Bubbles and brunch: Tacoma’s new sparkling wine bar is now open in the Stadium District
Cocktail stirrers are topped with miniature disco balls, and sparkling wine arrives exclusively in coupes. At brunch, there will be biscuits, waffle towers, mimosas and a build-your-own bloody mary cart rolled straight to your table.
The Powder Room Champagne Bar opened Friday, Sept. 29, in the Stadium District. Its creators are angling for it to become a go-to destination for everyday celebrations, “whether it’s just a Wednesday or a birthday or whatever it is,” said general manager Cameron Gilmore, co-owner with longtime friend Kia Smith.
Within 24 hours of turning on the bookings system, the bar had amassed more than 60 reservations, they said, two private parties and at least one surprise we wouldn’t dare divulge here.
In the kitchen, chef Angel Navarro, who began his career as a dishwasher at the late La Fondita in the Proctor District, brings experience from working at Asado, en Rama and Over the Moon Cafe. Through Gilmore and Smith’s concept of a family-style brunch and light bites at lunch, his menu features smoked salmon on a housemade baguette, from-scratch hummus with chili crisp, and truffle-specked popcorn, as well as arugula salads with burrata or lemony beets with spiced hazelnuts. On the heftier side, mains ($20-$32) include a New York strip with crispy cilantro and rosemary potatoes, fettuccine alfredo in an onion soubise, and a “tuna stack” of sesame-encrusted fish over roasted vegetables.
As for the central element of The Powder Room — the bubbles — the core list aims to demystify this effervescent category. They call it The Big 7, listed by number, with 1 being sweet and fruity and 7 super-dry.
Available by the glass or bottle, it starts with Moletto Prosecco and Almacita Brut, a sparkling chardonnay from Argentina’s Uco Valley, and moves to the infamous Veuve Cliquot (pronounced “verv klee-koh”). Fellow true champagnes — those produced from select varietals in the Champagne region of France — include Magic Door La Cle de la Femme and Lassalle Brut. The list finishes with a Spanish cava and a sparkling from Scharffenberger Cellars in California’s Anderson Valley.
The three true champagnes are $21-$31 a glass, or $78-$98 a bottle, topping out with the Veuve. The Italian, South American, Spanish and American iterations sit around $11 a glass and $42-$48 a bottle. Can’t decide? Start with a flight for $18.
The logo features a coupe, the round-bottom champagne glass often associated with the Prohibition era, and all bubbles will be poured into that vessel. The narrow champagne flute took over in the 1960s and ‘70s, but experts tend to agree that while it holds the natural carbonation well, it crushes our ability to smell the wine.
In addition to glass pours and a bottle list, cocktails will lean into the sparkly side.
“The coolest part about our drink menu is that you can get it with or without bubbles,” said Gilmore.
The menu offers modern classics ($14) like a margarita, a bee’s knees (gin, lemon and honey), a negroni and a cosmopolitan. Up the ante with a splash of sparkling ($+2), or, in the case of the spicy paloma, replacing the club soda.
Coffee drinks also play a prominent role: Explore a trio of espresso martinis mixed with vodka, white rum or silver tequila.
On Friday nights and at weekend brunch, DJ Adrianna will run the music. During any visit, said Smith, the tunes will lean into “Janet Jackson kind of vibes.”
Saturday and Sunday mornings, guests can indulge in a unique dining experience, where biscuits, breakfast potatoes and the burrata salad are served family-style. Each diner chooses their entree — perhaps eggs benedict or a decadent waffle tower.
The idea was inspired by trips to brunch-heavy restaurants in Chicago and Scottsdale, said Smith.
TACOMA GLAM
Guests will be greeted by plenty of pink, from the blush feather chandelier to the tables, some hand-covered in hot-pink resin and others in a collage of images that harken to the neon of Los Angeles and the “as if” of Clueless, with black-and-white thrown in for good measure. Chairs are tufted and velvet, in jewel-toned hues of emerald green and navy blue. There’s a faux-flower wall with a custom-neon sign of the bar’s logo, and a room that can be rented for private parties adorned with a floral mural by local artist Amber McLean-Coyne. Wander to the bathrooms — one with red lips on the walls, one with textured black-velvet wallpaper — and you’ll pass under a ceiling glimmering with disco balls. Pause for a photo in the “phone booth,” covered head-to-toe in more faux-flowers and a matching “pay phone.”
Visitors to 12 N. Tacoma Ave. might recognize remnants of the prior tenant, Jason and Robyn Alexander’s Gilman House, which closed in August but will reincarnate in a smaller space next door under the name Room 428. The bones of what they built remain, from the custom wooden bar to banquettes in the big street-facing windows.
The new owners have imbued their personalities into the space and the concept. The Bubble Club offers “more than just bottles every month,” but also perks when you visit the restaurant.
Gilmore, who has run a dance studio in Fircrest for over a decade, also has a background in hospitality. From her first restaurant job in the early days of The Ram on Ruston Way, she became a trainer for Duke’s Seafood. Smith has managed marketing for hotels and restaurants and owns a lash studio.
As small business owners and single mothers, they often bonded over a glass of bubbly and hope to support women-owned businesses where possible. The opening menu offers a few such choices, including a red blend from House of Brown, a Black-owned and women-led winery in Napa Valley.
“We want it to be an everyday place or a fun, celebratory place,” said Gilmore.
In October, look for sparkling rosé specials — The Powder Room will donate a portion of sales to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
THE POWDER ROOM CHAMPAGNE BAR
▪ 12 N. Tacoma Ave., Tacoma, 253-720-1493, thepowderroomchampagnebar.com
▪ Wednesday-Thursday 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Friday 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-8 p.m. (dinner menu starts at 4 p.m.)
▪ Details: sparkling wine-focused bar and restaurant serving lunch, dinner and lively weekend brunch; reservations encouraged — book online
This story was originally published September 30, 2023 at 7:05 AM.