3uilt’s weekday brunch brings brisket and eggs, grits in chili oil to downtown Tacoma

The owners of 3uilt (pronounced “built”), the sandwich shop, oyster bar and coffee shop inside 7 Seas Brewing in Tacoma, have spread their culinary wings to a second restaurant poised to become a destination for that elusive weekday brunch.

3uilt Tac Ave opened at 1101 Tacoma Ave. S. last October. Gone is the multi-colored interior of Tower Coffee Bar & Grill, replaced with simple black trim and off-white walls that let the natural light of tall windows shine, offering views of downtown and Commencement Bay.

A mostly savory menu of breakfast sandwiches, sourdough toast and crispy fingerlings joins fully-formed dishes fitting of a full-service restaurant. Braised brisket forms the basis of steak and eggs, homemade buttermilk biscuits meets roasted red pepper gravy, and specials like carnitas hash or fried chicken sandos add daily intrigue.

It reads like Sunday brunch, but who says you can’t have grits on Tuesday? Here they are proudly served vegetarian, with a runny egg and a flock of unctuous oyster and shiitake mushrooms. I couldn’t resist the mapo-chili oil, rimmed around the buttery Anson Mills grits, slowly pooling underneath for consistently flavorful bites popped with fried sage.

“It’s breakfast but better — good potatoes, thick-cut bacon, carnitas hash,” said Anna Gonzales, who opened the new cafe with her father Edward Gonzales. “One of my favorite food categories is breakfast, and I’m consistently looking for good breakfast in Tacoma.”

Especially on Mondays and Tuesdays — the weekend for many service industry workers — she saw a need for another option, and the young entrepreneur was ready to expand.

Gonzales bought the brewery-based outfit in March 2019 from founder Jaime Kay Jones, who also sold the beloved Top of Tacoma before moving with her husband out of state. After joining the kitchen team shortly after it opened in 2016, Gonzales became a manager and quickly grew to believe in the venue’s future in Tacoma.

Though she had amassed a decade of kitchen experience, working at Marrow (which Jones also opened and then sold), Hilltop Kitchen, Antique Sandwich Company and the Metropolitan Market deli, she had never owned or operated one. Her father, a personal financial manager, was skeptical.

“I said nope — restaurants are too hard. Let me show you the numbers,” he recalled.

Now it’s a father-daughter business with two locations, plus 3uilt Grind, the coffee arm of the business run by Anna Gonzales’s niece, Alyssa Hernandez.

“We went through COVID, and we’re excited,” said Edward Gonzales.

Thanks to some friendly conversation between his wife and a stranger at a jazz festival, they learned this space — next to a law office and catty-corner from the County-City Building — was available. With an existing kitchen, an established record of having a liquor license, and a much bigger footprint, they jumped at the opportunity.

“To just be able to create more and have that creative freedom,” said Anna Gonzales, “it’s really important for you as an owner and chef but also for your staff to feel invested.”

She recruited Jorgen Larson, who had recently been working in Seattle, to lead the Tacoma Avenue kitchen while she steps back from daily duties to manage both restaurants.

In time, Gonzales hopes to develop keto breads baked in-house, following in the growth of keto dishes and substitutions on the 3uilt at 7 Seas menu. The Keto Salad, with grilled chicken, bacon, goat cheese, avocado and pistachios, has become a general fan-favorite.

Her interest in the ketogenic diet stemmed from her sister’s battle with epilepsy. Rich in naturally fatty foods and minimal in carbohydrates and refined sugars, it is one treatment method, according to the nonprofit Epilepsy Society in the United Kingdom, shown to reduce the number of seizures in epilepsy patients, particularly in children.

“Our motto is building better lives,” said Gonzales.

Up next for the new 3uilt: expanded hours, a cocktail program involving keto cocktails (free from sugar, she said), dinner service and, hopefully, oysters.

3UILT TACOMA AVENUE

▪ 1101 Tacoma Ave. S, Tacoma, 253-301-1730, 3uilt.com

▪ Sunday & Tuesday-Wednesday 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Thursday-Saturday 9 a.m.-7 p.m. (closed Monday)

▪ Details: weekday breakfast/brunch ($2.50 toast to $18 steak and eggs), plus hot and cold sandwiches ($9 veggie breakfast on bun to $14 3uilt classics); full espresso bar featuring Manifesto Coffee

▪ Visit: order online for pickup or dine-in

Reporter’s Note: 3uilt is now located exclusively on Tacoma Avenue. Its location inside 7 Seas closed after this article was published.

This story was originally published February 28, 2022 at 10:00 AM.