Downtown Gig Harbor is about to get its newest icon, and I got an early look.
A new restaurant called The Midway opens this weekend on the corner of Pioneer Way and Harborview Drive, right in the heart of the waterfront. It is a bakery, deli, and market from a Gig Harbor native, taking over one of the most prominent corners downtown.
I will get to what it is, who is behind it, and what I tasted. But here is the short version: this is the good kind of change, the kind a town actually roots for. And the story behind is super cool.
So what exactly is The Midway?
Short version: a bakery, a deli, and a market, with what the owner describes as an Italian deli vibe and a European feel.
The idea is a place that changes character as the day goes on.
By Trish Huff's own description, mornings run as a bakery and coffee stop, easing into a lunch-forward deli with pastries, sandwiches, soups, and salads made daily. Think cookies, cakes, and the kind of sweet you tell yourself you are splitting and then do not.
Later in the day, the room is meant to ease into something slower. Simple bites. A small, curated list of local beers and wines, by the glass or the can or the bottle, to drink there or take home. No hard liquor. The whole point, in the owner's words, is to get people to slow down, stay awhile, and actually talk to each other.
And then there is the market side: artisanal and gourmet goods, likely fresh pasta and locally made jams, honey, and olive oil, plus grab-and-go picnic essentials and a few crafts from local makers. A place you can duck into for a snack and walk out with dinner.
It is taking over the old Heritage space at 3118 Harborview Drive. The brick exterior with the black metal trim is staying. New sign, same good bones.
First look: inside the preview
Full disclosure on how I got in early. This was a private preview, not the public opening. The Schulte and Co. team at Neighborhood Experts hosted it alongside the Mark Wambold Group at Cross Country Mortgage. A room full of peers, which made for an easy, pleasant night.
Here is what I can tell you.
Walking in, it feels familiar. There are still hints of Heritage in the bones of the place, so it does not greet you like a stranger. It reads rustic, homey, and genuinely inviting. Warm wood ceilings, black iron, marble bistro tables, and a pastry case that does a lot of the talking.
Now the food, which was the whole point and the clear standout.
I had the Moira Rose. I am claiming it as mine. It is an kimchi grilled cheese named after a glorious diva, and I am the Moira of any room I walk into. If that surprises you, we have not met. Do not ask me to itemize what was in it. I just know it was very good.
Then the Capri. A swipe of pesto, fat tomatoes, and a generous pile of creamy burrata on the fluffiest focaccia.
It looked like a magazine and ate even better.
And the sleeper hit: a peanut butter snickerdoodle cookie that was, and I am choosing this word on purpose, phenomenal.
I also caught a brief moment with Trish, the owner. You can tell her warmth carries straight into the room. This is an inviting, friendly place to be, and the staff is absolutely lovely.
We tasted from a limited menu, since the full lineup rolls out for the public opening. Wine and beer are part of the program too. Which brings me to the detail that sold me on the room itself: that big front window, a glass of something cold, a summer afternoon. You are going to want that seat.
Who is behind The Midway?
A Gig Harbor native, which is the whole reason I am writing this.
Trish Huff already owns and runs Morso Bistro, the wine bar, restaurant, and wine shop up in the Finholm District. She bought Morso about two months before the pandemic hit in 2020, held it together through all of that, and added a wine shop and market on top. She is a trained sommelier who spent years in restaurant management and wine sales, including running a top wine bar in Washington, D.C. By her own account, she has been hunting for the right downtown Gig Harbor space for roughly fifteen years.
For The Midway, she is partnering with her brother, chef Nick Hosea, who is relocating from Barcelona to run the kitchen. The siblings both went to culinary school in Seattle. Nick co-owned Glo's Diner there and cooked at serious rooms in Seattle, New York, and Europe, including Nobu and Bobby Flay's Bolo and Mesa Grill, where he ran the pastry kitchen for years.
So the kitchen is in good hands.
Here is the detail I love most. When the Heritage space opened up, the landlord had no shortage of options. Around ten different concepts pitched for that corner, including a martini bar, several wine tasting rooms, and a coffee shop. She narrowed it to three, and chose The Midway because she decided it was the best thing for downtown, not just the easiest tenant. Someone with skin in this community made a call for this community. That matters.
The name will get you right in the chest
Here is the part that turns this from a business story into a Gig Harbor story.
The Midway is named after the Midway School, an old wooden schoolhouse that once stood in the Peninsula's Midway neighborhood, off 38th Avenue south of 56th Street. The owner grew up nearby.
It also honors her late mother, who was a home economics teacher. Food was the center of that family for a reason.
And if you want the full-circle detail: that original schoolhouse is restored and on display at the Harbor History Museum right now, as part of the Midway School Experience. So the name is not marketing. It is a real piece of this place, sitting in our own museum, a few minutes from the front door.
Why This Corner Matters More Than You Think
Every Gig Harbor native has a list of places that are gone now.
For a lot of us, the Harbor General Store sits at the top. It was the kind of place that did not really have a category. Coffee to go, a snack, a beer, a quick breakfast, a face you knew behind the counter. It closed unexpectedly in 2023 after almost eight years, and people are still a little sore about it.
And here is the part that stings. The space did not become another cafe, or a shop you would actually linger in. It became a bank. Commencement Bank sits there now. There is a grim little irony to it, since the building was originally built as a bank back in 1980, so in a way it just reverted to type. But trading a gathering place for a teller window is exactly the kind of swap that makes a town feel a little less like itself.
Then there is this corner. Most recently, the space The Midway is taking was Heritage Distilling's flagship tasting room. The distillery closed it at the end of 2025, and one of the most visible corners in downtown Gig Harbor went quiet. Before that, the same intersection held Bella Femmina, and before that a long line of restaurants going back decades.
So this is not a small empty storefront in a strip somewhere. This is the corner. The hub. And it has been dark long enough that people noticed.
Show Up for This One
I will say it plainly. The Midway is the new town icon. Not because a marketing team decided it, but because a hometown owner built the thing this corner was missing, and the whole town is about to adopt it.
So here is my ask, and it is a simple one. The public grand opening is this weekend. Go. Order the Moira Rose. Get the peanut butter snickerdoodle. Grab that window seat before someone else does. Spend your money two blocks from the water with a hometown owner who waited fifteen years for the chance. A downtown only stays alive if the people who live here actually show up for it.
I will be there. I would love to know what you think.
Frequently asked questions
Where is The Midway located? At 3118 Harborview Drive, on the corner of Pioneer Way and Harborview Drive in downtown Gig Harbor, in the building that most recently held Heritage Distilling's tasting room.
When does The Midway open? The public grand opening is this weekend, the first weekend of July 2026. Preview tastings ran from a limited menu, and the full menu rolls out for the opening.
Who owns The Midway? Gig Harbor native Trish Huff, who also owns Morso Bistro, in partnership with her brother, chef Nick Hosea, who is moving back from Barcelona to run the kitchen.
What does The Midway serve? By the owner's announced concept: a bakery, coffee bar, and lunch deli by day (pastries, sandwiches, soups, salads), shifting to simple bites with a curated list of local beer and wine in the afternoon and early evening. There is also a market side with artisanal and grab-and-go goods. No hard liquor.
Is The Midway connected to Morso? Same owner, different concept. Trish Huff is keeping Morso running in the Finholm District while The Midway opens downtown. One is a waterfront wine bar. The other is an all-day bakery, deli, and market.
What happened to the Heritage Distilling space? Heritage Distilling closed its flagship tasting room at that corner at the end of 2025. The Midway is taking over the space and keeping the building's brick-and-black-metal exterior largely as is.
Sources
- Gig Harbor Now, "The Midway aims to create hub of cuisine and community in downtown Gig Harbor," Ted Kenney, Jan. 29, 2026: https://www.gigharbornow.org/news/business/the-midway-aims-to-create-hub-of-cuisine-and-community-in-downtown-gig-harbor/
- KIRO 7 News, "Here's what will replace Heritage Distilling Co. in downtown Gig Harbor," Jan. 20, 2026: https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/heres-what-will-replace-heritage-distilling-co-downtown-gig-harbor/IVIBC4KPOFGCDLPANZTDH2KYLA/
- What Now Seattle, "Morso Bistro Team to Launch The Midway in Gig Harbor": https://whatnow.com/seattle/restaurants/morso-bistro-team-to-open-the-midway-in-gig-harbor-this-summer/
- South Sound Magazine, "Cozy Up at Morso Bistro" (Morso ownership background): https://www.southsoundmag.com/eat-drink/cozy-up-at-morso-bistro/article_b714bdac-6e72-11ec-bdf8-1b546112902e.html
- The Midway, official site: https://www.midwaygigharbor.com/
- Gig Harbor Now, "Commencement Bank eyes move to former Harbor General Store building," Nov. 6, 2023, and "BECU, Commencement Bank open new Gig Harbor locations," Aug. 16, 2024: https://www.gigharbornow.org/news/business/commencement-bank-harbor-general-store-building/
- Firsthand: private preview tasting attended by the author, June 30, 2026.
Catt Johnson is a licensed real estate broker with Neighborhood Experts Real Estate, serving Gig Harbor and the South Sound. License #25004641. [email protected] | 253-303-2604 | cattjohnson.com
