Looking back at 2025, and moving forward

Hello Friends!  We’re back!

So, after some much needed rest, stretching, nourishing our minds and bodies with our own cooking we’re here, ready to tackle 2026. 2025 was a year filled with a lot of changes for us here at Off Alley, along with, a lot of changes behind the scenes for myself. I’m told it was the year of the snake, and that means we’re shedding old skins, while I’m not one to follow the stars, however this seemed a very accurate description of 2025.

We started this year with a staff of nine full time workers, and now we’re down to four and a half (part time, not half a person). Meghna was running the business with me, as my partner in business and life, and now I find myself  divorced and running the business alone. Tasting menu’s took their turn in the sun, and now they’re in the bin, among a few other changes in how we operate. I’m sure some of you have noticed I’m serving a lot more than I used to!

That’s just what happened within these 6’4” walls! There’s plenty of lovely humans who can write a lot more eloquently than I can about all the interesting happenings of 2025 in the PNW, country, or our small little blue world, so let’s look forward and onwards and what we’re getting excited for in 2026!

First, reminding everyone, Jay Blackinton of Houlme (Formerly known as Hogstone) out on Orcas Island, will be joining us January 25th, for a special Sunday collaboration dinner! We’re putting the final touches on the menu, we’ve got a few spots left, and we’re so excited to get Jay cooking in the city! If you’ve never got the chance to go, Houlme is truly an incredible experience, along with Jay was a James Beard Finalist for 2025, which is his 7th nomination.

We’ll be following a coursed out set menu format for this dinner, for 235$ per person, no service charge or tips, just taxes, as like death, it’s the one thing we can’t avoid as mere peasants.

Moving on we’re participating in the Guest Chef Dinner Night’s at Farestart, supporting one of Seattle’s most important non-profit organizations. FareStart’s free job training programs skill, reskill and upskill students so they are prepared for the career pathways of their choosing. Farestart provides whole-person support that works with students where they are, offering wraparound case management and help with basic needs including food, housing, counseling and transportation. Their end goal is personal stability and economic mobility for people overcoming barriers to employment. Now more than ever, it's so important to support incredible programs like these, or the Rainer Valley Food Bank, as they protect our most vulnerable communities.

We’re excited to not just support this organization with our yearly donations, but cooking alongside so many young and eager culinary students. A huge part of our love of what we do is education, so we’re excited to be part of a much bigger kitchen filled with young cooks.

Last of announcements, we’re trying something new this year! We’re going to be opening up on Mondays and Tuesdays for our Off-Ends Lunch!

Panda, who’s been quietly working in the mornings getting all of our large prep projects done every day, is also the one who most frequently cooks the staff their daily meal. I’ve been so impressed and pleased with what she cooks every day, alongside had numerous requests from  people as they walk by our patio in the spring/summer to join in, we’re going to offer up Panda’s weekly creations two days a week.

Starting in March, we’re going to offer two lunch options;

Pigsface Sandwich, with house baked bread, watercress, anchovy dressing and griddled sweet onions.

OR

Panda’s Off-Ends, a rotating plate of food based on whatever Panda feels like cooking that day. Think house made Chili and cornbread, Chicken rutabaga mash with collard greens, Curry fish sandwiches, or Charsu noodle stir fry. We’re throwing all our “rules” at Off Alley out the window and letting Panda take complete control over lunch, so it’s the few times we’re open you won’t be seeing me anywhere in the kitchen, alongside, I don’t know what she’ll do! What I do know, it’s gonna be fucking tasting, and you may even see me there enjoying what she cooks on a day off. More details on our upcoming lunch program will be provided as we get closer!

That said, the restaurant industry, like many industries, is still really struggling after COVID. While this is hardly news to anyone, it feels as a small business we’re in a giant trash compactor controlled by Venture Capitalist and Corporations that took advantage of small businesses as they were struggling. I built this restaurant to survive the apocalypse, which is what COVID felt like. While we survived COVID best we could, this however is something different, and seemingly intentional harm.

The canaries in the coal mines have all stopped singing, and I’m starting to wonder why no one is panicking yet. Years of working in a kitchen prevent my psyche to do so, but there’s days I question my conditioning.

We’re not going anywhere, and I’ll be renewing my lease this year, but we’ve never had an easy time. Break-ins, bathrooms rebuilds because of old pipes, ceilings flooding water, everything in between, it’s been challenging. We’re still in debt, to date we’ve never turned a profit, regardless of what people think restaurant ownership is like, it’s tough. We stay a float, nimbly making changes to help us survive year after year, and we appreciate every one of you whom been patient as things shift or change, and continue to support us year after year. We’re an independent restaurant, there’s no investors, no safety nets, just me, and a pile of debt and bricks holding all of our copper pots and restaurant together.

It's expensive in Seattle, we know, we also feel it. Operating costs have gone up for us significantly, year after year since we opened. Permit fees have sky rocketed, and we're not even touching the astronomical increase that is costs of goods. Companies we’ve worked with for years are being bought out by big business, removing competition and creating monopolies that punish us as small businesses with no bargaining power. We don’t have safety nets,  we rely on guests coming in, and supporting what we do. Without you all, we can’t exist.

So, I implore everyone who’s reading this, move intentionally. Spend your money (which in my opinion, is how we truly vote for change in this country) intentionally. Support your local bakeries, restaurants, bars, shops, what have you. Love your small owner operated business? Give them money, and gratitude, and they’ll stick around. I will say, if it wasn’t for all of lovely people who come through our door, and offer words of gratitude and kindness that often bring me to tears thinking about it, I wouldn’t still be here. You all give me the resiliency to renew my lease this year with confidence and hope. It really does make a difference. You make a difference, to all of us. Your choices impact all of us.

Now more than ever, it’s important to support your favorite local small businesses. We’ve had so many of our friends close their doors, or announcing closures happening in ‘25 and ‘26. We're losing some of the best the city has to offer, and our city suffers because of it. Seattle has always lived alongside our corporate overlords, in a semi-healthy symbiotic relationship, but it’s starting more and more to feel like we’ve inherited a parasite that is killing small independent businesses, and pushing the artists, creatives and musicians out of the city who built it in the first place.

I cannot emphasis enough how much all of your constant support, kind words, smiles and appreciation mean to us. We’re so fortunate to be here 5 years later, Off Alley has always felt like the impossible restaurant that should never have existed, and here we are, still unabashedly cooking whatever offal or unusual fish that comes to our door. We have the most amazing community of farmers and purveyors that we’re lucky enough to call colleagues, friends, and family. Our staff is like family to each other, and our favorite question from guests is often "wait, are you all ..friends?"

So here’s to another five years of offal, underappreciated sea creatures, and quirky farmers supplying us with the most lovely of eggs, vegetables, grains and fruits. We'll never compromise our integrity, our commit to small agriculture, or our care for our community. Especially our Dog regulars who come to our door daily.

We hope this new year brings you the unbridled joy of life, and we look forward to being a part of your next celebration. We wouldn’t be here without you, and we’re so incredibly grateful every time we get see your smile.