The Black Cat

Three floors up in Sycamore Square, with windows over Fairhaven and out to Bellingham Bay, the Black Cat has been raising spirits since 1987. The space had been a creperie until a fire and a scandal closed it in 1983, and when it was rebuilt it came back with a French cabaret theme and a new name, Le Chat Noir. Exposed brick and the original hardwood floors survive from that rebuild.

The kitchen cooks from scratch and is happy to say where things come from. Bread is Avenue Bread, coffee is Tony's, desserts come from Pure Bliss, shellfish from Taylor and Bornstein. The house steak still carries the old name. Nana's Pot Roast, Dungeness crab cakes and crab mac and cheese hold the middle of the menu, and there is a Fairhaven Hippie Salad because of course there is.

Cat's Alley takes the larger parties.