The Kitchen

Eating out on Orcas Island can be a pretty pricey pastime. I’d rather wear used clothes, eat at home, and save the money for traveling. The rare times we do eat out that aren’t birthdays or anniversaries, we choose places that are tasty, healthy, filling, and moderately affordable.

The Kitchen satisfies all four criteria. Dishes – Asian starters, basic plates, soup bowls, wraps, and salads – are made with garden-fresh, often-local ingredients. Each order is made from scratch while you wait, which takes about 20 minutes in quiet times and up to 45 minutes in the peak summer season (you can call in orders ahead of time to 376-6958).

Here’s a little jaunt to The Kitchen on a quiet, gray day when we had it almost all to ourselves.

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Hours are 11-4 PM on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. At all other times, they are busy catering.

Here is what they serve:

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Here’s a statement from their website:

Our Philosophy

Established in 1998 on Orcas Island, The Kitchen’s priority is to support family, friends, our community and the local food economy. Owners and Co-Chefs Charles Dalton and Jasmine Townsend buy from local producers, purchase organic ingredients, make it here on Orcas, and keep it simple and fresh.

And because we want you to be able to find healthy, fresh food handmade to your unique needs, we offer gluten-free and a full range of dietary-sensitive options.

We support cottage industries and access ingredients from local farmers, fishermen and vendors who help us connect with organic farmers and whole food manufacturers throughout the Northwest and beyond.

We strive to reduce our environmental impact and to close the loop. We recycle and compost almost everything including all of our paper goods and wooden utensils. We’ve banished bottles and cans and now make our own soda water. Food waste is fed to the pigs at a neighboring farm, helping to raise the same locally pastured pork that ultimately will be served with spicy Szechuan sauce. Incredibly this leaves us with just one household-size garbage can of “no hope” waste per week to send to our transfer station, even during peak season.

In fact, the Orcas Island Chamber of Commerce praised our sustainable practices by recognizing The Kitchen with its Environmental Excellence Award.

Our business community includes:

Black Dog Farm
Blue Moon Produce
Boulder Haven Farm
Dickerson Distributors
Doe Bay Wine Company
Dog Island Mushrooms
Island Hoppin’ Brewery
Island Market
Maple Rock Farm
Mekong Grocery
Meyer’s Creamery
Mikuni Wild Harvest
Morning Star Farm
Office Cupboard
Orcas Farm
Orcas Food Co-op
Peace & Plenty Flower Farm
Puget Sound Food Hub
San Juan Transport
Sysco
UNFI
West Beach Farm

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