Nick LaLonde is best known in Skagit County for his artisan bakery, Good Bagels. But the Anacortes chef’s newest project, Tide & Taste, showcases a different skill set: fine dining.
Nick and his wife, Kami, described Tide & Taste as a contemporary, ingredient-focused restaurant where “cuisine and community converge.” The downtown Anacortes eatery opened on Jan. 9 at 414 Commercial St., formerly the home of American-style cafe The Nest.
In addition to paying tribute to Skagit County’s bountiful ingredients, Nick said Tide & Taste was inspired by the kind of food he and his wife like to eat. From the cocktail list to the oysters and champagne, every detail at Tide & Taste “is just me and Nick in a nutshell,” Kami added.
Nick has a background working in fine dining establishments in New York; Austin, Texas; Los Angeles and Sacramento, California. But in 2021, he moved to Anacortes to open Good Bagels with his brother, Alex.
Tide & Taste is LaLonde’s way of translating his fine dining repertoire to Anacortes’ laid-back atmosphere and palate. Dishes are sophisticated yet approachable, and the experience is complemented by an atmosphere Kami described as “sexy, intimate [and] fun.”
“We just wanted to make the kind of place that we wanted to hang out at, that we felt like we couldn’t really find around here,” she continued.
Standout menu items include crusted cod with carrot, hazelnut and sherry, which uses fish from the Olympic Peninsula. The cod is also used in croquettes that Kami compared to an elevated version of fish and chips. Other notable items include tagliatelle with house-made pasta and Dungeness crab, and strip loin au poivre with local delicata squash.
“Everything that can be sourced locally, is,” Kami continued. “That is going to lend itself to a menu that changes a lot, which is really exciting … The dish you had the week before may be slightly different because of what the farmers have given us.”
And while Tide & Taste’s main dining area caters to multi-course dinners, the LaLondes are also building out a speakeasy-style cocktail lounge upstairs. Diners can follow their progress at @tidetaste on social media.
Tide & Taste is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily at 414 Commercial St. in Anacortes. Reservations are strongly recommended. Info: tideandtaste.com.
Cocoa Laney is CDN’s lifestyle editor; reach her at cocoalaney@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 128.
