Addictive calamari, salmon tartare, top-notch cocktails at Pac Ave’s newest restaurant

The brick-walled space at 728 Pacific Ave. in downtown Tacoma has toiled through several personalities in the past decade, from a tiki lounge to a fern bar and two iterations of the ill-fated Little Radio, which served burgers and fried chicken sandwiches alongside beer and cocktails. As of late June, it became a more elegant restaurant with ambitious designs, and it feels like maybe — just maybe — this is precisely what it was meant to be.

When I first talked to the chef of West 122 in March, he told me the concept was one Tacoma didn’t know it needed. At first blush, I think he’s onto something.

The menu is fairly succinct, with six appetizers, three salads including the wedge we apparently can’t escape, and six mains. Given the octopus theme, you can add the mollusk as a side, atop a salad or with a steak. The kitchen, before 7 p.m. on a recent Thursday, was out of the only fish entree — a crusted halibut with a Greek tomato, olive and caper medley.

Instead, we dutifully ordered the wild salmon tartare ($20), cubed as its steak inspiration might be and layered over avocado, a clever textural decision but one that necessitates additional acid and crunch. The accompanying housemade potato chips — sliced gaufrette-style, creating an intricate lattice — are beautiful yet too delicate to stand up as a vehicle. As we dipped every last bite of calamari ($16) into a fluffy Old Bay aioli, plenty of the little-legged friends tossed with flash-fried pepperoncinis, I decided not to be mad.

As you walk through the door, a host stand (and real-life host) stops you in your tracks: It’s for sure a restaurant.

Booths now flank one side of the front dining room and, as it was before, a banquette with a few tables on the other, behind which a series of abstract paintings that evoke an octopus hang. The brick walls have been painted bright-white, ushering a breeziness befitting of the bay windows and high ceilings. Five stools welcome guests to the small bar, where, as Little Radio, you could only order but not sit.

The beverage manager, David Bocanegra, has developed a cocktail list ($13-$16) with all the hits — martini, Aperol spritz, a margarita infused for the summer with watermelon and blueberry — as well as some lesser-seen delights, including a Boulevardier and Rob Roy. The negroni, stirred with cherry bitters, was perfectly balanced, as was the Mezcal Mirage, a blend of pineapple and lime with sweet vermouth and two amaros. Already West 122 seems primed to land among the city’s best cocktail dens.

Wines by the glass (most $10-$13) focus on Washington, Oregon and California. I appreciated that the crisp Albariño, chosen with assistance from our knowledgeable server, hailed from Prosser’s Palencia Winery, as opposed to the grape’s native grounds in Spain and Portugal. For beer drinkers, drafts are likewise intriguing — the French Kronenbourg and a Montana-made hefeweizen among them — with a bent toward locals, including a couple from Northeast Tacoma’s North 47 Brewing Co., whose owners are also behind this restaurant.

BREWERY TAPROOM OPENING NEXT DOOR

Patrick and Keri Sherman found this space while searching for a way to expand the footprint of their brewery, which they bought almost five years ago. They didn’t intend to open a full-scale restaurant, but here they can do both: Next to West 122, which extends down a hallway-turned-wine cellar and into a spacious back dining room, they plan to open “something way more casual.”

North 47 Taproom & Lounge, expected in 2024, will “showcase all North 47 beers” from head brewer Connor Hassur, said Patrick Sherman, with a “completely different menu” of small plates and likely a burger and fries. An 800-square-foot mezzanine (with a third bar!) will provide additional seating with televisions to catch a game or play host to private events.

As the main restaurant is not trying to be like its ever-popular neighbor, Wooden City, neither will the lounge emulate The Forum or The Office across the street.

When I first learned that North 47 would open another taproom here, as I told Sherman, I wondered, “Does this block need another brewery taproom?” Then one day I went back to Odd Otter Brewing for the second time in a week as I sought an early-evening space where I could comfortably use my laptop.

“I would much rather appeal to what you just described,” a cross between a brewery and a coffee shop but above all a neighborhood gathering place, said Sherman, who also runs a distribution company. “I want it to really complement what we’re trying to do at West 122.”

For now, the restaurant will forge its own identity. Lunch service began in July, with a few daytime-only dishes such as a braised chicken sandwich. A happy hour menu of food and drink specials, to be called “golden hour,” is also in progress.

In lieu of the halibut Sherman insisted I order next time, we enjoyed the pan-roasted airline chicken, a specialty cut in which the first bone of the wing remains attached to the breast — a rare but cool presentation ($25). The ravioli on this weekday was a three-cheese on the menu but a four-cheese (plus chèvre, $30) in reality, which the server explained during his introduction, served in a punchy vodka sauce. They were unfortunately undercooked, the edges almost rigid, but the miss won’t dissuade me from giving these homemade pastas another chance.

Both that calamari and salmon tartare have the makings of a signature offering, and with that in mind, I am eager to watch West 122 settle into its own evolution.

WEST 122

▪ 728 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, west122.com

▪ Dinner: Tuesday-Thursday 4-9 p.m., Friday-Saturday 4-10 p.m.

▪ Lunch: Tuesday-Saturday 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

▪ Details: contemporary American restaurant with PNW bent, well-crafted cocktails plus wine and beer; $100+ for couple with drinks, two starters and two mains; happy hour coming soon plus updated lunch menu

This story was originally published July 29, 2023 at 8:00 AM.