The ‘best waffles in NorCal’ are now in Gig Harbor. You’ll recognize the popular location
Harry Smith likes the idea of unconventional places to sell his unconventional waffles, and he’s found one at a popular gathering place in Gig Harbor.
In California, he open Wildwood Waffles at his hardware store in Rio Dell, in Humboldt County.
They had sweet and savory waffles on the menu, wrapped and folded like a sandwich to go. They also had creative specials, like one with jalapeño herb cream cheese and Cheeto crumbles.
The headline of an SFGATE article last year said they were “selling the best waffles in NorCal.”
After spending time at Finholm’s Market in Gig Harbor with friends and family, he had his eye on opening a stand inside the popular local watering hole at 8812 N. Harborview Dr.
The timing proved fortuitous.
His best friend, Tim Jones (the two worked together at the Tides Tavern at one point) learned that the woman who ran the deli at Finholm’s was retiring.
Because the market has to serve food in order to serve beer, the owners needed someone to take her place, fast.
Smith had a meeting with the owners of Finholm’s Dec. 10.
“We locked in a deal,” Smith said.
He asked when they needed him to open, and they said Jan. 1. Smith moved from California to Gig Harbor and made it happen.
“I sold my half of the garden supply store, and I took the waffles with me,” he said.
Both the Rio Dell and Gig Harbor locations were open for about a month and a half, but now the Gig Harbor stand is the only Wildwood Waffles location.
He’s had customers from California visit the Finholm’s location, he said.
“It’s like I’m starting over again with something that I know works,” Smith said.
Two of his employees made the move with him, and they stayed with him until they got settled.
“I think that just speaks to him as a business owner and a friend,” his sister, Amy Hall, said.
The business is veteran owned. Smith, 43, left the U.S. Army in 2006 and moved into Hall’s basement in Gig Harbor. His first job after the military was at the Tides Tavern.
“I think he’s full of really good ideas, and his special power is to find the ones that will work,” Hall said. “He doesn’t make anything that he’s not going to eat himself.”
To-go waffles got on Smith’s radar after he visited a Portland food truck that sold them.
“You can do whatever you want with them,” he said.
He started Wildwood Waffles in 2017 in Rio Dell.
“We made up our own waffle recipe,” he said. “I haven’t changed that, and I don’t want to.”
Smith said he’s a foodie, but that he’s not a chef.
His mom taught him how to cook growing up, and he can still make her tuna casserole, he said.
Otherwise, his only culinary training was a program at a community college in Spokane that he did one summer in junior high school, he said.
“That’s the time that it sparks,” he said. “I always liked the motto that everybody eats.”
One of the employees who made the move with him from California to Gig Harbor is 24-year-old Hailey Smith. They’re not related, but he and her dad are friends. Her dad knew she was interested in food (she was the captain of her high school culinary team) and put the two in touch.
She first worked at Wildwood Waffles at the end of 2017. She said she’d been interested in the Puget Sound area, and the move to Gig Harbor made sense for her.
“I know and I trust Harry with business,” she said.
She helps come up with the specials, and works on the company’s social media, among other things.
Wildwood manager Jocelyn Taylor also made the move from California to Gig Harbor.
The waffles on the menu
The menu has staples, and it also has bi-weekly specials.
The stand has had more than 250 specials so far, on top of the 12 staples on the menu, according to its website. Waffles range from about $5 to $12.
The Cubano special is Harry Smith’s favorite. It has pulled pork, a slice of ham, Swiss cheese, Dijon mustard and pickles.
The Wildwood waffle — one of the staples — has maple butter and sausage. You can add egg and cheese.
Another staple is the blackout waffle, which has whipped cream cheese, blackberry jam and is dusted with powdered sugar.
One week the stand sold chorizo scramble waffles, according to social media posts. Another week it had pumpkin pie ones.
The business has done waffles with jalapeño herb cream cheese and Cheeto crumbles, and waffles with cheddar, chives and corned beef filling. The combinations seem endless.
Wildwood Waffles can make most waffles gluten-free.
Valhalla Coffee is also on the menu. Smith said he heard it was the best in the area. He told the company he wanted it at his stand, and now Wildwood Waffles is the only place in Gig Harbor that serves Valhalla espresso drinks, he said.
Wildwood Waffles is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
That means locals who go to the open-mic nights, trivia nights and other events at Finholm’s can grab a waffle.
What’s next for Wildwood Waffles
Smith is looking at additional locations. He said he’s going through the process to be considered by Metro Parks Tacoma for the snack shack location at the Les Davis Pier along Ruston Way in Tacoma.
He’s talking with 7 Seas about the possibility of serving waffles in its Tacoma taproom.
The idea of starting a location at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is also on his radar.
Serving waffles somewhere like Mariners or Kraken games is a dream he has about what Wildwood Waffles could become, he said.
This story was originally published May 7, 2024 at 10:30 AM.
