Greenhouse Bar & Restaurant brings an upscale sensibility to dining in Gig Harbor. Offering a delightful menu featuring many Pacific Northwest sourced ingredients and a well-curated wine and cocktail selection, Greenhouse is Gig Harbor’s gathering place for celebrations or a great meal with friends and family. Owners are Erik (the chef) and Krystle Smith.
Tell us about Greenhouse, Chef.
Greenhouse has been open for about 12 years, and we bought it from the previous owners in December 2021. My wife, Krystle, was the general manager at the time and when the owner was ready to sell, we were first in line.
Our goal was to move from its then casual experience to more of a fine dining environment. We kept a lot of the established items on the menu, then tweaked it. There are nods to the previous owners on the menu. His clam chowder was very popular, probably some of the best clam chowder I’ve ever had, so we kept it.
What’s the secret to great clam chowder?
A little bacon. It’s just super simple and delicious, so we didn’t change it.
Would you consider yourself a restaurateur or a chef first?
A chef for sure. In 2004, I graduated from West Sound Tech with an associate degree (culinary arts) two days before I graduated high school, so I had my associate’s degree before my high school diploma. Then I went to Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland and worked at Portland City Grill. I was there for three years and then moved to Houston, where I worked at a restaurant called Jasper’s Gourmet Backyard Cuisine, owned by celebrity chef Kent Rathbun. I was there for six years and met my wife there; she was the bar manager.
I wanted to keep progressing, so I went as a sous chef to a large corporate restaurant for their Austin store, but it wasn’t a good fit for my style of management. So, I went back to Jasper’s and eventually moved up into the executive sous chef role. I was there for several years. We married and had a baby when I realized that being a chef wasn’t going to provide me with the time to do stuff like coach my kid’s baseball team. So, I left the restaurant business and worked in sales for 12 years.
That job moved me back here to Seattle and after a few years, the Greenhouse opportunity came up and we jumped on it. It was preestablished and a fixture in the community. I always said that if I ever went back to a restaurant, it would only be as an owner.
What are some of the challenges of being a chef and owner?
We push out a lot of food from a tiny kitchen and during the summer, the patio basically doubles our size. Keeping enough food in the restaurant is one of the biggest challenges. Making sure that we stay on top of our orders, so we don’t run out of food at various times.
Who runs the front of the house?
My wife. Everything you see when you walk into the restaurant, that’s her. All the cocktails and wine is her. She’s perfect at the front; that’s how it’s always been.
How would you define the Greenhouse menu?
Fresh, local and perfectly prepared.
What Pacific Northwest ingredient do you anticipate the most?
People are always waiting for Copper River salmon and it’s hard to keep it in house, it’s so popular! Most of our ingredients, especially seafood and a lot of our meat, are local or from the Washington area.
Who has most influenced your career?
Kent Rathbun was a big influence and then my executive chef from Jasper’s, Brian McNamara. I really tried to combine the stern side that I got from Kent and the relaxed side I got from Brian; that’s how I try to lead. I expect a standard but at the same time, I’ll be the first one to jump in and get dirty to help.
What differentiates Greenhouse?
We prep everything in house; none of our stuff is prefab. A lot of food suppliers have, for example, great desserts, like premade cheesecakes. All our cheesecakes, tarts, salad dressing, seasoning salts, etc., are made in house. That’s something I’m proud of, that we do all that out of such a tiny kitchen.
We’ve served 500-600 people on our busiest day, Mother’s Day. We have progressively got busier and busier. It’s a great problem to have — we’re very blessed and fortunate.
If you could sit down with any chef, from any time, who would that be?
Anthony Bourdain. I met him when we did a dinner with him at Jasper’s, but I would love to sit down and have a longer chat with him. Just a different mind, you know; he didn’t pull punches.
What’s your comfort food?
Asian. I could eat teriyaki every day. People ask me, “What’s your favorite food?” and it’s Pan-Asian, which doesn’t really fit with our overall menus. So when I offer Asian influence, that’s on the specials side. We’ll offer an “Ahi Stack” or a Sesame Seared Tuna Steak on our menu.
You have a thoughtful wine and spirits program.
My wife was a bar manager at Jasper’s for nine years; she’s always been on the bar side. She’s very creative and knows what goes well together. It’s a passion of hers.
Is there an epiphany food for you?
When I was 8 or 9 years old, my grandparents took me for pho and the depth of flavor in a bowl of broth was just insane to me. I have gone to culinary school for four years, and I cannot make that soup the same. The little grandmas that hover over the pot all day, it’s crazy how they get such depth of flavor! I can’t re-create it.
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