REDMOND, Wash.--(April 6, 2005)--Somewhere between the Issaquah Plateau, the buzzing Marymoor Park Velodrome, and throngs of soccer families heading to and from practice, there’s some homegrown cooking about to happen at a lively family restaurant in Redmond, called Pomegranate, opening May 11.

 

The 14,000-square-foot “fish bowl” kitchen is a chef’s dream and the brainchild of Lisa Dupar and Jonathan Zimmer of Lisa Dupar Catering. General manager Joseph Ricks, a 20-year restauarant veteran and culinary arts grad from South Seattle Community College, will oversee daily operations of the 80-seat restaurant.

 

The menu? Equal parts nourishing, comforting, fun and fast. There’s lunch, dinner, weekend breakfast and always a “show” with the kitchen action right behind a huge wall of glass windows. A wood burning oven creates “firebread,” (inventive gourmet pizza) the foundation of specialty entrees, firebread sandwiches and fire salads. Sip fun cocktails from the service bar, take advantage of value wines-by-the-glass, froth over steamy, creamy libations or choose from the outstanding wine list (and let the kids slurp on kiddie mocktails or Italian sodas).

 

The symbolism behind the Pomegranate name is “many worlds coming together as one.” The menu brings together an ever-evolving collaboration of the staff’s family favorites and offers small plates, sides, large plates, sweet things, and weekend brunch.

 

From the many small plates, try the savory Morel mushroom and spinach pie with tomato thyme sauce; sushi ‘tacos’ (with Nori squares, rice, avocado, Dungeness crab, cucumber, flying fish eggs, hamachi, ginger and wasabi) or the spring asparagus and hard sauce with chopped eggs.

 

Large plates please appetites for the unconventional, such as chicken soup bowl with noodles, bok choy, sprouts and thai basil with lime; sopes filled with pulled chicken, queso fresco, salsa, guacamole and lime sour cream; grilled pomegranate molasses pork chops with Yakima asparagus and basic mashers; and pine nut crusted halibut with lemon semolina gnocchi; and celeriac lasagna with crispy shallot parsley salad.

 

Weekend brunch is a ritual in its own right, with plates such as fried green tomato benedict; stack of lemon candied ginger oatcakes with maple syrup; seared wild salmon, spinach, scrambled eggs with crisp potatoes; and smaller plates such as berries with honeycomb, vanilla fromage blanc, and biscotti.

 

Dessert will soothe your inner sweet tooth with Key West lime pie, chocolate pudding with orange cream, strawberry rhubarb crisp with buttermilk ice cream, and chai tea crème brulee, and many more “sweet things.”

 

Pomegranate is comfort in and out. Cozy up near the fireplace. Sit among rustic wood tables or mingle at the long Indonesian community table. A cluster of print, oil cloth-covered tables plays on the room’s casual appeal. Pomegranate and pineapple paintings hang on the sage and pomegranate-colored walls. Exposed ceiling beams and chandeliers loom overhead. The setting, like the menu, is decidedly approachable, original and eclectic. The catering prep for Lisa Dupar’s lavish Eastside parties still takes place from this kitchen, too, so party prepping and the restaurant buzz keep the action lively.

 

Can’t dine in? A nestled grab-and-go counter, open weekdays from 7 to 11 a.m., offers a daily breakfast sandwich, anytime bakery-fresh breads, pastries, an espresso bar and more.

 

Find Pomegranate at 18005 NE 68th Street, #A150 in Redmond, hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Ample lot parking available. For more information contact (425) 881-3250 or learn more online at http://www.lisaduparcatering.com.