KISS Café

Keep it simple, Seattle

One of the great things about Seattle is the diversity we have in our restaurants. Often the restaurants that get written about are big and showy or have star chefs. But we're lucky enough to also have some good locally-owned low-key spots. And we've recently become richer in that area by one—KISS Café in Ballard.

Owners Oakley Carlson and Brenda Reed (husband and wife) and Amanda Whisler have a solid background in the restaurant industry and wanted to strike out on their own. It was important to them to offer something to their community that was not only a warm, comfortable place to go but also a place where people could get uncomplicated, good, fresh food.

After working for others for 16 years, Amanda and Brenda were ready. "Opportunity, preparation and success," says Brenda. "The timing was right." She had always had a goal of owning her own place by the time she was 40. She's early at 32, but it feels right. "I've watched how much she cares about other places," says Oakley. "She deserves her own place."

"About five years ago, Oakley took me to Jack's 5^th Avenue in Florida and I just fell in love with the simplicity of everything," says Brenda. "I felt like we needed that type of place in Seattle. People need a good lunch, but you get tired of burgers and pizzas, even though they're good. Food doesn't need to be fancy, you just need to feed your body and soul." Oakley agrees. "The idea behind the place and the name is to keep it simple."

Amanda and Brenda have a similar outlook on what they're trying to do. "We wanted our place to be an extension of our living rooms," says Amanda. "Because we spend so much time here, this is our home and we want it to be warm and inviting for anyone who comes in."

"It has to be fun," says Brenda. "And we don't want it to be pretentious. We don't have vente coffee. We have small, medium and large. What you see is what you get."

Amanda worked in the industry in California, then at the Elysian here before moving to the Acorn on Crown Hill where she met Brenda, who had worked at a number of places in Eastern Washington including Mickey O'Reilly's in Wenatchee. Lead cook Mike Ambrose worked at restaurants in Michigan before moving here where he worked as a manager at Fred Meyer. "I wanted to get back to my roots in the kitchen and cook real food," he says.

Photo above: l-r, Mike, Brenda, Waylon, Amanda, Oakley

Almost without exception, everyone connected with KISS lives in Ballard and can walk to work. They're committed to the community and to the larger area with close to 30 Northwest wines on their list and a local, rotating beer list that is nearly up to 100. They also have a good selection of non-alcoholic drink options—Zoka coffee and tea, pop, juice, bottled water—and a housemade cucumber water they offer at no charge.

Each has their specialty. Brenda runs the operation and bartends, Oakley bartends (and works his day job) and Amanda cooks. "We call her the executioner," laughs Brenda. "Give her an idea and she executes it with no short cuts. It's all fresh. Even her meatloaf is good. We had Sloppy Joes on Super Bowl Sunday. We're big on one pot meals; the kind of thing you grew up on in the 80s. Amanda is amazing. If she doesn't know how to do something, she finds a way not only to do it, but to make it even better."

They are serious about keeping it simple. There are about 15 sandwiches on the menu, along with three salads, a daily soup and jambalaya, which is Oakley's recipe. Oakley thinks his mom made really good jambalaya, "but I wanted to take it up a notch." They use fresh, light ingredients and don't add anything unnecessary. "It helps that we have no space," says Mike. "Everything has to be fresh. It's a one-man kitchen with two people, no storage and no walk-in, just a refrigerator."

"We pick up our ingredients daily," explains Brenda. "If we're out of something, we're out. But we'll have it tomorrow." They know that people come in who have a half hour for lunch and they can't wait for their food. "It's a challenge every day," says Mike. "There's never a dull moment."

On the other hand, they've made it so comfortable, people forget to leave. "We had a father and son in here one day and they just forgot the time because we had "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" on. They stayed through the whole movie. "We're not trying to be trendy, just real," says Brenda.

Amanda didn't attend cooking school, but has always cooked and loved the rewards. "We all have innate skills," she explains. "When you find what they are, you fine tune them. I started cooking when I was about 13 and I still have my Fanny Farmer cookbook. It's wonderful to see people enjoying your food."

They all agree that it's nice to be the ones in control of the decision making. "You hear that three's a crowd, but it's not true in our case. We each bring strong skills to the business and have really bonded together as people."

For the future, they're planning a map that will show how easy it is to bike, walk or run your dog from other neighborhoods to Ballard. They want to be the spot you head to for a fresh meal or start at to pick up a picnic lunch to take on your outing. Whatever your needs, KISS will make it simple for you.

Connie Adams/February 2008