Cascadia Grill

Jef Dukes and Julia Guarino met in 1999 as servers at the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone, worked in several restaurants together, and now run their own on Fourth Avenue in downtown Olympia. Jef writes every recipe, Julia does the desserts, and Jef's brother Joseph brings, in the restaurant's own words, his flavor and his sense of humor to the mix.

They call it a Northwest brasserie, and the menu celebrates the food, wine and craft beer of the region with a full vegan and vegetarian menu alongside the main one, a beer, wine, cocktail and mocktail list, a kids menu and a dessert menu. The room celebrates the region too. The Cascadia flag hangs with Bigfoot and chainsaw art, and the walls carry more than a thousand framed photographs of Pacific Northwest notables.

In March 2020 the two of them opened JuJu's Iced Cream and Frozen Custard five doors west, so dessert can be a short walk. Cascadia Grill is open daily from noon, until eight Sunday through Thursday and nine on Friday and Saturday, with in house dining, sidewalk tables and carryout.