Opens tentatively mid-November, to be announced
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday-Monday, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Where: 210 W. Washington Street, Sequim
New York style pizza, fresh Italian dishes and a full-service bar are just a few aspects of the new restaurant Tedesco’s Italian Fresh that owners Eric and Christina Thomson and their son Dustin Miller are bringing to Sequim’s palettes.
“We’re super excited about being a part of the community,” Eric said.
The new restaurant at 210 W. Washington Street is open from 11:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m. Thursday-Monday and closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It offers a lunch and dinner menu as well as a children’s menu.
“Our menu is nice and fresh but conservative,” Eric said.
“We want to add a little modernism to some of the more traditional Italian dishes.”
He said the new eatery is an Italian restaurant first but also offers New York style pizza.
“The whole thing started because we wanted good pizza,” Eric said.
“We were really missing good pizza after moving up here.”
The Thomsons moved up to Sequim about a year-and-a-half ago from California to be closer to family that live in town.
This isn’t their first venture into opening their own restaurant. They owned a restaurant in Meadow Valley, Calif., called Christina’s American Bistro that they owned for a year-and-a-half before selling it in 2016.
Eric, Christina and Dustin all have experience working in the restaurant business but this is the first time they will work together as a family.
Eric went to chef school for the American Culinary Federation apprenticeship in Salt Lake City at the Hotel Utah and also worked as a sous chef at the Pebble Beach Resorts in California.
He also has experience working in Italian restaurants for many years and has done international cooking. Christina was a server for many years and Dustin also has several years of experience as a bartender in Seattle.
The restaurant
Tedesco’s Italian Fresh now resides where the old D & L Grocery was located but has been revamped for a completely new look.
The owners said one of the highlights of the new restaurant is the 14-foot community table.
“It’s really a lot of fun,” Eric said.
“It’s just like regular dining but you get to know your neighbor.”
The community table — a long, glossy table made of African hardwood — will be bar height and sit in the middle of the restaurant. The Thomsons first experienced this kind of dining in Maui and decided they wanted to try it at their new business.
“It’s a unique feature for Sequim for sure,” Eric said.
In addition to the community table, there will be about 50 seats in the restaurant including a semi-private dining area for birthdays, business meetings and parties and outdoor patio seating in the summer months with weather permitting.
Eric said so far the total occupancy holds about 75-80 people.
The new venue also features a mix of local, personal and Italian decor.
The owners are excited to show some archives of early Sequim portraits such as old photos of the City’s first cafe and bar along with what Eric calls “funky Italian decor” and his landscape photography of the Olympic Peninsula.
“It will be a little bit of everything,” Eric said.
The restaurant also shows the PAC-12 network such as Husky and Cougar games, Seattle Seahawks games and Monday Night Football.
The menu
Tedesco’s offers a lunch menu that will serve items such as pasta, salad, pizza, and sandwiches while the dinner menu will focus more on entrees.
Eric said a lot of good Italian food is very simple and different from the way it is served in America.
“A lot of the dishes in Italy are different from here; there’s no Alfredo or cream,” he said.
“There will be Americanized versions of a couple of items but we’re going to try and do more traditional Italian food.”
The owners also are excited to serve Sequim New York style pizza, which is all about the dough, pizza and cheese, Eric said.
“You’re supposed to be able to pick it up with your hands, fold it, have just a little bend to it, a crispy bottom and fairly thin crust,” Eric said.
He said the restaurant will grate their own whole milk mozzarella, make their own sauce and dough in-house.
Eric also said the restaurant will enjoy offering a variety of fish selections. He said the selections at their previous restaurant were some of the most popular items.
“That will probably be another interesting item for everyone,” Eric said.
“If you’re going to bend the rules, that’s the place to do it.”
Most of all, the new owners are excited to be a part of the Sequim community.
“We really want to serve the community.We’re here for them,” Eric said.
The prices and items on the menu are subject to change and the owners said they have filled all the restaurant positions for now but interested individuals can submit a resume at info@tedescosfresh.com.
To view the menus, visit the restaurant’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/italiansequim/.
