Gelato Shop Opens on Park Lane; New Burger Joint on LW Boulevard

Beach towns thrive off summer crowds, and each year it seems new retailers appear in downtown Kirkland eager to get a piece of the tourist dollar pie. Two such storefronts have opened in the last couple of weeks: a gelateria -- Italian for ice cream store -- on Park Lane called Sirena Gelato and “not your ordinary burger joint,” Charlie's Flame Broiled Burgers on Lake Street.

It was the precise combination of an upscale community and plenty of foot traffic that attracted Sirena owner Brian Ugurlu to Kirkland. His family’s first store opened in Bellingham in 2005, another beautiful waterfront town.

“The people here are friendly and seem to appreciate family-owned establishments,” says Ugurlu, a University of Washington graduate.

In 2004, Ugurlu spent a semester in Rome through a U.W. study-abroad program. While working on his thesis covering the Italian Revolution, he couldn’t help but notice the gelato stands on every corner.

“I called my parents and told them that this could be huge back home and that they should work on a business plan.”

Unlike American ice cream made with cream or half-and-half, Italian gelato is made with milk, drastically reducing both the calories and fat content. In addition, the flavoring focuses on intense doses of whole, natural foods.

“I use two pounds of pure, ground pistachios per pound of ice cream,” says Ugurlu, contrasting his product with its sparsely-nutted neon green equivalent elsewhere.

The fat-free, dairy-free fruit sorbets burst with flavor. It might seem redundant to say that the raspberry tastes like raspberry or the mango sorbet like mangoes. However, these are exactly the comments that spring to customers’ lips.

“People always seem to exclaim how much the sorbets taste like the fruit,” says Ugurlu.

Before opening the first store, the Ugurlu family flew in a third generation gelato-maker from northern Italy to teach them the proper method for making the silky treat. All the gelato is made in a small facility in Bellingham directly connected to a milk distribution plant. This ensures that the milk used in the gelato is as fresh as possible, coming from the longtime dairy town of Lynden nearby.

Though Sirena’s case holds 16 flavors, there are usually an additional four to nine flavors in the back. So, if you don’t see the one you’re looking for, just ask. They are always open to flavor suggestions. Beyond the more common flavors like chocolate, hazelnut, raspberry or peach, Sirena has produced gelato flavored with stout, lavender, rose, champagne and limoncello.

I can personally vouch for the salted caramel flavor, which seems to be all the rage right now in confections around Seattle. Ugurlu compared most salted caramel ice cream to a salt lick, an apt description in my opinion. Sirena’s, on the other hand, tastes predominantly of caramel with a light salt chaser on the end.

Sirena is ideally located to soak up post-dinner foot traffic with its proximity to Cactus, Mi Mexico, Ristorante Paradiso, Zeek’s Pizza and Lai Thai, right on Park Lane downtown.

“People aren’t going to replace a steak with gelato, so things are quiet from 4 to 7 p.m. and pick up again after that,” says Ugurlu.

Other products at Sirena include pints and quarts to take home, homemade ice cream sandwiches, frappes (blended gelato and milk), and the caffe affogato, consisting of two scoops of gelato and two shots of espresso. Ugurlu recommends choosing hazelnut or cappuccino flavored gelato for the caffe affogato, though customers are free to pursue their own combinations.

Sirena is open from noon to 7 p.m. daily.

Just south of the main retail strip on Lake Street South, Charlie Urenda of Bellevue has opened his third restaurant in the state, Charlie's Flame Broiled Burgers. Billed as "not your ordinary burger joint," Charlie's offers 22 burgers from a traditional cheeseburger to several chicken burgers, a veggie option and even a salmon burger. Most come with "Charlie's sauce," a typical "special sauce" highly reminiscent of Thousand Island dressing.

While the burger toppings are interesting and varied (like hot pastrami), the burgers are certainly nothing extraordinary, particularly the breaded, fried chicken burger that appeared to be straight from the freezer and carrying a $9.99 price tag.

Part of what makes Charlie's not an ordinary burger joint are the non-burger menu items. Charlie's features Baja style fish tacos with grilled fish, loads of shredded lettuce, a grilled-stiff flour tortilla and, yes, "Charlie's sauce." Salads and chicken wings with lots of sauce options like spicy BBQ and sweet Thai chili round out menu. The wings are your best bet for a tasty meal.

The most enticing aspect of Charlie's is that one can enjoy a meal washed down by a beer, a mini bottle of wine or even a Mike's Hard Lemonade. And that's something special we can all appreciate on a nice summer day.