“Pretty soon the smell of the smoker will be up and down River Road,” said Heather Owen, referring to the smoker her husband Anthony built for the Owen family’s newest business, Belle’s Black Pot Coffee.
The “Belle” in the company name is an ode to their eldest, a budding chef who graduated from Sequim High this year.
The Owen parents have been operating businesses together since 2004 and said they wanted to open a business they could run with the rest of the family.
“Our other businesses are 21 and over,” Anthony said, referring to Karma Cannabis located next door, and Hidden Bush in Port Angeles.
Photo courtesy of Belle’s Black Pot / Some of the many drinks available at Belle’s Black Pot at 131 River Road in Sequim, owned and operated by the Owen family: Good Morning smoothie (strawberry, peach, mango, pineapple, orange juice and oat milk), a chocolate milkshake, vanilla bean milkshake, strawberry milkshake, and Very Very Northwest berry smoothie (raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, lemonade and oat milk).
Heather said she and her husband are a “great team.” Anthony has many ideas and he handles the build-outs, and Heather handles the administration side.
Owen said she has a banking background: “It’s a leg up, knowing how to process numbers.
“This business is something we could build and include our children,” she said.
“We’re really trying to do this as a package family deal,” Anthony said. “We do things as a family unit. Out of the four baristas, three are family.”
Those baristas are their eldest daughter, Olivia Bella Owen, and their nieces Kiana and Latisha Robideau. The head barista is Tana Menlove.
Sequim Gazette photo by Emily Matthiessen / Belle’s Black Pot at 131 River Road, Suite B, is a coffee house and deli with a drive-through window that offers smoked meat sandwiches and real fruit strawberry milkshakes and much more.
Anthony said that the youngest Owen daughter, Samantha, is also “very interested and involved.”
Belle’s Black Pot, at 131 River Road, Suite B, opened May 4, and for the first month or two was walk-in only (their drive-thru is now open).
It serves house-made food and a wide variety of drinks, including their popular real milkshakes, their signature Black Cow Mocha (made with “rich and creamy chocolate milk not syrup,” Heather noted) to Italian sodas made with dye-free Monin syrup and coffee drinks made with beans from local roaster Essence Coffee.
Belle’s provides a space for food exploration as well as drinks.
Sequim Gazette photo by Emily Matthiessen / Olivia Bella Owen, in the interior of Belle’s Black Pot at 131 River Road, Suite B in Sequim, which opened in May. The Owen family plans to continue to expand their food and drink offerings.
“Anthony comes in each morning to make sandwiches and breakfast sandwiches and burritos,” said Heather, but servers at Belle’s will make custom sandwiches by request.
“The cinnamon rolls are good,” said customer John T. Ybarra, “and the sandwiches look pretty good, too.” He explained that one of the reasons he likes to come to Belle’s is because everybody who works there is consistently friendly.
The sandwiches might well become one of Belle’s claims to local fame; the smoker is expected to be up and running by the time this article prints. Pulled pork, brisket and house-made pastrami will be on the menu.
“The eventual goal is to smoke all the meats in-house,” said Anthony. He said they will be serving Cubans: smoked pork, ham, Swiss cheese and mustard. “It’s generally served hot. But any sandwich we have you can get cold or hot.”
Photo courtesy of Belle’s Black Pot Coffee / An example of the house-smoked meat sandwiches available at Belle’s Black Pot at 131 River Road in Sequim, owned and operated by the Owen family: smoked pork, house sauce, crispy onions on a garlic buttered pub bun.
He said that he is most focused on “a perfect house-made pastrami. That’s what I’m most intent on getting right. I’m using a traditional New York deli recipe with traditional pastrami rub that includes juniper berries.”
Culinary origins
“Ever since I was little it was my dream to go to culinary school and be a chef,” said Olivia. She described a black-tie restaurant with high-end foods, maybe Italian. Her father makes pasta from scratch.
Olivia was accepted into the culinary school at Johnson and Wales in North Carolina, with more than $40,000 in scholarships to help her along, but the COVID pandemic made her rethink her plans, she said.
“Since Covid, she has chosen a slightly different path,” Anthony said. “She’s now helping to run this business and getting ready to attend a community college or online business college.”
Olivia has skill in graphic arts, too, designing the monthly menus, helping design the logo, and “doing a lot of our app space,” said Anthony.
Olivia is very involved in creating new speciality drinks and said she loves it when people suggest something she has never heard of before. She has a talent for flavor combinations and loves to cook.
“My dad taught me everything (about cooking),” she said.
“Cooking together is something we’ve been doing since she was a little girl,” Anthony said. “It’s a continuing experience for us — she helps me with everything.”
For more about Belle’s Black Pot, visit facebook.com/Bellesbackpot, call 360-504-2082 or email to bellesblackpot@yahoo.com.
Belle’s Black Pot Coffee
Where: 131 River Road, Suite B
Hours: 6 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Saturday
More info: 360-504-2082, bellesblackpot@yahoo.com
On the web: facebook.com/Bellesbackpot
Sequim Gazette photo by Emily Matthiessen Heather, Olivia and Samantha Owen stand outside Belle’s Black Pot at 131 River Road in Sequim. The beach-themed coffeehouse and deli specializes in old favorites and new flavor combinations, both in drinks and food.
