This Rainshadow is extending to the north.
A popular eatery and hang-out near the heart of downtown Sequim, Rainshadow Café has added a second location — Rainshadow on Fifth Avenue, at 840 N. Sequim Ave. — to offer its coffee, breakfast dishes and other delicacies.
Owner Dominique Hall said she’d been looking in earnest for about the past two-and-a-half years to expand the business from Rainshadow’s single location at 157 W. Cedar St.
“We were definitely looking,” she said, and in particular to be able to offer a drive-thru option. Unfortunately, none of the properties available seemed to jive with her numbers.
However, in March of this year, an employee noticed the commercial space at Olympic Medical Center’s Medical Service Building & Walk-In Clinic — a space that was home for several years to Kathryn Kitts’ popular The Sweet Beginning eatery — was available.
It didn’t take long for Hall, who was impressed with the following Kitts had at the location, to snap up the venue.
“We just jumped on it,” she said.
Hall, who’s owned Rainshadow Café for the past six years, said she and staff were planning to open the Rainshadow on Fifth Avenue on June 1 but wound up with a soft opening a week prior, just two months after agreeing to a deal with Olympic Medical Center.
“Working with OMC has been absolutely fantastic,” Hall said.
Rainshadow staffers are being cross-trained so they can work shifts at both locations, she said.
Hall said about 75 percent of Rainshadow’s customers are regulars — “everybody knows my staff by name,” she said — so already her crew is being recognized at the new venue.
Though she’s added some key pieces of equipment, the eatery at OMC’s building will keep much of the same feel The Sweet Beginning had, with a half-dozen tables for café-style seating and a chalkboard detailing the Rainshadow menu.
“It’ll look familiar,” Hall said.
The menu
Much of the Rainshadow’s culinary treats cross over to the Fifth Avenue location, but Hall said she’s redesigned the menu to include offerings more friendly to the hospital staff: tasty, healthy and affordable. She said she made sure the Rainshadow on Fifth Avenue has plenty of pre-packaged to-go options for OMC staff and anyone walking in off the street.
Breakfast is available all day, with items baked at the West Cedar Street location in the morning before being sent north. A selection of Rainshadow coffee bags are for sale and a grinder is on-site.
The breakfast menu includes savory treats such as the breakfast burrito, frittata (bacon or veggie), egg sandwich — which includes an egg patty, slice of tomato, and a slice of havarti and remoulade — and bagel cream cheese or butter of with lox and accoutrements.
The lunch menu includes a chicken pesto panini, tuna melt, TBA (turkey, bacon, avocado, accompanied by Havarti cheese and chipotle mayo), grilled cheese sandwich and a caprese bagel that boasts mozzarella cheese, tomato, basil and a balsamic glaze.
Rainshadow also offers a variety of wraps — chicken pesto, tuna, turkey cranberry and Italian ham — and a soup-of-the-day.
Of course, there are plenty of made-to-order and drink options, including espresso, Americano, cappuccino, mocha, breve, hot chocolate, cold brew, Italian soda, tea, London Fog, chai latte and golden chai drinks, among others.
Hall said staff can help customers looking for familiar items from the West Cedar Street café at the new location; they can essentially order “off menu” for those items.
She said customers can call in orders (360-582-4175) for those looking to pick up an item after an appointment at one of the many medical offices on North Fifth Avenue.
Hours are 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday, and closed on major holidays that closely align with OMC’s holiday closure schedule, Hall said.
Rainshadow on Fifth Avenue
Where: 840 N. Sequim Ave. (inside Olympic Medical Center’s Medical Service Building)
Hours: 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday
Phone: 360-582-4175
Contact: therainshadowcafe@gmail.com
More info: rainshadowcafe.com
Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell Rainshadow Cafe owner Dominique Hall makes a drink for a customer while staffer Emily Klein works the register at the business’ new location, Rainshadow at Fifth Avenue, located inside the Olympic Medical Center Medical Service Building.
