By Connie Adams
It’s hard not to love a really good chicken sandwich and impossible not to love a really good chicken sandwich when the chicken and the fixings are of such high quality and flavor from
regenerative farms, and when you have an amazing chef behind the recipes. These are a few of the reasons why Mt. Joy has just opened their second brick and mortar shop, this one at
Amazon’s The Deck.
In terms of their mission to create a restaurant that leaves everything in its wake better than it was before, nothing has changed. But there are updates. One is that their food truck, their
original home, has been sold. Finding space that worked for a food truck’s continuous needs (water, electrical, garbage) is tough in an urban environment.
The big news is that CEO Robbie Cape, one of the original co-founders, has become the Chairman. Mitch Mayers now holds the CEO position. You’ll remember him as the owner of
Sawyer in Ballard and a James Beard nominee. Ethan Stowell, another co-founder, has stepped back a little although he’s still involved (how many things can he be part of? A question there is no answer for just yet). Since Mitch closed Sawyer in October of 2022 to spend more time with his family, he’s been working as a consultant with different companies, like Charlie’s Produce.
Robbie was an investor in Sawyer, so Mitch has been aware of the Mt. Joy mission and is excited to join the team. The week of November 18 is his second week on the job. One of his main goals is to guide the growth of the company.
Two of Mitch’s first acts were 1) bringing in some feedback about the use of the words “regenerative agriculture” in the mission. That hasn’t changed, but many people don’t know what it is, so they’re changing the wording to express their desire to end factory farming. 2) considering getting t-shirts printed with this wording on the back, “Our chickens only have one bad day.” Black humor, right? But true. The chickens they use have about 1000 hours outside over their lifespan vs. being cooped up.
As Robbie explains, we all love food, and it should be a treat. But not just for the person consuming it. All the resources used to create the final product should be treated as well as we treat ourselves. It goes beyond raising animals humanely and includes respecting all workers from farm to table (growers, processing plant and grocery/retail workers), and regenerative farming for other products used.
New menu items are here/coming. For instance, at the Pine Street location, you can find vegan and gluten-free options. Those should roll out at the South Lake Union location December-ish. When complimented on the amazing cauli-bites (dipped in Mt. Joy seasoning and buttermilk mixture and fried) which are so tender and delicious, Dionne shares there are more new snack-y items coming now that Mitch is on board.
The South Lake Union location opened mid-November 2024; current hours are 10:30 a.m. -3 p.m. The Pine Street Capitol Hill location hours are quite different, open to 2:30 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, slightly earlier the rest of the week. Perfect for that needed comfort food after a night in the bars surrounding it! SLU is leased from Amazon. “Amazon does tons of stuff in the community,” says Robbie. “After hearing about our mission, they made sure Mt. Joy was part of their community work and got us in here.”
South Lake Union
1051 Thomas Street
Seattle, WA 98109
Pine
1530 11th Ave, Ste B
Seattle, WA 98122