Poppe’s 360 Neighborhood Pub closed for good after a New Year’s Eve celebration. The next day, after the music had ended and the champagne had been poured, crews came in to remove the bar. Demolition started on January 2, gutting the entire restaurant and outdoor seating area to make way for B-Town Kitchen & Raw Bar, expected to open in April.
The new 104-seat restaurant will be a clean, modern space with open booths and table seating, plus an enclosed booth with room for around 10 of your best VIPs in an intimate space. The refurbished, semi-enclosed outdoor seating will be complete with large fire pits sure to keep the plush patio toasty during cooler months.
“The restaurant will feel very contemporary and very natural,” shared Four Points by Sheraton Bellingham’s General Manager, John Burns.
Burns, a Seattle native, has been a hotel general manager for much of his career and was appointed General Manager by Providence Hospitality Partners, which manages Four Points by Sheraton Bellingham Hotel and Conference Center and hotels in Colorado, California and Wyoming. “This whole hotel has gone through a complete renovation over the past few years,” shared Burns. “It’s an old hotel, but it’s brand new inside.”
B-Town Kitchen & Raw Bar is the latest phase in the hotel’s transformation. The new look and feel of the space reflects the change in culinary direction toward more modern cuisine with a slight Asian twist.
A raw bar typically offers a variety of seafood and shellfish served cold. B-Town’s raw bar plans to serve raw oysters, salmon carpaccio, hamachi crudo, ahi tuna, scallops, clams, peel & eat spot prawns, crab cocktail, shrimp cocktail and more. Bento Boxes will offer combinations of tuna or salmon, poke, sashimi or carpaccio, seaweed salad, yuzo miso or ponzu sauce, and edamame. Fresh flavors featuring the Pacific Northwest’s maritime bounty are sure to keep any seafood lover satisfied.
“B-Town will be a delicious, fun, friendly restaurant in a relaxed atmosphere,” said Douglas Metzger, Director of Food and Beverages for Four Points Bellingham. “Guests can dine on our full Northwest fusion menu in the dining room or have a seat at the raw bar and watch our chefs prepare made-to-order, delicious, cold Asian-influenced tapas such as shucked oysters, clams, crudo, shrimp and ceviche, plus signature dishes crafted on our grill.”
B-Town Kitchen & Raw Bar is preparing to offer a variety of fresh, satisfying meals for lunch and dinner. Not interested in salmon carpaccio? Maybe Kushan Brewing Company IPA batter-dipped Alaskan cod, a classic Lobster roll (with Maldon sea salt butter), or grilled chicken sandwich with marinated portobello mushrooms would be more your scene. From Kobe burgers to farro salad, B-Town is sure to have an option for just about any diner.
B-Town will also be open for brunch on the weekends, serving up Metzger’s spin on classic breakfast staples with a Crab Cake Benedict, Avenue Bread French Toast, Aged Sharp Cheddar Biscuit with thyme and sausage gravy, and rich Lobster Scrambled Eggs with cream cheese, chive and hollandaise.
“We’re not just building this as a hotel restaurant,” said Burns. “It’s basically a free-standing restaurant in a hotel. It’s really more for the local community. We’ve tried to make the menu fun while keeping the price points good and we’ll have a lot of shared plates.” The bar will have TVs but Burns maintains that the space will remain welcoming no matter what. “We’re not a sports bar, but we’ll do special events like football games,” he said.
B-Town Kitchen & Raw Bar is slated to open in April. Keep an eye on the the Four Points by Sheraton Bellingham website for hours, menus and happy hour specials. In the meantime, hotel guests and community members can dine at Chinuk Restaurant in the Four Points lobby, open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. during construction.
Four Points by Sheraton Bellingham Hotel & Conference Center, managed by Providence Hospitality Partners, is a full-service property located at 714 Lakeway Drive in Bellingham, just off Interstate 5 at Exit 253. Four Points is a completely renovated facility featuring 132 guest rooms, Chinuk Restaurant, indoor pool, fitness area and 14,000 square feet of meeting-room space. For more information, call 360-671-1011 or 888-671-1011 or visit www.FourPointsBellingham.com.
