Indigenous Museum Cafes Embrace Tradition and Innovation | Eater

"Seattle’s first Native-owned food truck–turned–cafe at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, opened as a museum cafe in 2019 but grew out of a food-truck project that began in 2011, was founded by Mark McConnell (a member of the Blackfeet Nation) and his partner Cecilia Rikard with chef Donovan MacInnis, and serves pre-Columbian Indigenous cuisine of the Americas using tribal ingredients and local partnerships. Menu highlights include fry bread tacos filled with braised bison and barbecue pulled pork and dessert fry bread finished with cinnamon sugar, honey, or lemon curd; the cafe helped introduce regionally rare offerings like wild rice bowls and sweet potato salads. The design blends cherry wood and Indigenous artwork with seating for about 30 and a pivoting window wall designed by Tom Kundig that invites natural light and enhances the earthy, welcoming ambiance. McConnell has sourced bison from Montana and salmon from the nearby Muckleshoot tribe, reinforcing commitments to Indigenous foodways; he initially brought family recipes to the food truck in 2011, and those roots inform the cafe’s menu and mission. Beverage innovations include cedar tea made by steeping white or red cedar tips (here blended with blackberry leaves as a cedar blackberry tea latte) and a maple latte made with the house espresso blend Naato, which Rikard says is named after Mark’s Blackfeet name, Naato Óóhkotok ("Holy Rock"). Consulting by Indigenous food practitioners helped align the cafe with the museum’s mission: "Every ingredient tells a story about our connection to the land," Valerie Segrest (Muckleshoot Indian Tribe) says." - Mary Ladd