Impressive house charcuterie, schnitzel, salad at new ‘French-ish’ Tacoma deli

In the basement of Court House Square, pork shoulder is simmered in duck fat and aromatics. Chicken livers are whipped with eggs, cream, madeira, juniper and thyme. Beef tongue is brined and molded into, essentially, a cold-cut. The housemade delicacies are assembled on a thrifted porcelain plate with melt-in-your-mouth jambon de Bayonne, Basque salami, high-fat French butter, cornichons, baguette and sel de gris.

This “pretty traditional French charcuterie plate,” according to its maker, Dave Cooper, stars at the chef’s new sandwich shop and “French-ish deli” at 1102 A St. in downtown Tacoma. Not Bad replaces Outpost Sandwiches, which served the city well for eight years until it closed this spring as the owners moved on largely for personal reasons.

The cheeky name riffs on the French “pas mal.”

“This is Tacoma,” said Cooper with a laugh. “I should just call it ‘Not Bad.’”

Years ago on a trip to Paris, recalled the chef as he and his solo assistant prepped for service, he snacked on a jambon-buerre at Chez Aline.

“It’s this tiny little closet of a sandwich shop in the Bastille,” he said.

Some day, he told himself, he would open his own little closet of a sandwich shop — a place where “the balance of good ingredients and good bread” outshines superfluous accouterments, where “tradition meets irreverence.”

The $23 charcuterie plate is generous for the effort and skill it takes to create — you’ll want a friend, and your friend will thank you for the invitation. Other plates include house pork sausage and a grain bowl with lentils, roasted sweet potato and onion, marinated peppers, collards, turkey meatballs and crunchy stuff, including “harissa crunch.”

North African ingredients dot the menu, in part inspired by Cooper’s tenure at a Chicago restaurant that focused on the cuisine and by the reality of contemporary French cooking, much like Latin foods have become one in the same in America (see, oh, guacamole). That harissa crunch adorns both the Tunisian lox with preserved lemons, potatoes, pickled peppers and a jammy egg, as well as the early big-hit, bigger-than-the-bun chicken schnitzel with gruyere and carrot-cabbage slaw.

FRENCH-ISH SANDWICHES IN DOWNTOWN TACOMA

The menu fits the mold of the casse-croûtes Parisian tradition: snacks, often portable, or light-ish bites between meals. As mentioned, though, this is Tacoma, and a $15 sandwich is presumably lunch. Cooper would also very much like for you to kick back and relax for a spell, especially if the liquor board approves the beer and wine license he has requested.

Baguettes sourced from Grand Central Bakery are layered with comté, jambon and cornichons in the classic; hazelnut ricotta, collards and marinated peppers in the vegan; braised beef, slaw and labneh in the Beefy Boy; and onion jam, kale-hazelnut pesto, turkey and bacon in the Citadine. Salads include arugula with garrotxa, a Catalan goat cheese, and Le Chop, a textural mound anchored by chickpeas, cucumbers and bell peppers with turkey, white cheddar and sunflower seeds — no lettuce. There’s also tabbouleh, potato salad and marinated beets.

Cooper was raised in the Midwest but moved to Olympia in the 1990s for college. His cooking career took him to Savannah, Chicago and back to Seattle, where he worked at the now-25-year-old Le Pichet, later commuting from Tacoma. He took some time off to write a novel, as one does, and casually explored spaces in the area, including some with Tacoma Knife co-owner Stephen Gangl before he and partner Sarah Woodson opened their mercantile and sharpening studio.

Motivated by the success of other daytime businesses, including Side Piece Kitchen and Three Hearts, and ambitious new restaurants like the also French-ish Corbeau in Proctor, he kept searching. When the Outpost deal surfaced, he thought, “This space is so cool.”

The Not Bad theme continues on the outer wall of the counter seats that offer a view of the working kitchen: “can’t complain” reads the green cursive text by local sign artist Chris Sharp, who also created the adorable pup and “little rascals” on the logo. To-go boxes and sandwiches will be sealed with a sticker that says, in simple sans-serif black text, “pretty good.”

NOT BAD TACOMA

▪ 1102 A St., (basement level of Court House Square), Tacoma, notbadtacoma.com

▪ Current hours: Monday-Friday 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

▪ Details: new sandwich shop with house charcuterie from veteran chef in downtown Tacoma; most dishes $8-$15, online ordering available

▪ Tip: You can enter Court House Square on A Street or South 11th and take the stairs or elevator, but it’s easiest to walk to the corner of A Street and South 12th, next to the USPS loading dock. Liftbridge Coffee and en Rama are located on the first floor.