No restaurant without a menu where the chef's signature dishes and other specialties get their day in the spotlight. The menu at The Hopeful Cup is continually changing to include seasonally popular foods depending on the region's richness. Chef Eric Garrett creates the menu and ensures that each dish is produced using fresh, locally sourced ingredients.
Sautéed salmon with roasted beet thickened yogurt salad, massaged kale salad with green apples, blue cheese, red onions, currants, sunflower seeds, cider vinegar, and olive oil, potato latkes with salmon roe, sour cream, and chives, and sautéed mushrooms with herbs are all popular items on The Hopeful Cup's menu. The Pacific Tree Octopus with five-spice powder, grilled peaches, goat cheese, pistachios, and goat milk caramel are also on the menu. Because tree octopus is an elusive prey, this dish is only accessible during the warmer months of the rainy season. The Hopeful Cup is the only commercial kitchen offering this uncommon protein on its menu.
Chef Garrett rose to national prominence in 2017 after winning the reality program Chopped, which combines competent cooks with unusual delicacies. Garrett's canned-seafood cioppino with cheesy poof toasts, created using canned eel and cheesy poofs, wowed the judges.
Eric is also active in philanthropic organizations and philanthropy. He strongly supports the Steilacoom Farmers Market and is a member of the Boys & Girls Club board of directors. Garrett's humanitarian activity mostly focuses on organizations that help those with inadequate access to nutritious meals. He also starred in Feeding America's 2020 coronavirus ad campaign alongside a group of young cooks.
Garrett's culinary accomplishments and community services have earned him several honors, including Washington's 30 Under 30 in 2018 and 2019 and Washington's 40 Under 40 in 2020 and 2021.
Eric Garrett likes spending time in the Washington forests foraging for ingredients and teaching people about the delights of foraging when he is not working in the kitchen. He also enjoys trekking with his dog and climbing with his professional climber wife, Lynda. In May, the couple will have their first child.
