‘Hard for many restaurants.’ Another closure in downtown Tacoma
After less than two years in its first standalone restaurant, 3uilt, known for its vegan and keto options as well as raw oysters, closed permanently Jan. 1.
Under the purview of owners Anna Gonzales and her father Edward Gonzales, 3uilt (pronounced “built”) had garnered a reputation for a food menu friendly to customers with dietary restrictions, but it also was a go-to for comfort foods of fresh sandwiches and more recently biscuits, grits and hearty breakfast fare.
“We’ve loved providing something different and special in the Tacoma food scene for the past few years,” wrote Gonzales on Instagram as the new year approached, “but it’s no surprise that the past couple of years have been hard for many restaurants. Sadly, we are no different.”
She thanked patrons and staff for “helping to keep us moving in a very difficult time,” adding that the “adventurous and loyal customers ultimately gave us the drive to keep going as long as we have.”
Gonzales, who worked her way through many local restaurant kitchens through the 2010s, purchased the original 3uilt inside 7 Seas Brewing’s Tacoma taproom from Jamie Kay Jones in March 2019. (Jones also created and sold Top of Tacoma in the McKinley neighborhood.) She added 3uilt Grind, a coffee shop serving beans from Hilltop’s Manifesto, and in the fall of 2021 opened a full-service cafe at 1101 Tacoma Ave. S.
The coffee side of the business at 7 Seas never took off, in part due to the constrictions of operating inside another business — a brewery, no less. But 3uilt’s food continued to satisfy an important need, especially the ability to order a dozen Puget Sound oysters, a strange rarity considering Tacoma’s proximity to their source.
In early 2022, Gonzales closed the taproom outpost (recently replaced by The Canteen by Camp Colvos) to focus on the new brick-and-mortar, developing breakfast and lunch service. She built out the back room, which already had a bar from its days as Tower Bar & Grill, and branded it The Sage Room, serving craft cocktails on weekends and hosting events including trivia and live jazz.
Located a stone’s throw from the County-City Building and a short walk from other municipal buildings, 3uilt seemed well-suited to capture an audience in an area otherwise short on options.
In a message, Gonzales told The News Tribune the decision was “heartbreaking.”
“It really felt like we were just taking off in the new location, and I put a lot into keeping 3uilt going,” she said. “I never intended for it to close, so the decision was quite difficult.”
Unsure of what her next steps might be, she said she will need some time to recover.
3uilt’s closure is one of several recent downtown losses.
On Pacific Avenue, Hello, Cupcake closed after 15 years on Jan. 9 and the University Bookstore will shut its doors this Friday. Spaceworks Tacoma shuttered its coworking space at 1120 Pacific Ave. In Ruston, Only Oatmeal Cookies also said goodbye to its anchor unit at the Waterfront Market. On Sixth Avenue, Komadre Kombucha closed its storefront in December but will continue to sell product in stores and to local taprooms.
