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Jun 17, 2023

Eight Row: A US restaurant that celebrates sobriety

When the crab butter with ancho chilli and sea salt was placed on the table, it conjured images of a burnt orange sunset over Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean located along the north-western

When the crab butter with ancho chilli and sea salt was placed on the table, it conjured images of a burnt orange sunset over Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean located along the north-western coast of the US state of Washington. The butter, with its briny sweetness, was slathered on pillowy sourdough bolillo (a Mexican bread similar to a baguette) made from the 100-year-old starter of chef and owner David Nichols' grandfather.

Even after I put the roll down, the butter's perfume lingered in the air, as if the slow simmering pot of crab stock from which it was made was right beside me. The moment was enhanced by a glass of Joyus non-alcoholic (NA) sparkling white wine – pleasantly dry, with notes of tart apple on the finish.

Next came an impeccably balanced NA cocktail made with an Amaretto alternative called Lyre's Amaretti, ginger and lemongrass-infused Seedlip Grove 42 and homemade lemon-and-banana vinegar – a drink enhanced exponentially by a dish of sunchoke confit so tender it melted on the fork. The confit was crowned with a banana vinegar caramel, masterfully mirroring the cocktail's most impressive ingredient.

If anyone had asked if I thought something was missing from my drinks, I certainly wouldn't have guessed it was the alcohol. This was, of course, a detail created by design. At Eight Row – named for the largest cherry size on a standard measuring guide for the fruit – intentionality is written on the menu and displayed everywhere you look. At the bar, beer taps are made from repurposed pruning shears, and an expansive collection of non-alcoholic wine and spirits is displayed alongside mainstream alcohol brands. The vegetable-forward menu reads like a love letter to the bounty of the Pacific Northwest, with much of the restaurant's produce sourced from Nichols' family farm and orchard along the Wenatchee River, just two hours east of Seattle.

But what isn't on the menu is Nichols' four years of sobriety. His wife and general manager, Kate Willman Nichols, has been sober for 10 years. Their lead bartender, Anthony Spruill, has been sober two years.

Non-alcoholic cocktails include NA spirits, homemade syrups and garnishes (Credit: Stefanie Ellis)

Alcoholism isn't a topic that restaurateurs have historically acknowledged, let alone shared openly with their customers, which makes the environment the duo has cultivated all the more impactful. Though Nichols' food has been getting recognition – he was a semi-finalist for Best Chef Northwest and Pacific in this year's James Beard Foundation Awards – his openness about his personal journey has made his restaurant more than just a place to eat. It has become a safe space for those looking for a place to belong.

Nichols owns Eight Row with his brother, Ian, who lives in London but visits Seattle several times a year to harvest cherries and spend time at the restaurant. Ian crafts the wine list via Zoom each week, alongside in-house beverage manager and sommelier Janice DeWitt. And while Nichols says he and his brother have a strong partnership, he admits it took a lot of time to get to where they are today.

"Ian was always fascinated with food, wine and hospitality, and we ate out a lot when we lived together in New York," recalled Nichols. "But he hated living with me at the time. He'd lock himself in his room because he knew I was going to get drunk."

The first time Nichols went to rehab, his brother and other family members had staged an intervention. He was working for famed New York restaurateur and chef Mark Murphy, who paid for him to attend an outpatient programme.

"I wasn't ready to get sober," Nichols admitted. "I didn't do step work or call my sponsor. I lied to my therapist. I thought I could have a beer and wouldn't get screwed up. Then a bottle of whiskey is gone, then a bag of cocaine, then [I'm on] a bender for two months. I knew if I wanted to open a restaurant, live until I'm 40, have a relationship… I had to stop drinking."

He credits his involvement with Ben's Friends, an addiction and substance abuse support group for those in the food and beverage industry, as the start of his life in recovery. He and Willman Nichols are co-founders of the Seattle chapter and host weekly in-person meetings at Eight Row, along with a Zoom option, where anyone across the world can join in fellowship.

After one of those meetings, when the restaurant was closed, Willman Nichols brought out three NA cocktails for me to try alongside a large tray filled with NA spirits, homemade syrups and garnishes. "This is what it took to make these drinks," she said. "This is not soda and flavoured juice. It takes just as much effort to make these as our cocktails, and they're the same price."

The craftmanship was evident in the garnet-hued cocktail, Envy, whose slightly sweet and tannic notes reminded me of a Negroni, with warm spices and bitter botanicals lingering on the back of the palate. The drink was made from a combination of small-batch NA spirits, like Wilderton Earthen, Giffard Aperitif, Pathfinder and Kentucky 74 whiskey.

Eight Row owners David and Kate Nichols have a combined fourteen years of sobriety (Credit: Eight Row)

An elevated dining experience that gives zero-proof cocktails the same attention as their alcohol-infused counterparts is not yet the norm across the US. And though the global market value of no- and low-alcohol products topped £8.5 billion ($11 billion) in sales in 2022, the restaurant and bar industry in the US has far to go to become inclusive with its offerings. Eight Row is a strong model for what the future could look like, with a dozen options available between their full-sized NA cocktail menu and the curated drinks that come with the chef's tasting menu, which change weekly.

The NA margarita – made with Lyre's Agave Blanco, Seedlip Garden 108, tomatillo syrup and lime – was perfect with a Dungeness crab pozole (a fiery stew made with tender, processed corn known as hominy) – whose glistening red broth came from a preponderance of chillies. The cocktail extinguished the flames on my tongue in the way only a good margarita can.

"We knew if our NA cocktails were going to be against our other cocktails, they needed to look the same and be made the same way – with real spirits and seasonal elements," Willman Nichols said. "When we opened, only a few spirits were available. But now, there's a new product every month. One of our bartenders was making NA cocktails at such a pace, she rearranged the back shelves to have the bottles closer. Now they're within arm's reach, as close as the well spirits [bottles of the most frequently used liquor within very easy reach behind a bar]."

One of the bottles being served at tables all night was Joyus, the sparkling white I'd tried at the beginning of my meal. Seattle-based founder Jess Selander, who has been sober 17 years, approached the duo with her wine after reading an article where they spoke openly about their goals for the sober community in the food and hospitality industry.

"I don't think people realise how powerful it is to go to a restaurant and see non-alcoholic wine on a menu," she said. "As a sober person, you feel seen and included. David and Kate are changing industry culture."

Nichols is happy when he gets positive feedback from friends and customers because it means his vision of providing an inclusive space has come to pass.

"This restaurant is different for every person who walks in here, and we like that," he said. "Creating an environment where people can feel comfortable is more important than making money. For us, this is something bigger."

A few years ago, if you told Nichols and Willman Nichols that as two sober people in an alcohol-dominated industry, they'd open a restaurant where they faced and openly discussed their demons – all while being nominated for prestigious awards and supporting a new recovery movement across the country – they might have thought it all outlandish.

But now it's just more reason to keep going.

Just as much effort goes into making an NA cocktail as a standard one (Credit: Eight Row)

"The fact that I am an alcoholic makes me passionate about the work we're doing," Willman Nichols said. "And if someone sees our NA cocktails and it helps them feel like they belong, then I feel we have done something."

Nichols says the restaurant has become part of his recovery. "If it was gone, I'd still be in recovery, but it takes everyone to make this thing work," he said. "For restaurants – and sobriety – you can't do it alone. You need to ask for help. There are tough days, but we have to talk about it. We need to talk about mental health. I often hear people say the restaurant industry needs to change, and I disagree. The people running the restaurant industry need to change."

BBC.com's World's Table "smashes the kitchen ceiling" by changing the way the world thinks about food, through the past, present and future.

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