Happening now: Skillet Street Food’s West Seattle debut

Well – as we post this photo, it’s still a few minutes till Skillet Street Food officially opens in the Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) courtyard at 11 am (they’re scheduled to be here till 2 pm – California SW, just south of Genesee, north of the post office). That’s the menu and pricing, written in purple on the side of the gleaming chrome Airstream trailer. We peeked into the trailer too, where Josh, Mark and Mary are working – video shortly.

ADDED 11:08 AM: Here’s video of Mary inside the Skillet trailer, telling us a bit about the burger, the poutine gravy, the Thom Kha soup and the calamari (see menu/pricing photo above):

10 minutes after they opened, there’s a line, but not too bad – still inside the courtyard.

ADDED 11:39 AM: Here’s the current line:

And most important of all, their signature dish – “The Burger” (one person just suggested it’s a serious rival to West Seattle’s current burger fave, Zippy’s):

Good reviews so far – including this :15 assessment of The Burger, from Gatewood resident Dave Gross:

We’re moving on to a few other stories but in case you checked online before heading out into the sunshine, we knew we had to report on the big debut. Their menu changes weekly and you can usually find it on the home page at skilletstreetfood.com; if you haven’t been to Hotwire before, here’s a map to their location. P.S. If you’re just catching up with all this and wondering what’s the fuss — Skillet sets up at various Seattle locations and has amassed quite the following, since street-side food is not often also somewhat gourmet, and this is yet another sign that West Seattle has “arrived” as a foodie destination (in addition to rave reviews for local eateries such as Spring Hill); previous “press clips” can be browsed here. P.S. We were asked via Twitter (@westseattleblog for human-powered updates and observations, @westseattlenews for links to WSB stories as they’re published) if Skillet takes credit cards – answer, yes.

8:32 PM ADDITION: Speaking of Twitter, this postmortem from Skillet via Twitter (@skilletstfood):

so..that was the biggest opening day at any location we have ever had..and the biggest day we have ever had…..thanks WS, WSB and hotwire

DLP April 26, 2009 (11:07 am)

Nine dollars for a take-away BLT?

Ant April 26, 2009 (11:16 am)

Nine dollars is well worth it. Their food is fantastic.

lsattler April 26, 2009 (11:21 am)

Are they going to be at the Farmers Market every weekend? Or traveling around?

WSB April 26, 2009 (11:39 am)

This is the location TFN – Hotwire’s courtyard, which is a couple blocks north of the Farmers’ Market. (Will add a map in a minute) … They may open earlier in subsequent weeks, if they add breakfast; we’ll update as soon as we get new info … TR (currently “reporting live” from Hotwire since we’re moving on to a couple other stories shortly)

msm April 26, 2009 (11:57 am)

Re:nine dollars for a BLT:
With sundried tomato aioli AND a side of fries, and likely well-sourced ingredients.

A decent price for having someone else make you good food.
Plus not having to get all those ingred. and make it yourself at home, along with your prep time and dish cleaning labor.

lg April 26, 2009 (12:25 pm)

eating some poutine and a burger that DH just picked up. YUM! Still delicious even after the 20 minute trek home.

Admiral Janeway April 26, 2009 (12:56 pm)

My Canadian neighbor has been searching for poutine for years. As soon as he heard about Skillet Street Food, he took off.

JH April 26, 2009 (1:04 pm)

Five bucks for a brownie? What’s in it??!!!

Evan April 26, 2009 (1:28 pm)

That bacon jam is amazing. It’s not like chunks of bacon suspended in jelly, it’s more like a really finely textured pulled pork. Smoky and awesome.

grr April 26, 2009 (1:41 pm)

well worth the $$.

christopherboffoli April 26, 2009 (1:49 pm)

Mark (the guy taking orders) told me that the turnout is the warmest welcome they have had for any neighborhood they’ve been in.
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We arrived around 11:40 and found a pretty good crowd. A little disorganized though. People were everywhere and it was tough to tell who was in line and who was standing around waiting for their food. They seemed to be a bit behind and frazzled with fulfilling orders, which is a surprise as I’d expect they’d usually be as busy. They told us it would only be 15 minutes for our food but we saw lots of people waiting longer than that in front of us.
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I ordered the burger with the hand-cut fries and my friend ordered the thom kha soup. Flavors were good on both. A sprinkle of freshly-cut sage was a nice touch on the fries. My burger was rare (I ordered medium) and the bun (though fresh) seemed a bit stiff like it had been refrigerated. The fries were warm but a little soggy as if they had been made in one big batch and had been sitting around for a while. The ginger iced tea didn’t taste very gingery. It didn’t taste like anything really.
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After we put in our order and paid I realized that the guy taking the orders had never asked our name. So I walked back over and told him. He pretended that he knew it and that our order had fallen down but he said he’d be sure the next burger they fired was ours and brought our food right over to us even though many others had been waiting longer. Nice for us but not really fair for everyone else.
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Seems like they could streamline things a bit. Still, good fresh food and excellent flavors with just a couple of minor issues. I did appreciate that the drink cups and eating utensils were all made of compostable vegetable plastics. I’m sure that raises their costs a bit but it is a smart move.
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Overall I’d give Skillet a B minus. Not a mayor Nickels snowstorm response B minus but a normal B minus.

WSB April 26, 2009 (1:55 pm)

Thanks for the reviews … Since we were covering it today, we didn’t get anything, but are hoping to get lunch there next week (like, as soon as they open) while at the Sustainable West Seattle Festival, provided one of us can break away from our table!

merde April 26, 2009 (3:09 pm)

PUTAIN ! no poutine.

we stopped by around 1:30 and someone told us they had closed 15 minutes earlier because they ran out of food. we tried to go after the excitement and initial lines. oh well.

sounds like they are not very good planners.

WSB April 26, 2009 (3:24 pm)

Sorry to hear that. A lot of places we’ve covered in advance here have been somewhat surprised by the initial reaction and fell a bit short … happened when Zippy’s Burgers first opened, you might recall … keep in mind they are small, independent (we can relate to that!) … not that I know much about them, having barely heard of them before news broke of their West Seattle ambitions a few weeks ago, but I’d cut them a bit of slack at least for starters. Here’s hoping they are aware there’s a festival in The Junction NEXT Sunday and even more of a turnout could result … TR

LAP April 26, 2009 (3:26 pm)

I arrived at 1:15 pm and got in a line of about 5-6 people, only to have an employee come up and say he was sorry but they had run out of food and had to close the line – and then he made a chopping motion with his hand right in front of me. So – guess who had to walk away and go find somewhere else to purchase lunch? There were a lot of people standing around – they must have been waiting for their food. It was very disorganized – and one would think that since the operation has been going on for a while they would be more organized and have some better signage. Anyway – hope those who got food enjoyed it – I went to Pepperdock’s and had a burger and ice cream!

Al April 26, 2009 (3:53 pm)

I was there about 11:45 and did not think it was disorganized. Sure, there were people waiting around but all it took was to ask someone where the line started and was all filled in and passed on the info to others as they arrived. It was nice talking with some people from the WS hood. It was casual, look at what it is! There’s no waiter! The only quibble I had was that the calamari wasn’t seasoned as much as it should have been, it was rather dull. But the couscous was fresh (not from a box) and the seafood was fresh, not frozen. They were doing steady orders one after the other. The burgers looked great, how were they? Next time, I’m going for a burger – a veggie burger would be a great addition too…

Amy Redwood April 26, 2009 (4:04 pm)

I second Al’s veggie burger request.

WSB April 26, 2009 (4:10 pm)

Al (or is it AI) – Listen to Dave’s video comment in the story. Short, succinct burger review!

Keith April 26, 2009 (6:16 pm)

My guy and I shared a burger and BLT. Both were delicious, and we really enjoyed the fries sprinkled with fresh herbs. The wait was shorter than I’d expected. We’ll be back!

grr April 26, 2009 (6:18 pm)

veggie burger?? really?? and, do you expect them to have a separate dedicated grill specifically for the veggie patties so that no meat remnants from the regular grill touch The Sacred Veg?

if most vegetarians had ANY idea what or where their food touches in a commercial kitchen, they’d just stop ordering it.
–
just go to Cafe Flora and save yourself the aggrivation. (and have one of their amazing Hazelnut Latte’s…droooooooool).

sam April 26, 2009 (6:33 pm)

hmm.. the fact that they ran out of food so early, and the fact that West Seattle is last on the list for that week’s menu makes me think the food may not be super fresh.

Amy Redwood April 26, 2009 (6:46 pm)

grr — why so worked up? I for one would not expect them to have a separate grill.

barbg April 26, 2009 (6:56 pm)

Amy, I totally understand where grr is coming from, and you may not expect them to have a separate grill, there are plenty of vegetarians that do expect a separate grill. I don’t go into a vegetarian restaurant and suggest that they have more carnivore items.

I have gone to skillet for a couple years now, and I went to them back when them when they opened up the very first time before the initial City issues, and yes, there have been a few times when there have been delayed food issues, and long lines, or them closing early because they ran out of food, but more often than not I’m very happy with what I get there. Sam, do you think that the food served on Sunday anywhere is not fresh? If that’s the case, maybe on Sunday you should just eat at home.

Djake April 26, 2009 (7:02 pm)

really, I’ve lived here 10 years now and although I love this community and the people in it, it can seriously be the biggest collection of whiners, complainers and self centered snarky people. I went over, stood in line, paid the money and waited like everyone else. If you find it to be too pricey, go somewhere else. As far as the wait goes, it obviously is a testament to the popularity of Skillet. I don’t think that they should apologize for that. And what look “unorganized” to some happened to be a bunch of people from this community enjoying the sun and willing to hang out with each other and enjoy the experience. I am happy to wait at Zippy’s or Full Tilt or whoever puts love, talent, and a vision of quality food before profit. During the time they were here they actually ordered more food in an attempt to serve as many as they could. And as far as this being the end of the week for them, how do you know its not the beginning of their week?

sam April 26, 2009 (7:16 pm)

good one barbg, don’t get so worked up.

I was referring to the fact that the food they were serving today was from the MENU FOR THE WEEK OF APRIL 20- which was a Monday. and the menu changes tomorrow, with different items- if you look on their website, it shows the menu for the week of April 27, which is tomorrow.

so it makes it seems like they were working with what they had left, since the menu changes on Monday and they’ll need to buy new, fresh ingredients.

I should have clarified that in the first post, I didn’t realize it would be over people’s heads.

sam April 26, 2009 (7:19 pm)

whether it’s fresh or not, it sounds better than anything I’d make at home.

add April 26, 2009 (7:29 pm)

What djake said.

I wasn’t there, but I think we can all understand with the popularity of the WSB people find out about something en masse. And even though Skillet has been around for a while in different neighborhoods, my guess is that those places didn’t get the broad range advance PR. I think their concept is really cool and I hope they will be back next week, I wil be there and happy to wait in line among the disorganzation.

west seattle golfer April 26, 2009 (7:31 pm)

@ Djake, well said man, thank you.

My wife and I shared a burger and the thom kha. The burger was delicious, the thom kha was mediocre. The wait (almost exactly 1 hour from when we ordered to when we got our food) was much longer than usual for them. I’m chalking that up to first day troubles/jitters. Will definitely, positively be back if for nothing else than the bacon jam. Might just go at 11:00 instead of 12:30 next time though.

Welcome to the neighbourhood Skillet, we appreciate it!

Bob Loblaw April 26, 2009 (7:32 pm)

anyone have the calamari? how was the portion size on that puppy?

Amy Redwood April 26, 2009 (7:33 pm)

I just wanted to let grr know that you can be a vegetarian and still have a sense of realism about food.

But, barbg, I get your point.

Al April 26, 2009 (7:43 pm)

I’m not a vegetarian but I love veggie burgers, and only occasionally eat a meat burger for no particular reason. I just think Skillet may do a mean veggie burger from the looks of things. So serious grr…!

Jen April 26, 2009 (7:48 pm)

Totally agree with Djake, too. The wait was more than I’d expected (especially with two kiddos under 4 in tow!), but the food was terrific (burger & fries), the concept is fun and novel, the day was beautiful and hanging out with other folks was really nice. I’ll definitely be back and hope a few of the wrinkles get smoothed out, but even if they don’t, it won’t discourage my repeat business!

WSB April 26, 2009 (7:56 pm)

Bob – Hotwire’s Lora got the calamari and brought it over to the table where I was working, while Patrick and I were still there. He had a bite and pronounced it very spicy – Lora thought, Moroccan? Looked like a decent-size portion, size of a portion of french fries, maybe (although that’s a terribly subjective description) …

d April 26, 2009 (9:30 pm)

Moroccan-style, roasted vegetables with calamari you say?

Oh. Yum.

So, do they take plastic?

west seattle golfer April 26, 2009 (9:51 pm)

@d, they do indeed take credit cards.

WSB April 26, 2009 (9:51 pm)

Yes. We added that to the second-to-last update in the above story earlier, after somebody asked via Twitter. If you bring cash, though, try for something close to exact change; first thing in the morning, even, they had what looked like a permanent notation on the “menu” – “We need $5s and $1s.” BTW, Junior Member of the Team and I were driving by Seattle Center earlier this evening and he spotted something silver and domey coming toward us a block away … I said, “Hmm, you know, that looks like …” and indeed, it was the Skillet trailer. Our friends at http://capitolhillseattle.com tell us Monday’s their Capitol Hill day, 13th/Marion …
http://twitter.com/jseattle/status/1626267465

Evan April 26, 2009 (10:08 pm)

I was pretty impressed overall. The burger was great, and the 20-25 minutes I waited for it wasn’t really that big a deal, considering that it’s all made to order. I can think of worse things than spending a half hour in the sun, talking to my neighbors, and smelling those good smells.

I can understand why people are frustrated that they didn’t get food at 1:15. Keep in mind, though, that this is the biggest day they’ve had at any location so far, and a small business like this can’t stock an enormous amount of food, particularly when they have a commitment to fresh ingredients. They can’t just toss the arugula and brioche buns in the freezer, and they can’t afford to overbuy and then have to throw stuff out if people don’t show.

The WSB firehose does it again. :)

d April 26, 2009 (10:38 pm)

Yay for plastic :).

rnl April 27, 2009 (7:19 am)

Where can you get a good crepe in WS? We went to 611 Supreme for breakfast on the Hill….sooo good. Crepes, Crepes…we need more Crepes here …(also a Trader Joes while your at it) :)

add April 27, 2009 (8:08 am)

I have been meaning to try the crepes at the little cafe on the ground floor of the ActivSpace building on Harbor Ave. Anyone tried it?

Jill Loblaw April 27, 2009 (8:33 am)

Skillet Street Food thank you for coming to our neighborhood! What fun. My husband had the burger and I, the BLT. Needless to say, I had plenty to eat and saved half of my BLT for lunch today. The ice tea was delicious and refreshing. The gentleman taking orders was great. Overall, a very nice debut for West Seattle. We await your return.

WSB April 27, 2009 (9:47 am)

Side note on crepes – the place “add” refers to, Riverhouse Creperie, is a participant in West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day :) Bargains and crepes, together at last … TR