something exciting happening, whether it be our monthly ‘Life Between the Pages’ sensorial book club dinner/cocktail pairing, to the three-course take-home Friday night dinner, and daily creative specials for every dietary need,” Fox wrote.
Evolve also has another location, Evolve Espresso + Provisions inside the Hotel Leo that features a wine bottle wall, espresso drinks, a fine cigar humidor, a beer cooler and grab-and-go food options. The location is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays, and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Hotel Leo is located in Bellingham at 1224 Cornwall Avenue.
Evolve Chocolate and Cafe is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays. It’s located on the second floor of Village Books at 1200 11th St.
Now, for lunch:
Avenue Bread Cafe
Avenue Bread has four cafes in Whatcom County, but its Fairhaven location is newly remodeled and expanded, offering visitors a great space to eat, meet with friends or even get some work done.
“Fairhaven is a fun, walkable town and what I feel Avenue Bread provides is a quick stop for those hungry, busy morning commuters on their way into work, a rewarding stop for the long morning dog walkers to pick up a coffee and pastry, but most importantly Avenue provides a great meeting spot for those looking for a fresh, made-to-order lunch,” Lanette Tualaulelei Avenue Bread’s general manager wrote in an email.
The cafe’s menu features breakfast sandwiches, quinoa bowls, salads, soups and sandwiches. There is also a kid’s menu and drinks such as coffee, tea and rosemary lemonade.
Its most popular menu items are the B.E.A.S.T. egg sandwich with bacon, egg, avocado, Swiss cheese and tomato on a freshly baked rosemary English muffin, and their turkey melt with turkey, red peppers, spinach, provolone cheese and pesto on rosemary bread.
“Avenue has always cared about sourcing food that not only tastes good, but is good for you and we strongly believe you’ll be able to tell once you’ve given us a try. We are locally owned and do our best to support local, too,” Tualaulelei wrote.
Avenue Bread’s Fairhaven cafe is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily and is located at 1135 11th St.
Fairhaven Poke
Fairhaven Poke offers authentic Hawaiian-style poke with ahi flown in directly from Oahu, and makes its poke in small batches throughout the day to offer you the freshest poke possible, according to the restaurant’s website.
The restaurant allows visitors to build their own poke bowls with ingredients such as rice, salmon, ahi, tofu, shrimp, octopus, kimchi, edamame, and various sauces to top off your bowl.
Fairhaven Poke also serves various desserts such as ice cream mochi and butter mochi, as well as beer, cider, sake, juices and teas.
Fairhaven Poke is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily and is located at 1102 Harris Ave.
Try these for dinner:
The Black Cat
The Black Cat restaurant has been open since 1987 and is located on the third floor of the Sycamore Square building, part of historic Fairhaven that was built in 1890.
The restaurant’s location offers great views of the bay and amazing sunsets, Chevy Roberts, Black Cat’s general manager wrote in an email to The Herald.
The Black Cat is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year and is well visited in Fairhaven because of its bistro-style menu and full bar.
The menu features fondue, French onion soup, Dungeness crab mac and cheese, beef stroganoff, ribeye steaks and French dip sandwiches.
For dessert, visitors can enjoy creme brulee, Belgian chocolate torte and the Black Cat brownie sundae.
The Black Cat’s happy hour menu also offers affordable dishes such as Manila clams, artichoke dip, fish and chips, and tempura fried green beans for $10 or less, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays.
The Black Cat is open for brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays, for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and for dinner from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily. There is also a special late-night menu available from 10 p.m. to close, which is typically 11 p.m., or midnight on weekends.
The Black Cat is located at 1200 Harris Ave., Suite 310.
Milano’s Italian Restaurant
Milano’s Italian Restaurant is a traditional Italian and seafood restaurant with authentic Italian dishes and desserts.
Its menu features dishes such as seafood linguine, chicken gorgonzola, crab fettuccine, and wild sockeye salmon.
For dessert, Italian delicacies like tiramisu, raspberry-limoncello cake and torta della nona, an Italian custard tart are available.
Milano’s is open for dinner only from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays, and is located at 1210 11th St.
Be sure to save room for dessert:
Sirena Gelato
Sirena Gelato has authentic Italian gelato in a variety of flavors in the heart of downtown Fairhaven.
“We started our gelato shop when my son, Brian, did a U.W. study abroad in Italy and he ate gelato all day there. When he came back, our family decided to open up a gelato shop in Fairhaven. We had a 3rd generation gelato-maker fly in from Italy to train us, and now 17 years later, we are still going strong making gelato,” Robin Ugurlu, Sirena Gelato shop’s owner wrote in an email.
With flavors such as Dutch chocolate, sea salt caramel, mango, hazelnut, pistachio and black cocoa, Sirena has a flavor for every visitor.
The name “sirena” means “mermaid” in Italian, which Ugurlu thought was a fun name for the shop located near the waterfront.
The shop uses local milks that are free of growth hormones along with seasonal fruits, and also makes dairy-free flavors.
Sirena Gelato is open from noon to 8 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and noon to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The shop is located at 960 Harris Ave., No. 102.
Acme Valley Ice Cream
Acme Valley Ice Cream serves more than just ice cream, with other goodies such as coffee, espresso, baked goods and pies.
For ice cream lovers, Acme creates their ice cream in a nontraditional way to guarantee a better taste.
“Our ice cream is what we like to call #fullstrength — while many brands add 20%-50% air to their ice cream, we add zero air, making our ice cream extra thick, creamy, and indulgent,” Bennet Lewis, Acme Valley Ice Cream cafe manager wrote in an email.
Year-round ice cream flavors include butter pecan, espresso, mint chip, fudge brownie, vanilla bean, strawberry, chocolate chip and dark chocolate that can be enjoyed in handmade waffle cones.
Acme also offers seasonal flavors that depend on seasonal ingredients, such as eggnog, lemon blueberry, blueberries and cream, banana walnut, amaretto and raspberry chip.
“If you really want to live it up at our cafe, try one of our pie milkshakes! It is a blended delight of your choice of ice cream and pieces of fresh pie,” Bennet wrote.
Acme Valley Ice Cream is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and is located at 1021 Harris Ave.
This story was originally published May 26, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
