Ancestors and comfort drive chef Kristi Brown and her son, Damon Bomar, at their Seattle restaurant.
Communion is in an invisible space . Inside a new multi - use building in the heart of Seattle ’s Central District , the psyche food for thought restaurant feels like the impulse of the community , which is what makes its name so fitting .
From the outside it feels like just another spot in a big metropolis as Seattle grows a mile a minute , but once you cross the threshold into the restaurant you could experience it — the vibes , the music , the conversation , the community , and the soul .
It was identify among 12 of the top restaurants in the world byConde Nast Travelerin 2021 . It set ashore on theNew York Timesrestaurant tilt , too . The restaurant is always abuzz , in use and booked with locals and folks from far away places longing for home .
Communion|Photo by Chona Kasinger
After all , soul foodisn’t confined by geographic boundaries . Itisn’t restricted to certain regionsor groups . It is but memory manifested into a gustation of house . The flavour of which gain you in the chest like a memory unlock .
The fare deepen with the seasons , reminiscent ofThe Edna Lewis Cookbookauthored by the eponymic Southern chef who brought someone food cookery to a wide-cut audience . Now Brown is bringing her Seattle - inflected somebody food to the prow in this corner of the country .
Find Hood Sushi , Brown ’s tongue - in - impertinence take on the ubiquitous Seattle dish . Rather than sashimi - grade fish , cornmeal - crusted and deep-fried catfish is roll with sourish remoulade , pickled veggie , and rice . The Gumbo Pho is a nod to Seattle ’s Vietnamese community and the classic soul intellectual nourishment soup , whose crab and chicken broth is summertime for two days then flavor with gumbo spices and fish sauce ; grilled okra , gingery chicken , mushrooms , and vermicelli rice noodles cosy up in a bowl that tastes of two space at once .
The bar at Communion|Photo by Chona Kasinger
“ I think that the great unwashed are thirsty for more than just solid food , they need that sense of home . Oh , my god they require it , they do n’t have no sense of it , and even if they go back home there ’s no plate there , ” says Brown , chef and co - possessor of Communion . “ food for thought is that home quad for me . ”
She launchedThat Brown Girl Cooks , her long - time catering - sports meeting - community serving and hummus side bunco , which predates Communion , year ago . It was how Brown built her fast following in Seattle . ( Do n’t get me started on her life - changing hummus . ) Naturally the black eyed pea hummus that made her a household name is on the menu atCommunion , serve up alongside roast collard green dip , zuhg , seasonal pickled vegetables and buttery hoe cake . It ’s the Blackest charcuterie circuit board , or relish tray as it says on the menu , you ’ll ever have .
“ That Brown Girl Captain James Cook ! ” is tattooed on Kristi ’s forearm — a never-ending reminder of her friend and co - worker Lamont Stovall , who came to work for her almost 17 years ago and extol that very phrase in response to Brown ’s splendid food . Lamont passed this past October . His dying challenged Brown to aggrieve a mate while simultaneously leading new ones in the fledgling eating place .
Chef Kristi Brown|Photo by Zorn B Taylor
Her tattoo is n’t the only way she honors lost loved 1 . There ’s a spot for the soul themselves : An communion table posture at the back of the eatery attractively display the ascendant that ushered chef Kristi Brown and her son , Damon Bomar , to this billet , this planing machine , these shell . “ My parents are gone , go , departed , most of the folk are locomote , I ’ve got one uncle and one old full cousin ; one in particular that ’s more like an auntie . And you sleep with It ’s just important that they have their seat at the tabular array , ” Brown says . “ I give them mickle of drink ; they are very well snuff out . ”
“ I think that people are hungry for more than just food , they need that sentiency of household . ”
I really needed to hear that for my own grief . These last few years we ’ve all experient personnel casualty as so many have depart . ( I myself now have an communion table for the first meter following my hubby and female parent ’s deaths in 2020 . It ’s take into account for me not to live at a loss so much as a transition of our family relationship . )
The altar at Communion|Photo by Chona Kasinger
Lamont does n’t sit on the Lord’s table just yet . However , his legacy is solidified on the menu : Unc ’s Fried Chicken Wings . It ’s Communion ’s ode to Thompson ’s Point of View , a Seattle institution that served Louisiana - stylus solid food since 1986 and resided next threshold until itclosed over a decennary ago , and its famousfried chicken . Those wings — and the southerly cordial reception of the eating house that serve them for years — were fabled . Seattle is n’t new to soul food , even if the Pacific Northwest urban center does n’t spring to mind when it come to this cuisine . But , like community and like the soul , it ’s something that has to be sustain and fed .
Brown and Bomar have educate something holy . A seat where diners give wampum — namely larder cornbread serve on a mini cast iron frying pan — with the past and present .
“ When he was seven I was like , ‘ What are you gon na do ? ’ He ’s like , ‘ I ’m gon na be a bartender so I can get all the girls . ’ ” I wo n’t comment on the former , but he did become a barkeep . Bomar attended Howard University then he came home to build up a food empire with his mother . Bomar oversees the spirit — on the legal profession , not the Lord’s table — where the libations are as comforting as the food .
If skillet cornbread is the glutinous Eucharist , Bomar pours sacramental spirits . The Kinfolk feature bourbon , Jamaican rum , Cynar , and toasted pecan liqueur for a smooth sipper that feels as fitting in Seattle as it would in the South . He uses Uncle Nearest Tennessee whiskey ( the level conk Nearest taught Jack Daniel how to make the brown liquor ) for a bottled former - fashioned with honey and mint . The whiskey also appear in an apple brandy cocktail that ’s refreshing and minty , too .
sacramental manduction requires a spectral interchange . The restaurant take good on its name by furnish food and drink that feed in one ’s spirit .
What sets this soul food aside — what make the Seattle - sourced ingredients and depthless soul of Brown ’s food make Communion bear out — is the space Brown has created . The medicine , the food for thought , the kin , and the proclamation at the room access : I am home . ”
