When Grill 32 opens at the Kraken Community Iceplex in Northgate on November 6, the last thing to be talked about is food. The facility is huge – about 250 seats inside, with an additional 50 outdoors – and it will be open from 11:00 to 01:00 daily in an area that usually gets dark around 21:00, which is certainly nice for rec-league players. who get off the ice anywhere from 22:30 to 23:00
For Chef Brandon Cathy (formerly of the Arctic Club and Patagon Restaurant at the Charter Hotel), the atmosphere is most appealing. “We’re going to have hockey games and Kraken training here,” he said during a press tour of the restaurant Wednesday morning, looking out over the rink as two Kraken players stepped onto the ice below, ready to practice.
The restaurant offers full views of two of the Iceplex’s three ice sheets: the Starbucks Ice Rink, where the Kraken team train four to five times a week, and the Smartsheet Ice Rink, where everyone from three-year-olds learning to ice skate to college. teams and senior leagues play.
Katie, who has already seen two of his kids try their hand at ice skating for the first time, hopes that whether you’re a parent watching over your kids or a superfan (who doesn’t have a $ 90 Depths membership. which allows you to watch the Kraken trainings from the stands), you risk walking away from the concession stand and visiting up to 32 grill bars.
However, if you can’t get away from the stands, fans can order food and soft drinks from the restaurant to the rink.
Even with the restaurant’s grand opening date approaching on November 6, the huge restaurant is still under construction and unable to escape the supply chain problems that plague almost every industry. However, when crates fill the bar, food and beverage director Ken Moriarty assures that “it all fits together.”
Most of the seating in the room consists of tables with high table tops and comfortable swivel seats, making it easy to swivel towards a large TV screen or ice. Kraken games will be broadcast on a large screen over the ice, and the ice rink will be open to the free skating program. Eventually, a 16-foot shuffleboard and a bubble hockey table (similar to foosball) will be installed for everyone who cannot sit still. There are also plenty of parking lots in the extensive stretches surrounding Northgate Station, plus light rail just steps from the Iceplex.
The bar has 1,200 pucks from hockey fans across the country. There will be eight beers on tap – a mix of local beers and artificial beers such as Oregon’s Hop Valley, as well as wine and cocktails.
The menu will consist of “good, simple and well-prepared food,” says Cathy, who is also the chef for the NHL team in Seattle. Yes, there will be some overlap with what he feeds the athletes – grassy ribeyes with chimichurri and baited king salmon – but there will also be hamburgers, pretzels with knots and putin.
“These are traditional things that we will do right, paying attention to the little details,” says Kathy.
However, it remains to be seen if food will be the biggest bait. Team practice starts at 10:30 am, so come early to see the Kraken for a small fee.
