Chilaquiles (Contributed by 3 Howls Remedy House)Photo Gallery
I recently noticed a peculiar sight on Main Street. The sprawling house that formerly housed Casa Grande, Mint Tea and Pho Haven was painted black. This gothic vision brought some thoughts to mind. Is it Halloween? Has Mary Shelley opened a coffee shop?
Brandon Rush, who owns Thirsty Sasquatch and Hungry Sasquatch, is the man behind this mysterious transformation. Rush wanted a space to serve spirits from his Battle Ground based distillery, 3 Howls. When another spot in downtown Vancouver didn’t work out, he was drawn to the house at 2014 Main St.
“I was already obsessed with this building my whole life so when it came up for sale I went all in,” said Rush, who attended nearby Vancouver School for Arts and Academics as a kid.
Rush envisioned an all-day hangout with a coffee bar, cocktail bar, plant-based kitchen and ample room to prepare, bake and deliver the massive pizzas he sells at the Hungry Sasquatch. He relied on delivery apps for his pizza business, but they take a percentage of sales and their drivers’ cars didn’t always have space for enormous pizza boxes and bags large enough to keep them warm.
For those who visited Pho Haven or Mint Tea, the transformation will be stunning. Walls and surfaces are black. Celestial lighting fixtures bob along the ceiling. A black vegan leather couch bends around the edges of the room. On street level, there’s a cocktail bar and a coffee bar. Upstairs are a series of cozy alcoves to hang out and listen to music streaming from the speaker system that fills the building. Rush describes his style as Victorian gothic with modern elements. I felt like I had been teleported into a speakeasy run by Jack Skellington from the 1993 film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
Rush and 3 Howls head distiller Wes Rhoe studied distilling at the Siebel Institute in Chicago and the Institute of Brewing & Distilling in the United Kingdom. Rush then learned more about the trade from John Vissotzky, the former owner of Battle Ground distillery Double V (which Rush has also acquired). Distilling is just one of Rush’s many interests. He’s also been a journeyman farrier and a musician. He currently owns a guitar pedal company in Portland called Catalinbread. 3 Howls Remedy House ties together his interests in distilling, music and creating an environment and lifestyle.
In addition to 3 Howls spirits, the bar has 16 beer taps, a Spaceman margarita machine and eight taps for housemade draft cocktails. Rush and his team are currently researching beans for the coffee bar. They plan on offering multiple single origin coffees from places like Coava, Heart, Terrain and Relevant.
Chef D’Marius Johnson, chef and co-owner of vegan food cart Scratch Breakfast, will run the kitchen. Johnson spent four months developing a crave-worthy plant-based menu with starters such as cauliflower wings and beet hummus, mains such as the house burger and spicy bucatini and meatballs, as well as brunch items including biscuits and gravy, Chick’n and black waffles, chilaquiles and huge cinnamon rolls.
In the process of renovating the building, some interesting things were found in the walls: letters, old photos, an empty whiskey bottle and a fully intact bird. It’s as if the house’s departed residents were welcoming this new business and toasting its otherworldly beauty.
3 howls remedy house
Where: 2014 Main St., Vancouver.
When: Grand opening 8 a.m. to midnight Saturday; brunch until 2 p.m.; 21 and older only after 9 p.m.
