Coffee-rubbed bison, wild-rice pancakes at this Tacoma dinner with Native chef
On Memorial Day weekend, Holy Moly Bar will host chef and artist Ramon Shiloh for a one-night-only, multi-course meal that promises to offer a unique opportunity to explore indigenous cooking in Tacoma.
The pop-up dinner ($120 including tax, tickets available online) is scheduled to run 6-9 p.m. on Sunday, May 25 at the Sixth Avenue bar, which owner Matt Coppins revamped into an impressive '70s-themed haunt last year. Drinks, including the bar's daily menu of classic-leaning cocktails, beer and wine, will be available for purchase.
The first course, called Firewater, features yaupon tea, 'a sacred plant used by Southeastern indigenous peoples for energy, purification, and ceremony,' as the menu explains. Sip alongside juniper sticky corn with flamed vodka. 'Together, they reflect two opposing philosophies: one of altered states, the other of natural order.'
Each dish offers a story, which is part of Shiloh's goal as a chef and especially with this dinner, which he is calling 'Food for Thought.'
Shiloh has friends in Tacoma and has visited frequently in the past year or so. They stopped by Holy Moly earlier this year to celebrate a birthday.
'That little space was really beautiful,' he recalled. 'I had this idea — going directly to arguments that I've always wanted to make in my food. I draw stories out of my food, and I like to present it that way. With a traditional menu, you don't really get an understanding of what is behind those ingredients.'
The second course will feature coffee-braised bison paired with whipped white beans and sage, sweet potato purée, root vegetables and hominy, dressed with molasses gravy forged with bison tallow. A third dish honors the sea and its inextricable relationship with the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest: cedar-smoked salmon and roe, fried clams, squash, berries and toasted hazelnuts. To finish, dessert offers sweet potato and wild-rice pancakes with smoked pork, an ancho-blueberry sauce and herbed butter.
Although Holy Moly is usually bar-service only, staff will set up for a full-service experience Sunday night.
The dinner is something of a Tacoma comeback story for Shiloh, who describes himself as a multicultural chef of Black, Filipino, Creek and Cherokee descent. He currently resides in Portland, but he had relocated to Tacoma in 2021 after he was tapped to lead a native foodways residency program at ALMA — two years before the venue abruptly closed when its financial backers pulled funding, leaving the building on Fawcett Avenue empty ever since. The program never came to fruition for earlier and more tragic reasons, as Shiloh was struck in a crosswalk by a car, just blocks from ALMA not long after he arrived. The resulting concussion meant he had to stay out of the stressful setting of the kitchen.
'It was a big blow to my journey,' he said in a phone call this week.
As he battled a challenging recovery process, he eventually returned to his art, but he longed to get back to cooking. Instead of pursuing a full-time position, he has opted for the private-chef side of things through varied projects and special events.
That's where the upcoming dinner comes into focus, he explained.
'I felt that at some point, I'm gonna come back to Tacoma and do some work,' said Shiloh.
The Turnipseed family at BJ's Bingo and Gaming in Fife commissioned him for a mural inside Ms. Jane's Fine Dining, their revamped restaurant that aims to highlight Native ingredients. He will spend some time there leading up to the May 25 dinner, which follows many months of menu-testing and planning with Coppins on logistics.
'To me it's everything that I wanted to do at ALMA, just in this little space,' he continued. Serving this food and the accompanying story in a bar was also intentional, he said, to support a conversation about alcohol 'and the myth around what it means to Native communities.'
He will serve a similar menu at a summer pop-up in Edmonds in another intimate setting, Vinbero wine bar, on July 25 and July 26. He also hopes this return to Tacoma will be just the first of many such events, he said.
▪ What: 4-course pop-up dinner focused on indigenous ingredients (no substitutions or modifications), cash/card bar — details at holymolybar.com/ramon-shiloh-dinner
▪ Where: 3013 6th Ave., Tacoma, 253-302-3047
▪ When: May 25, 6-9 p.m.
▪ Tickets: purchase online via holymolybar.com/Brown Paper Tickets, $120 plus tax
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