With the best view in Tacoma, this ambitious new Point Ruston restaurant has room to grow

No matter how much you hate parking at Point Ruston, the land surrounding the megaplex provides not only Tacoma but all of the South Sound with downright ravishing views of Commencement Bay. Thankfully the Silver Cloud Hotel, which opened last year, offers complimentary valet parking for restaurant guests.

Copper & Salt Northwest Kitchen has not enlisted the expertise of a promising young chef and a well-traveled bar manager to be “the hotel restaurant.” To the contrary, when it opened last summer, at first only for dinner, it did so without fanfare but with intent to become a destination unto itself.

First, there are only so many places in town to find pastas made from scratch, in-house. For executive chef Josh Balague, whose Italian cooking background speaks with authority on the menu, homemade noodles were a requirement. He has trained a cook now dedicated to creating four distinct styles.

Ribbons of pappardelle, flush with buttery king trumpet mushrooms, almost don’t need the generous pulls of short rib. I wished instead for more acid, perhaps from the listed horseradish, but nonetheless it is a satisfying bowl of pasta. In the bucatini alla rosa, relish the bitterness of roasted broccolini intertwined in the long hollow threads, liberally swaddled in lemon, cream and pecorino romano.

“It’s almost reminiscent of mac and cheese,” said Balague, the approach inspired by a mission to feed his daughter more vegetables.

The dinner menu exudes that sense of comfort — of a home-cooked meal that isn’t necessarily perfect but is assuredly benevolent, in the manner of that friend who always makes dessert no matter how late the dinner-party invitation. It emerges from a striking open kitchen, visible from almost every seat in the house. Consider yourself lucky if stationed at one of the handful of tables abutting the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Grand Plaza and, of course, the waterfront.

Outside of pasta, mains offer a protein choice for all, from skirt steak with tomato and arugula to lamb chops with sweet potato puree, pickled jicama and saba, a viscous, fruity-like-a-plum liquid similar to a rich balsamic vinegar.

The roasted chicken features a nicely crisped skin, politely cut into shareable pieces and served over butter beans marinated in a lemon vinaigrette so enticing I wanted a side of them sans poultry. Likewise, the halibut arrives atop a shallow bowl of risotto in salsa verde, a deeper flavor than a more typical pesto.

Start with the house Caesar of both little gem lettuce — an upgrade from romaine — and grilled kale, tossed with Parmigiano and shaved cured egg yolk, or the beet salad, featuring tiny cubes of the light-pink Chioggia varietal with crunchy frisée and farro. Or just have these for an admirable Tacoma lunch date.

POINT RUSTON DINING

These touches show ambition that has been lacking at Point Ruston, which benefits from being a place locals and tourists alike will dine simply because of the convenience near such a beautiful setting.

Balague worked for many years in California, primarily in Italian-leaning kitchens, and Silver Cloud’s decision to entrust him — a young chef in his early 30s — shows guts. It could be boring, and people would still eat there. Copper & Salt is trying, though, and I trust in time it will find a rhythm worth following.

“Tacoma was turning into a really young city,” Balague, who was raised in Edmonds and was last stationed at the Museum of Pop in Seattle, said in May, “and I wanted to be a part of that.”

The service over visits at dinner and brunch, served Friday through Sunday, was friendly and casual, perhaps too much so considering the high ticket price. It’s in those minor moments — refilling water, checking in, clearing plates — that you’re reminded that outside the restaurant doors is a hotel concierge and down the hall big ballrooms awaiting wedding guests and conference-goers.

“We don’t want to be known as a hotel restaurant; we want to be known as Copper & Salt,” said food and beverage director Eric Roman, who leads the wine curation, leaning thoughtfully on Washington and Oregon bottles.

The restaurant represents the future of the Silver Cloud brand, according to marketing and sales director Justine Kunz, who has been with the company for a decade. The open kitchen and accompanying long chef’s table, which can seat large parties or several smaller ones, in a sense represents that commitment to the new world: A dining room accessed through hotel doors won’t fill up, even with a view, without a real reason to visit.

At brunch, eggs, lox, and avocado toast — with the addition of smoked trout — join sous-vide pork belly hash married unexpectedly with black beans. There’s also a burger with nduja and a $23 BLT. I would order the hash again but would skip the Italian sandwich, which skimped on the meat and generally left us underwhelmed for almost $30 with gratuity.

As it goes at Point Ruston, brunch is busy. Visit on Friday, or Monday through Thursday for a breezier meeting with the exclusive lunch dishes of fried oysters over an herbaceous green goddess crema and a fried chicken sandwich with a pineapple-pickled jicama relish.

Thank goodness also for bar manager Zach Newman’s cocktails, which deserve attention.

Everyone has a cocktail menu these days, but save for a select few local venues, they usually fall short in execution.

One of the most popular choices is the Milk & Honey, spun from the classic Bee’s Knees of gin, lemon and honey. Here it’s a clarified milk punch, a preservation process that involves resting liquor and juice with cream — adding “a little bit of nuttiness,” said Newman, who moved back to Washington in 2020 after about a dozen years behind notable bars in Hawaii. “It’s not overly sweet.”

Sipping on this or the Lavender 76 or maybe the Midnight Walk — the bar’s take on the in-vogue-for-some-reason espresso martini — while peering into the blue water sounds pretty all right. The bloody mary stands out as well, with ample shavings of fresh horseradish and pepper.

If you can handle the clack of skateboards on the cement and enjoy watching parents mindlessly push a stroller toward their toddler racing away on a Razor scooter, find a seat on the sizable, covered sidewalk patio this summer — if just for a drink and a taste of what’s to come.

COPPER & SALT NORTHWEST KITCHEN

▪ 5125 Grand Loop, Ruston, 253-319-8290, copperandsaltnw.com

▪ Daily 7 a.m.-10 p.m.

▪ Details: breakfast 7-11 a.m. and dinner 4-10 p.m. daily; brunch 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday-Sunday; lunch 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Thursday

▪ Food: starters $6-$19, homemade pastas $20-$27, shareable mains $32-$52; most lunch/brunch dishes $10-$19

▪ Drinks: cocktails $13-$15, wine by the glass $10-$15, draft beer $7.50

▪ Before you go: reservations recommended for brunch and weekend dinner; complimentary valet parking for restaurant guests through Silver Cloud Hotel

This story was originally published June 15, 2022 at 5:00 AM.