Cafe Wylde — Restaurant in Everett

Food: Excellent. Environment: Casual, comfortable. Indoor and outdoor tables.

I followed the Seattle Storm to Everett for the game on my birthday last Tuesday, and included Cafe Wylde in those plans after noticing it’s close enough to the bus stop and the Arena.

Here’s what the menu said then and still says today (Sunday) about the two items I purchased: —“Strawberry Balsamic (Smoothie) – Strawberries, banana, coconut cream, rustic balsamic from Modena Italy, sweet vanilla bean.” —“BBQ Jackfruit Sandwich (Entree) – Sweet, spicy, and seriously filling like a traditional BBQ sandwich should be. Ciabatta bun (this is not G/F), BBQ filling, arugula, red onion, avocado. Side of fresh house-made slaw.”

This is a vegan restaurant, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I went there with animalistic intentions on that sandwich – the kind of animal who has wanted for a long time to try jackfruit, who has liked barbecue for even longer, but who had never before imagined any sort of reconciliation between the two – a hungry, bewildered animal: a bewildebeest. I hadn’t yet settled on which of my Top 3 Most Intriguing Cafe Wylde Fresh(ly) Blended Juices would capture #1 on that early-June evening and subsequently slide into my BMs: Black Lemonade, Schizandra Lemonade, or The Roslyn. ...but (whoa) then (hey) I got distracted by the (what’s this) Strawberry Balsamic(...?) and now...

It’s my turn to order, and I’m lost between the sections of QR code menu on my phone.

Panicking, I verbalized the REAL issue, here: “Wow, that Strawberry Balsamic sounds really good...” The on-duty Smooth Operator says it was her new favorite, so I responded with a few enthusiastic words of affirmation, before quickly clarifying, “Is that a juice?”

She.

Said.

Yes!

There’s NO WAY she could have known how important that question was to me! We’d simply been making brief but still-awkward small talk about tattoos, and...

That smoothie-juice distinction actually wasn’t very important; I simply thought a “juice” would go better with dinner then a “smoothie”.

The Strawberry Balsamic reminded me of someone I used to know called “Orange Julius” in his strawberry-banana mode, but MUCH broader depth of flavor, with a finer blend.

For vegan protein substitutions, texture is often the biggest hurdle. The jackfruit’s fibrous nature helps achieve the pulled-porky-ness of this excellent sandwich’s filling. I’m still looking forward to exploring jackfruit on its own terms, but Cafe Wylde does an exceptional job of finding the appropriate flavors from the vegan ingredients to achieve the expected barbecue sandwich experience. It is, in fact, sweet, spicy, and seriously filling like a traditional barbecue sandwich should be. The arugula and red onion provide additional crispness and flavor. (Between the ciabatta, BBQ filling, and avocado, I’m sure they’d execute a killer torta sandwich, too.) The side of slaw is a perfect, lite addition – a bit sweet with a touch of horseradish.

Based on my assumptions of its self-identification, I had been bracing for a rowdy time, but actually had one of my more peaceful, delightful meals at Cafe Wylde.

Negatives: -Some of the menu items can seem pricey. Running a small business is expensive, and good ingredients cost more money. Investing dollars close to home helps the community more broadly (minus no points); -The Seattle Storm basketball tickets were kind of expensive (minus one point); -At Angel of the Winds Arena, Seattle Storm merch wasn’t yet available that early in the season (Needed a new hat; minus one point); -Everett’s nearby mountains are all up in my business; Seattleites like our foothills to give us personal space (minus one point for mountainous cascade of oppression); -This 5-star rating system isn’t as good as my usual 10-point system (minus two points).

I’ll be at Cafe Wylde later today for visit 2. All I’m sure about is a Juice, the Smokey Avocado Dip, and a slice of cheesecake; either the Pesto Pasta or Bukhan Bowl will also likely make an appearance.

Highly...

The first time hubby and I tried this restaurant I was excited. We have been vegetarians for 35+ years, when I needed to make everything from scratch. And close to downtown Everett, perfect I thought. When we first walked in it looked nice. Clean, a bench alongside one wall behind the tables with chairs opposite. Comfy. We sat down, and waited. No one acknowledged us. After 6-8 min. I walked up to the counter and asked if they were open. Oh yes, she handed me menu's. Went back sat down. Waited nothing. She left for the day I guess her sift over. Next gal, didn't acknowledge us either. So again I walked up to the counter and ask if we were supposed to come to the counter for service or does she/they wait on the tables? Oh......sure I will come to the table. Ok back to the table I go. By now hubby and I are getting a little leery of eating here. They are acting like maybe if they just ignore us we will leave and they can go about doing what, I don't know. We order. Hubby has the chili, me the tostada cracker plate, for there and the strawberry cheesecake to go. We finish quickly and leave. We would have ordered meals but really got the feeling we were bothering them. I was really looking forward to tasting the cheesecake. Sadly it was dry, not much flavor and a waist of money. A large strawberry sauce on the side would have been beneficial though. Ok every place can have a bad day. So Hubby and I plan on one more trip. Lunch. Again we walk in. Place is clean We are the only two people there. This time I make sure she see's us. I say hi, She hands us two menus and say's when you decide what you want come back to the counter and let me know. Good..I can follow directions. We have our plan. We decided on BQ jackfruit sandwich on ciabatta bun for me, pesto pasta for hubby. $46.68. We go sit down. 3 men walk in and sit at the table to my left. She runs over and ask them if they would like water. Water, water, we weren't asked if we wanted any water. They get glass's of water. She goes to their table to take their order. Bam, hubby and I look at each other and wonder what are we chopped liver or something? So we just wait to see how this is going to play out. Yep waiting hand and foot on them, us not so much. Now we are clean, dressed nice and parked a very nice car right outside in front of their door. So I'm confused. Our food came. It was good. I never had jackfruit and really wanted to know what one could do with it in recipes. The bun was way too much bread though and I just scraped off the goodies and set the bread aside. Hubby liked his also, and one piece of my ciabatta bun went great with his meal. We tasted each others and yep we both liked both dishes. What we didn't like was the service. Twice. $46.68 for lunch is pricy today with all the competition in the area, I'm not sure if there is really any need for us to give them a...

Met my first Japanese Warlord at Cafe Wylde today. He did not slice me in half and demanded that I take care. Over 9000/10. Made a new friend. Nice 70'ish year old bloke from Edmonds. Shared stories about his kids being born at Steven's. Loved hearing his stories about his experiences in the music world with the Beatles. Prayed I could introduce Jaron to the Ramones in person some day. James told me he was working on making the place more pet friendly. Felt happy hearing that, thought about Lindsey and LL. Talked about spiders. Tarantulas specifically. Donated some money for the arcade upstairs. Thought about Tom, Nova and some TMNT, The Simpsons and James mentioned another one that was his favorite. Cannot recall it. Showed me his cool pig sticker, taught me to stack and freeze bananas. Thought about Elise. Talked about Canada, Hockey, Tayl0r and that's bout it (Not really)! So much to explore here. Irish tribes, divine geometry Jessica Leigh Levinson lore, and so much more! To be continued...🦊🙃🥲🥰 byee!

Oh yeah, Talked about my crush on Sandra Bullock. Held Kiana (sp?) for the first time. Thought of our favorite purple haired Twitch streamer as a result. Would love to bring her here some day in a more natural simpless atmosphere than the one she hosts.

Oh, got a private tour of the back, and the family garage. Really got the VIP Family treatment. So thankful. Planning to work with Cafe Wylde in an official capacity starting March! LLLFG!

Didn't take any photos today, but really enjoyed seeing all the custom care James and Tawni have put into the place. James has made some really rad signs. Was happy to offer support making some custom logos. I love that kind of stuff. James envisioned us going on some rad biking adventures in the Vancouver, BC area. Talked to Tawni about Frank and her shared love for Motocross. Florida trip someday?

Back is kinda itchy right now. Didn't have much time tonight to get around to laundry. Wish I had some caregivers. Goals, right? Ok. Enough for now. Hopping in the shower and hopefully headed to...