Matt and Maren McGowan ran an award-winning restaurant for years and now they are bringing that talent to Richland.
The couple is putting their 30 years of combined experience into their new Dovetail Joint Restaurant.
After spending 2 1/2 years scouting for a location while they ran a food truck, Matt and Maren found the perfect spot at the Uptown Shopping Center.
“We love the funky cool vibe at the Uptown,” Maren said. “There are a lot of interesting shops here. It doesn’t feel like a corporate strip mall.”
The restaurant is starting with just dinner service, but plans to expand its schedule to 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday starting Nov. 29.
With a menu that includes traditional quesadillas, ricotta and spinach gnocchi and African peanut curry, Maren said its hard to classify the type of food they serve.
Fresh baked pita bread, hummus and shrimp pil pil, a spanish-style scampi dish, are some of the menu items offered at the Dovetail Joint restaurant at the Uptown Shopping Center in Richland. Watch a video at: tricityherald.com/videos Bob Brawdy Tri-City Herald
“We’re not trying to be a fine-dining fancy restaurant,” she said. “We do a lot of small plates. It means you can come in and enjoy a lot of different things.”
They call it Mediterranean style but use the broad term to include dishes from North Africa, Greece, Italy, Spain and even some Asian cuisine.
Along with their 21 other menu items, the restaurant also has pizzas prepared in a wood-fired oven from Naples.
“Matt gets bored easily,” she said. “He’s not interested in cooking the same thing day in and day out.”
They seek out local sources for their food and feature several craft beers, cider and cocktails.
The Glass Onion
The couple moved to the Tri-Cities initially as a way to expand their business from Goldendale, where they started and ran the award-winning restaurant, The Glass Onion, for nine years.
While they didn’t intend to convert a Victorian home into a restaurant, they found an opportunity after Matt lost his position at a Gorge hotel when it came under new ownership.
But the small town of Goldendale, population about 3,500, wasn’t enough to support the restaurant.
Maren and Matt McGowan recently opened the doors to their newest restaurant, Dovetail Joint restaurant at the Uptown Shopping Center in Richland. The restaurant is presently open for dinner, but plans to expand it’s schedule to 11 a.m. and 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday on Nov. 29. Watch a video at: tricityherald.com/videos Tri-City Herald file
And when they looked at the Tri-Cities about 100 miles to the northeast, they also liked the opportunities it would give their two children to pursue their artistic abilities.
The renovation at their Uptown location was much easier than the work they did converting the former house into a restaurant. They handled all the remodeling themselves.
“This restaurant is definitely a labor of love,” said Richland city officials in a social media post about the new addition. “We are so happy that they chose Richland for their location.”
And they’re already seeing success. “Last weekend, it was really, really busy,” said Maren.
Cameron Probert covers breaking news for the Tri-City Herald, where he tries to answer reader questions about why police officers and firefighters are in your neighborhood. He studied communications at Washington State University.https://mycheckout.tri-cityherald.com/subscribe?ofrgp_id=394&g2i_or_o=Event&g2i_or_p=Reporter&cid=news_cta_0.99-1mo-15.99-on-article_202404
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