In just 3 years, corner bar became a neighborhood favorite. New owners vow to carry on
Thirsty Hound Drinkery opened at perhaps the worst possible time, but three years after that fateful February, the intrepid owners have sold their successful business to close friends who intend to retain its charming tenor, tap list and Thai-inspired pub food.
After months of searching for new proprietors, including a couple of near-deals, Zaneta and Steve McKee took over the bar — which made TNT Diner’s best new restaurant list of 2020 and 2021 — from Malaty Lim and Rik Filion on March 1.
What will change?
“We’re not going to change anything,” said Steve McKee, a woodworker specializing in custom fireplaces and mantels now at the bar daily. “You know, it works!”
The sale was not a surprise to Thirsty Hound’s loyal regulars, who have flocked to this corner since 2020.
Having worked in restaurants since she was a teenager, Lim had long desired to own her own place. With the help of her husband-turned-beer buyer, she was able to do just that despite her second, and this time metastatic, breast cancer diagnosis.
Sharing regular updates on social media of current beers and weekly food specials — from coconut curry ramen to larb na, spicy tuna tartare to house fried rice — Filion announced their intent to sell last year. It was just becoming too much for Lim, who regularly undergoes treatments and surgeries. Last December, he explained that her prognosis had taken a difficult turn.
“If she wasn’t sick, we would never consider selling, but we decided it would be best for her to focus on her health,” he said by email. “It has been an amazing experience, and not often does someone get to experience their life dream like she has in owning her very own bar.”
As I wrote in 2021, they created the kind of neighborhood pub we all wish were down the street, with an ever-changing selection of regional beers (often consumed by some of Tacoma’s local brewers, according to Filion), uber-friendly service and a kitchen that churns out more than burgers and fries.
In fact, there is no deep-fryer. You won’t miss it when you bite into the clever jalapeno poppers, baked with a potato-chip crumb, or a cup of Lim’s tom kha gai — available only on Friday and Saturday. Her Thai heritage and experience working at restaurants up and down the West Coast inspired the concise, personal menu, where nothing is over $16: shrimp ceviche, Thai chicken flatbread, the Phuket chicken burger with peanut sauce and caramelized onions, enchiladas verde, a deconstructed musubi.
Neither cancer nor COVID-19 could stop Tacoma bar from becoming a great restaurant, too
The McKees have been training under Lim and Filion for several weeks. Closely guarded recipes have been shared, their new keepers vowed to secrecy.
The staff, which includes Lim’s sister Stephanie Keov in the kitchen, will otherwise will stay the same.
For the new proprietors, that assurance and the remarkable constancy of Thirsty Hound regulars dimmed the risks of buying a bar in 2023.
“Their customers are so loyal and so sweet,” said Zaneta McKee in a phone call. “They were all hoping for a situation where it would kind of stay in the family.”
She met Lim many years ago when she lived across the street from one of Lim’s sisters. They randomly connected in California, and, when Lim moved back to Washington, their “friendship just grew very quickly.”
McKee watched as her friend tried to sell the business, dropping the price, and though the full-time nurse had no experience in hospitality, “I just had this urge to want to help,” she recalled.
Lim, who will have more time to focus on her health and other hobbies, promised to stay “until you tell me to get out of your bar!” said McKee, who was able to scale down her hours at both of her nursing jobs, which she juggles with taking care of her mother, and convince her husband to join the ride. “Everything that we needed to happen to make it fall into place, fell into place. I never dreamed that I would be taking on something like this, and that we would be business owners.”
The bar will retain its approachable living-room aesthetic: gray walls, black-and-white photos, dark wood, bistro lights, a lounge area in a back nook. The menu, which also includes shrimp tacos, a few salads, Hawaiian sliders and pulled pork nachos, will also stick around. The McKees will continue to post specials on Instagram every Wednesday.
One planned upgrade: a slim bar-top for the railing, between the stools and dining room, to rest your drink while you wait for a table — not uncommon on busy weekend nights.
THIRSTY HOUND DRINKERY
▪ 1905 Bridgeport Way W, University Place, 253-302-5606, thirstyhounddrinkery.com
▪ Wednesday-Saturday 4 p.m.-close (midnight or later on weekends)
▪ Details: Thai and Hawaiian-inspired bar food, $9.95-$15.95; local beer, cocktails homemade dessert; follow instagram.com/thirstyhounddrinkery for daily specials
