Tom Douglas

Dahlia Lounge:Twenty Years of Memories, by Shelley Lance, Blog Editor

Twenty years…. I’ve worked with Tom since the first day of Dahlia’s existence (and for about 3 years before that at Café Sport), so Dahlia’s 20th anniversary represents a big chunk of my life.  For me, it’s a big deal- momentous.  What memories are stirred by this anniversary month?  Here are a few:

Before opening day, the painters masked and taped that lofty space (ground floor plus mezzanine) at 1904 4th Ave.  Then they spray painted the whole thing a deep, blazing red.  We gasped; too much?  A mistake? But when the masking tape came off, the space looked beautiful.  With a coat of red paint, the Dahlia was born.

Tom had the idea that Dahlia food would be comfort food.  Before we opened, he told me he wanted a coconut cream pie, a bread salad, and gnocchi on the menu.  In the weeks before the opening, I tried out recipe after recipe to perfect these dishes for the Dahlia menu.  The coconut cream pie is still on the menu, lightly tweaked but mostly the same after all these years.  The bread salad is still on the menu, but was vastly improved by two innovations when we moved to the new space: a wood burning grill and our own bread bakery.  The grilled bread in the bread salad went up several notches in quality.

The Seattle Goodwill Games in 1990 almost put us under.  The media spread the word to avoid going downtown at all costs because the crowding would be unbearable.  This message was so successful, the Goodwill Games turned out to be the only time you could find a parking place anywhere you wanted in the deserted downtown area.  Oh yeah, and then there was the New Year’s Eve big snow storm.  Our staff numbers diminished.

In those days, our staff Christmas party took place upstairs in the mezzanine and everybody, including guests and spouses, fit with ease.

At first the mezzanine was our bar (we changed that later to be extra dining space-hooray for us that we needed it! and moved the bar downstairs towards the entrance.)  Tom had the idea of giving customers in the bar a little check-off slip.  8 or 10 small appetizers were listed on this slip and you checked them off to customize your own little antipasto plate.  I still think this was a cute idea, BUT working the line with a dozen of these slips hanging in front of you, all with a different assortment of items checked off- well, it gave new meaning to “in the weeds.”

Sleepless in Seattle: they filmed a scene for this movie at the (old) Dahlia.  That was exciting, and it gave us some media buzz.

For years, I walked into the Dahlia everyday and put a sheetpan of russet potatoes in the oven first thing.  When they were soft, I would food-mill them and make a big batch of gnocchi for dinner service.

My husband, Frank, and I got married at the old Dahlia in February, a few months after opening.  Tom let us use the whole restaurant on a Sunday.  (We were closed on Sundays in those early days.)  Tom cooked all the food for my wedding.  Frank and I drank so much scotch sitting up in the bar (ie. mezzanine), waiting for our wedding to start, that I don’t remember any of the food.  I’m sure it was delicious.  Everyone said so.

Loretta Douglas was born.  She spent her infant months right with us in the kitchen, while we prepped.  When lunch service started, her baby carrier fit snugly on top of a clean garbage can, (Child Protective Services- cover your ears!) and she slept while we plated.

Food from the old Dahlia that I still miss:

Hoisin barbecue with fried rice.  We did this with babyback ribs, salmon, chicken, and duck. I liked the ribs best. We had 3 squirt bottles for making the fried rice: sake, soy, and rice wine vinegar.  We called them the 3 amigos.

Tuna puttanesca- sashimi tuna sliced on top of spicy puttanesca pasta.  We called this “tuna puna” in the kitchen.  We called the chopped anchovy mix for the pasta, “catfood.”  A plate of tuna puna and a glass of red wine was my favorite Dahlia dinner for a long time.

Sake steamed salmon with sake butter sauce and pan-fried turnip cakes.

Tom’s slow roasted duck with butternut squash risotto and huckleberry sauce.

Steven’s perfect pan-fried petrale sole with dipping sauce at lunch…….

For the first few years of the old Dahlia, I worked side by side on the line with Tom.  That was a thrill and a privilege- I still miss this because Tom brought a great sense of energy and fun to line cooking.  “Move over bacon, here comes something leaner” was his favorite thing to say as he nudged you out of his way.

Ten years ago, we made the big move to the new space on 4th and Virginia.  Sometimes people (customers) tell me they still love the old space better.  I always say, not if you worked in the kitchen!  The new Dahlia’s bigger, better kitchen with wood burning grill, plus space for a big pastry kitchen, plus space for a bread bakery around the corner…. it all contributed to bringing Dahlia food up to a level that I feel very proud of, even if I don’t do the cooking anymore.

So, thank you Tom and Jackie, for opening Dahlia and thank you all our customers who helped us keep the doors open for twenty- TWENTY!!!! years.  My life would not be the same without the Dahlia Lounge.

November 5th, 2009