There’s a new restaurant coming to downtown Bellingham — but while the menu is all-new, the venue will be familiar to anyone who enjoys craft beer.
Aslan Depot, Aslan Brewing Co.’s 21-plus tap room, is building an on-site kitchen and plans to serve a small menu by early summer. The kitchen is located in a separate building bordering the Depot’s patio, known as the Annex. (Regulars will recognize this building for its prominent moon calendar mural.)
Aslan Depot is located at 1322 N. State St. in the historic Union Depot building, built in 1916. Patrons can currently order food to be hand-delivered from Aslan’s brewpub, located a block away at 1330 N. Forest St. — but an additional kitchen will allow the Depot to serve a separate menu and prepare food on-site.
“It’ll be a smaller menu and have pizzas by the slice, and then salads and other specials, maybe some wings,” Aslan Depot General Manager Tim Thomas said. “We just wanted to do something that we know everybody likes.”
Aslan Depot opened in 2018, four years after the brewpub, and began serving food from the brewpub during the pandemic. Thomas said adding food deliveries to the Depot was a way to stay open amid COVID-19 closures.
“Otherwise we would have had to shut down, just kind of like all the other normal bars during COVID,” he said. “[Our owner] really just wanted to keep people working if he could.”
As for why Aslan needs two food menus — or a second space at all? Thomas said the brewpub and Depot serve different purposes: The former is all-ages and serves pub fare and all of Aslan’s beers. Aslan Depot, however, is a 21-plus tap room/event space with a range of craft beer, cider, wine and spirits.
“We call it our ‘employee wellness center,’” Thomas said. “It’s a cool place for our brewers to taste different beers, and our bartenders to expand their palates beyond beers.”
With its moody lighting, plush seating and full bar, Thomas said the Depot has gained tremendous popularity in its own right. Soon enough, patrons can enjoy Tuesday jazz night over a pint and a slice of fresh-baked pizza.
“Aslan’s always kind of been known for its food, in a funny way, for being a brewery,” Thomas said. “I’m excited for us to dive two feet into doing that with pizza and come out on the other side with our creative, fusion menu that we’ve done in the past. I think it’ll be really fun.”
Aslan Depot is open 3–11 p.m. Monday–Friday and noon to 11 p.m. Saturday–Sunday at 1322 N. State St. Info: aslanbrewing.com/depot.
Cocoa Laney is CDN’s lifestyle editor; reach her at cocoalaney@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 128.
