Local Restaurant Update: Part 3

Part 3 – Something Borrowed

So now we’ve covered closing its doors at the end of October) and opening at the .)  It’s time for the next installment.

First, imagine you are the owners of offering “Creative Comfort Cuisine.”  You just opened your doors in April of this year to rave reviews.  The Weekly Volcano has included you in several of their “Best Of” lists, most recently as “Favorite South Sound Comfort Food” in their Fall Restaurant Guide.  South Sound Magazine just named you “Best New Restaurant.”  Yelp, the online customer review site, has you at 4 ½ out of 5 possible stars (from 19 reviewers,) an exceptionally high rating.  It’s still a challenge to get a dinner reservation on a weekend and there’s no sign of that letting up with the holiday season approaching.  So what do you do now?

Well, if you are the Winniford family, you don’t just sit back and bask in the adoration.  You…take on another restaurant!

The Winnifords and JW Chef Justin Goodfellow have taken over management of the restaurant at to bring us JW at Madrona.  Chef Justin has left the downtown JW in capable hands and taken on the task of revitalizing the food and atmosphere at the Madrona clubhouse restaurant.

This undertaking is a far cry from the original JW concept of upscale comfort food in an intimate, adult-only atmosphere where they offer dinner service only, 6 days a week.  At JW at Madrona, they will be tackling breakfast, lunch, and dinner, 7 days a week, in a much larger space.  They will also be attracting a more casual and family-oriented clientele.

It’s been a slow process since this was “dropped in our lap” as described to me.  Rather than a huge makeover with sudden staff and menu changes, they have been slowly transitioning the menu and retraining the staff to meet JW’s high service expectations.  This winter they hope to work on updating the interior.  Karen Winniford was the creative force behind JW Restaurant’s warm and cozy décor and I can’t wait to see what she can do with this space.

Recently, they began offering , giving it a “piano bar feel.”  They have ample space for banquets or parties.  Their deck, with its expansive view the golf course, is a divine sunny day venue for lunch and a few cold drinks.

If this was just about anyone else, I would be thinking “Whoa!  Don’t you think you are taking on too much, too soon?”  But with these folks, I have the utmost confidence that they will create another gem in the Gig Harbor restaurant scene.  Stop in soon and see the progress they are making.

Oh, and how is this borrowed?  I was hoping you had forgotten that.  It’s a stretch but since they have taken over the management, they are “borrowing” the restaurant.  Yeah, I know.  Sorry about that, it sounded better in my head!

Comments: Have you checked out JW at Madrona yet? What did you think?

Coming up:  Part 4-Something Blue