Seattle Restaurant Spotlight: Watershed Pub & Kitchen
In between the lunch and dinner rushes, Ben Curran, Co-owner of Watershed Pub & Kitchen grabs a slice of pizza and sprinkles on extra parmesan. “You’ve got to sneak in lunch whenever you can,” he explains. The restaurant is no longer crowded, but a few guests sit at the bar or finish up the last of their lunches under the covered dining area outside, under twinkly lanterns.
Back in 2014, as the Northgate neighborhood started to transition from a commercial neighborhood into a more residential one, Ben observed that there were no neighborhood pubs nearby. With over ten years of restaurant and craft beer experience, Ben was the guy to step up and meet the need. But he wanted to rethink what a neighborhood pub could be. He ditched the idea of a dark bar with greasy fried food, and opted for a more family-friendly, fresh, and local focus.
Ben started doing weekly Farmers Market Specials as a way to get the word out about the farmers market and highlight some of the amazing local farms he was buying ingredients from. As Ben and his wife were getting ready to open Watershed, they heard about a petition that was going around to save the Lake City Farmers Market from closing. As farmers market regulars themselves, they signed the petition, and started talking to people in their community about how important the farmers market was to them. The farmers market specials quickly became a huge hit with his customers and kitchen staff alike, and they have been doing the specials every summer since.
Every market day, Ben and a few of his kitchen staff will take time after the lunch rush to head over to the market as soon as it opens and spend some time filling their wagon with ingredients and looking for inspiration. Sourcing from the farmers markets is important to Ben because he values the freshness of the ingredients, and knows that you can taste the difference when something is locally sourced. The economic impact of shopping locally and supporting the local agricultural economy is also important to him. He also appreciates the social aspect, and getting a chance to ask questions directly to the people who grow the food that he’s using.
Since starting the specials, he has built strong relationships with many vendors, and become a part of the farmers market community himself. Watershed has been providing food for Vendor Appreciation Day for the past few years. Watershed has also raised money directly for the farmers markets through their monthly fundraising event that they call “Convergence.”
Convergence is an event where Watershed partners with a local brewery and a non-profit. Watershed features 6 of the brewery’s beers and both Watershed and the brewery pledge $1 of every beer sold to go to the non-profit. “When we opened, we were pretty committed to having a greater sense of purpose,” Ben explained. Watershed also hosts trivia nights every Tuesday, and live music once a month. Ben says that he wants the restaurant to be a place for family, friends, work events, date nights, and anything else the community needs.
With the opening of the new Northgate Link station right by the restaurant, Ben has seen an increase in customers in the past few weeks. He and his staff greet them all with a smile, and welcome their guests into the Watershed community. Before the restaurant opened in 2014, Ben knew that he wanted it to be a place for people to gather. He’s worked hard to foster community, and give back while doing what he loves.
