A Night on the Town

The first Friday evening of every month offers a wealth of blip opportunities at the Downtown Art Walk, a great excuse to have a night out!

With the goal of attracting more people to come downtown in the evening, many art studios, galleries, restaurants, and shops stay open until 10 p.m. and feature a wide array of art by local and visiting talent. Often the venues provide light food and drink, as well, and the opportunity to chat with the artists -- and buy some art, if you're so inclined.

Phil and I have been wanting to eat at Brandywine Kitchen, in the heart of downtown Bellingham for some time, and that's where we went tonight before the Art Walk began. Brandywine Kitchen began at the Bellingham Farmers Market, where their delicious sandwiches, soups, and made-while-you-wait organic handcut french fries quickly gained a devoted following, and their informal restaurant opened a few years later.

Brandywine Kitchen's emphasis on locally grown and sourced ingredients is appealing to many Bellinghamsters, as are their imaginative dishes, family-friendly environment, and reasonable prices. I'll try to take some photos of the food next time -- this time I was too hungry to wait! I had the savory bread pudding and the chicken pot pie, both in "happy hour" portions (small), and both were delicious. Phil had wonderful clams cooked in a wine sauce finished with cream -- and plenty of good bread to mop up that sauce!

After supper we walked over to The Amadeus Project, a wonderful nonprofit "music space" that offers lessons and an intimate concert hall for the community. One of our favorite local artists, Lorna Libert, was exhibiting some of her works there, and we particularly wanted to see her 20-foot giraffe painting (Phil's there to provide scale -- and do check out his blip on the event).

We had a lovely evening, are eager to return to Brandywine Kitchen, and agreed that we needed to go downtown at night more often!