Ballard Restaurant Addo Expands Pastry Offerings from a Hyperlocal Source

Seattle magazine food editor’s cakes by the slice are now available at chef Eric Rivera’s new restaurant in Ballard.

Chef Eric Rivera’s buzzy new pop-up eatery, Addo, which recently landed a permanent space in Ballard, is about to get a little sweeter. As of July 13, the hard-to-describe space (part incubator for new food businesses, part all-day restaurant) offers cake by the slice from Seattle magazine’s very own food editor, Chelsea Lin.

Lin, who has been writing for Seattle magazine since 2014 launched her side hustle, Tin Box Bakeshop, in early 2015 while she was freelancing and exploring options on how she can pursue food in different ways, rather than just writing about it. She takes custom cake orders, mostly for birthdays but also the occasional wedding.

“People always ask me if I want to open my own bakery, and that’s never been the goal,” says Lin.

Rivera, who took over the Royal Drummer space in June (though they will still be doing coffee service in the morning) when he was looking for a permanent home for his incubator/restaurant, Addo, put a call out for pastry professionals and cake vendors on Facebook. He heard about Lin’s delicious cakes based on a few referrals from their mutual friends.

“Obviously, because of my job [at Seattle magazine], I don’t have time to be baking every day. But I told him I’d start with a couple cakes a week, delivered on Fridays,” says Lin.

This Friday, the featured flavors will be vanilla cake with strawberry-rhubarb jam and chocolate cake with espresso cream. Look forward to coconut cakes with pandan custard, ginger cakes with cardamom cream cheese, vanilla cakes with lemon curd and many more other not-overly-sweet flavors, which is Tin Box’s sweet spot in Seattle’s growing cake-by-the-slice offerings.

The Seattle edit staff certainly has indulged on occasion when we’re lucky enough for her to bring some in. Lin’s cakes will be available at Addo’s walk-up pastry counter all day on Fridays until they sell out. Plus, there is a dessert happy hour on Fridays from 4-6 p.m. and again from 9-10 p.m. where you can celebrate the weekend with a glass of rosé and a slice of cake for $12.

“People who don’t like cake think that they’re going to be both dry and super sweet—mine are neither,” says Lin. “I love baking for someone who thinks they don’t like cake—I have a pretty good success rate of changing their minds!”