New bar opens in UP with Asian-inspired dishes, cocktails and homemade desserts
The Village at Chambers Bay in University Place welcomed another new business this fall. Salted Rim Bar and Kitchen opened Oct. 29 at 3609 Market Place West.
Owners Malaty Lim and Rik Filion teamed up with friends Michelle and Bill Baerg on this casual restaurant that makes use of a previously underused lobby area next to the Pierce County library branch. It joins Beirut Bites, which replaced another Mediterranean restaurant this fall, Happy Duo Cafe, a Jersey Mike’s and OMG Pho and Teriyaki in the plaza, as well as Chambers Bay Distillery’s tasting room (which feels like a bar) across the street.
The City of University Place owns the building and “had envisioned a restaurant as an ideal fit for the space,” said community and economic development director Kevin Briske. The addition of Salted Rim, Beirut Bites and others “adds to the growing variety of local dining options and supports our ongoing efforts to strengthen the center as a vibrant destination.”
Lim, Filion and the Baergs have been working with the city since at least the spring of 2024, with council approving the lease that May. The city invested $158,000 in tenant improvements, confirmed UP communications manager Linda Seesz, just under the original $160,000 estimate. Those upgrades included a grease interceptor, hood ducting, gas submeters that separate utility usage from city operations, a railing around the outdoor seating area, an exterior door and signage infrastructure.
“These investments were made with the intent of creating a functional and code-compliant foodservice space that could support long-term leasing,” said Seesz.
With monthly rent around $4,700, the city anticipates that it will recoup those funds in “just under three years,” she added.
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Salted Rim’s menu blends bar-food favorites with Asian plates, and most dishes run $12.95-$17.95, according to the menu posted online.
Appetizers include Buffalo-sauced and Vietnamese-style wings, beef Wellington-inspired puffed pastry bites, baked jalapeno poppers with corn, and pork belly bao buns. Salads range from a bacon-avocado Caesar to a Thai chicken cucumber and larb-style steak with herbs. More substantial plates include chicken pad kra pow, a shrimp po’boy and verde chicken enchiladas.
For dessert ($9.95-$10.95), try the banana bread pudding, peanut-butter chocolate pie with toffee or an apple pie empanada with dulce de leche.
From the bar, in addition to beer and wine, 30 signature cocktails (most $12-$15) are broken down by spirit. Have a Flaming Margarita with strawberry or spicy pineapple, a lychee martini or lavender-sage lemon drop. There are mojitos, whiskey sours, various old fashioneds and a couple mocktails, too.
While the Baergs were seeking a career change, Lim and Filion had opened Thirsty Hound Drinkery on Bridgeport Way and South 19th Street in 2020. As Lim battled with cancer, they sold it in 2023.
(Thirsty Hound’s new owners have worked to make it their own, nurturing it as a warm neighborhood pub that continues to draw regulars and new faces for local beer, big salads, rice plates and weekly specials like spicy ramen and a Spam breakfast sandwich.)
Supported by a new treatment plan, said Filion this week, Lim wanted to return to hospitality.
They are still settling in, he added, but they are “happy with how everything turned out.”
The UP plaza restaurant, with soaring ceilings, lots of natural light and dark-green walls, offers bar seating, high-top tables and a standing rail in view of a screen or two. A sidewalk patio adds to the options when the weather cooperates.
Surface parking in the UP plaza is metered 10 a.m.-6 p.m. every day but Sunday, while ample free parking is always available in the garage below the main buildings.
Salted Rim Bar & Kitchen
- 3609 Market Place W, University Place, 253-503-1618, saltedrim253.com
- Wednesday-Thursday 3-11 p.m., Friday-Saturday 3-midnight, Sunday noon-9 p.m.
- Details: new UP restaurant with cocktails, apps and eclectic bar food, plus weekly specials
This story was originally published November 10, 2025 at 5:00 AM.