Business Community
The Midway aims to create hub of cuisine and community in downtown Gig Harbor
The junction of Pioneer Way and Harborview Drive in downtown Gig Harbor is rich with the ghosts of restaurants past, including the Harbor Inn, W.B. Scott’s, Spiro’s Pizza and Pasta and even (as locals in their 50s and older will vividly remember) Pogey Bait ice cream parlor. But since the Bella Femmina Italian restaurant closed there more than two years ago, this intersection — arguably the hub of downtown — has experienced an eatery dry spell.
That is about to change with the addition of The Midway, a bakery/deli/market with “an Italian deli vibe, a European vibe” that is the brainchild of Gig Harbor native Trish Huff. The new venture will take over the space at 3118 Harborview Drive vacated by Heritage Distilling’s flagship tasting room last year.
Huff already owns and runs Morso Bistro, a popular wine bar, restaurant and wine shop overlooking the harbor in the city’s Finholm District. At The Midway, she is partnering with her brother, Nick Hosea, an accomplished chef who will return to Gig Harbor from his current post in Barcelona to help steer the new venture.
Trish Huff and her brother, Nick Hosea, are partners in a new European-style cafe/deli/market that will open this summer at the intersection of Pioneer Way and Harborview Drive. Nick Hosea will relocate to Gig Harbor from Barcelona. This photo, courtesy of Trish Huff, was taken in Costa Brava, Spain.
Different times, different vibes
Morso will continue to operate on its current track while Midway delivers a different kind of spark, Huff said.
“I’m looking for a bustling, high-energy environment,” she said. “I want to cater to all ages,” from kids stopping by for a snack after school to business meetings and lunches, tourists’ and vacationers’ pit stops, after-work get-togethers, and regulars coming into Midway in the morning to have a cup of coffee and read the news.
The business will start the day as “bakery [and] classic European espresso bar, and lunch-forward deli offering fresh breads, pastries, sandwiches, soups and salads made daily, along with an assortment of cookies, cakes and other sweet treats,” according to Huff’s news release announcing Midway.
Later in the day, she envisions the vibe shifting “into an inviting afternoon and early evening atmosphere with simple bites” and both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, “encouraging guests to slow down, stay awhile, and connect.”
Midway will offer a “small but curated selection” of local beers and wines to be consumed on- or off-premises. It will provide draft beer and wine by the glass (and also in cans and bottles), but will not sell hard liquor.
A market, too
The “market” part of The Midway will focus on comestibles, including baked goods, ready-to-eat food, and drinks. It will stock some artisanal and/or gourmet items — likely including fresh pasta and locally produced jams, honey and olive oil — and some arts and crafts items such as candles from local makers, Huff said. Grocery items will consist of “grab-and-go treats, picnic essentials, and thoughtfully selected items to enjoy at home or on the go.”
The new eatery’s name comes from the Midway School, an old wooden schoolhouse that stood in the Gig Harbor Peninsula’s Midway neighborhood, which centers along 38th Avenue south of 56th Street. Huff grew up nearby.
The Midway, a bakery/deli/market, will open this summer in the building recently vacated by Heritage Distilling at the corner of Harborview and Pioneer. Photo by Vince Dice
Naming the new business after a school honors her late mother, who taught at Tacoma’s Wilson High School (now called Silas High School), among other places, Huff said. “She was a home economics teacher, so food was always a big part of her family.” Her father, now retired, was a banker and bank lobbyist in Gig Harbor.
(The schoolhouse itself is now restored and displayed at the Harbor History Museum as part of the Midway School Experience, “an opportunity for school groups to step back in time, learn local history, and relive schoolhouse life at the turn of the century.”)
A family that cooks together
Huff and her brother both attended culinary school in Seattle, and Nick also became co-owner of Glo’s Diner in that city. From there, Trish moved into restaurant management and wine sales, becoming a sommelier and managing a top Washington, D.C., wine bar. Nick honed his skills in the kitchens of top dining spots in Seattle, New York and Europe, including at Nobu and at Bobby Flay’s Spanish-inspired Bolo and at his Mesa Grill, where he ran the pastry kitchen for several years.
Nick Hosea will arrive in Gig Harbor in March. Currently he is moving The Midway project forward by focusing on menu and recipe development, Huff said. The Midway is expected to open this summer, she said.
The Midway won’t dramatically change the streetscape around Pioneer and Harborview. Other than replacing Heritage Distilling’s sign with The Midway’s, “I’m not changing anything important to the exterior of the building,” Huff said, calling the existing brick façade with sleek black metal trim “really cool.”
Landlord had options
The Midway concept faced competition in landing that spot, according to Jannae Mitton, who owns the property with her mother, Joan. Mitton said she learned about Heritage Distilling’s plan to close its shop there when news stories about the closing appeared last October.
“I had, for the next two weeks, multiple, multiple people interested in it,” Mitton said. “There was lots of excitement.”
Some 10 would-be lessees wound up presenting their business concepts, including a martini bar, several wine businesses with tasting rooms, and a coffee shop, Mitton said.
The competition narrowed to three strong contenders, including The Midway. Mitton said she wanted to know a prospective tenant “can run a business and be successful” — a box that Huff’s application easily ticked, with the bustling Morso wine bar and restaurant just down the bay — but that her choice “ultimately came down to, what was going to be the best” for downtown Gig Harbor.
Filling a void
Mitton liked Huff’s idea of bringing a warm, community-centered gathering place targeting multiple demographics. She noted that such a hub once existed a short walk up Pioneer Way at the Harbor General Store, a gathering place that served ready-to-go coffee, snacks, beer and wine, as well as breakfast and lunch dishes.
The Mittons owned the building at 7804 Pioneer Way that later became home to Harbor General Store, but sold it in 2013. The store closed unexpectedly in 2023 after almost eight years in business, sparking regrets on the part of many in the downtown community over the loss of a gathering place. The building is now home to a Commencement Bank branch.
Mitton, landlord for The Midway and for several other nearby commercial properties, said she thinks The Midway is “really going to fill a void” created by the lack of such a community hub in the area.