Meet The Owner – Bayside Cafe

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The Bayside Cafe is in transition. Begun in August of 2020 during the Pandemic, owners and partners Jasper Mosbacher and Ryan Housner have moved from a tiny space on Hewitt Avenue to a much larger location at the corner of Broadway and Wall street in downtown Everett, Washington. Today is the fifth day they’ve been open in their new digs.

For decades that location served Chinese cuisine, most recently as Tang Wong Restaurant and Lounge and prior to that The China Doll. Now you’ll find one hundred percent vegan food. But not just any vegan food, Ryan calls it Vegan Junk Food. Jasper referred to their menu as Vegan “Divey Diner” food.

“Burgers, nachos, wingz, chickun and all totally vegan,” Ryan proclaimed when we visited this week. “A lot of people who’ve never tried vegan cooking wouldn’t know.”

“People bring their parents,” added Jasper. “There are flexitarians who limit their meat intake but want to enjoy brats or burgers.”

For Jasper and Ryan starting during the Pandemic actually worked out well. They began as take out only and worked up to indoor dining. “We were first-time business owners and we were able to grow organically which was nice.” Jasper said.

One boost early on came from the Everett Area Vegans Facebook Group. The Happy Cow App which lists Vegan restaurants across the country also discovered the Bayside which helped them get going on Hewitt. Ryan says Everett and the surrounding area have a large vegan community who’ve been very supportive.

Ryan’s background has been in manufacturing and aerospace while Jasper was a general manager for Buck’s American Cafe for seven years. The pair knew they needed a bigger space when they had to turn people away from the Hewitt location during big events and concerts at the Angel of the Winds Arena. Their landlord on Hewitt is also the landlord for the Broadway space.

“It clicked when we walked in here,” said Ryan. “We wanted a spot near our home and this is close enough for us to walk.” For the last three months they’ve been working four days a week on the new space, painting every inch and making repairs and upgrades. The other three days of the week were spent running the restaurant at the Hewitt location.

Now their time is spent at Broadway working on growing the menu and adding new items. Soon that will include pizza. I asked Ryan what he’d recommend to someone who has never tried vegan food and he suggested their Ghost Chickun Sandwich or the Scorpion burger with chao cheese, sriracha aioli, jalapenos, onions, nacho cheese and salsa. He did add he likes spicy foods.

The Bayside is a work in progress transitioning from a cafe to the Bayside Diner and Lounge. They plan on having a full bar including cocktails (at Hewitt they had just beer, wine and cider), adding events like karaoke and creating a vibe that’s cool and fun. They saved the dragons on the walls (given they’ve been up for decades and are historic) but are putting their own twist on things inside.

The Bayside is currently open Wednesday through Saturday from 11:00 AM to 7:30 PM and they offer a Sunday Brunch from 11:00 AM to 3:00PM with mimosas, scrambles and what they describe as “fun hangover food” that is still one hundred percent vegan. With the larger space they can now host large parties and look forward to serving people headed to the arena.

The address is 3001 Broadway Everett, Washington 98201. The phone number is (425)297-1987. You can see the full menu at their website here.