A mecca for food and wine lovers alike – that is what husband and wife team, Mark and Kim Mahan are creating on the corner of 15th Street and Broadway. Mark, with partners David Smith and Greg Wallace, owns Burnt Bridge Cellars, while Kim is chef-owner of Class Cooking right next door, where she teaches cooking classes and caters the winery’s events.
“It’s a unique offering for customers, combining wine and food experience,” said Wallace. “Kim being next to us is a strategic jewel – wine tastes better with the smell of good food, and she enables us to go way beyond just a tasting room.”
Kim attended culinary school, has been teaching people to cook for a long time and has travelled extensively. That background, plus experience with catering and being a school teacher, creates what she calls the “perfect blend” of her skills. She built an official cooking classroom in her home in 2005 and launched Class Cooking.
Meanwhile, Mark and Smith (who is a physician and is “magical with chemistry,” according to Mark) decided to make some hobby wine in Mark’s garage in 2008.
“We loved the process, and made some pretty good stuff. I thought it would make a great second career,” said Mark, who retired from HP in 2005.
In 2010, Mark and Smith got a commercial license to make wine and located the winery in a historic downtown building from the 1930s. The 3,700 square-foot space originally housed an electric motor shop and automotive repair shop. It’s also been a beer distributor warehouse, the evidence locker for the county sheriff and home to an engineering design firm. In 2012, the space next door became available.
“When we were asked if we could use it, I decided it was the perfect time for expansion,” said Kim.
So she moved her teaching operation into the additional 700 square feet, which is connected to the winery’s tasting room through a sliding glass door.
In that tasting room, customers will find wines made from Walla Walla fruit, not west-side varieties.
“It’s very different from Willamette Valley wines,” said Mark, who points to their many awards as evidence that Burnt Bridge wines are world-class.
For example, he and Smith submitted seven of their hobby wines to the largest wine competition in the world and received six medals. In 2010, they submitted their Pont Brule (French for “burnt bridge”) to the San Francisco International Wine Competition and received a gold medal.
“That’s unheard of for a first-time competitor,” Mark stated.
The wines provide the perfect backdrop for Kim’s students’ cooking, because after class is over, they sit down to enjoy what they have created – with a glass of wine.
Kim offers two two-hour classes per month, each offered once in the evening and once during the day. She said she teaches “everything from Thai to Turkish” as well as individual items such as salads and appetizers. She teaches with a hands-on philosophy where “everybody cooks.” She encourages people to interact and ask questions, and she welcomes all skill levels – “extra help is always there.”
Kim recently participated in WSU Vancouver’s Business Growth Mentor & Analysis Program. She said the WSU students really liked how she explained why things are done a certain way, what makes a specific cuisine special or how things are really done in the food’s native country. Another unique aspect of Kim’s approach, she said, is that she takes “very complicated dishes and simplifies them.”
“I show people how to skip steps and still end up with an amazing dish,” said Kim.
Classes can accommodate 12 students at a time, or a group of eight or more can sign up for private classes. She also offers team building classes for businesses and corporations.
“Cooking together requires some cooperation, and then afterwards, they can enjoy a meal together,” explained Kim.
Both businesses are experiencing growth. At first, Mark said, they processed about 10 tons of grapes in a year – now they are processing 30+ tons and producing about 2,000 cases of wine. Wallace, a retired HP sales and marketing rep, joined the winery partnership this past February. The winery also recently hired a new assistant winemaker, Ben Stuart, who has a viticulture degree and who has interned at several Walla Walla area wineries.
“He brings a connection to the industry in Walla Walla that we haven’t had before,” said Mark. “He’s our first full-time employee. It feels really good to create a job in Vancouver – we hope there will be more of those.”
Kim said she is offering more classes per month than she used to and is taking on more private students. Since moving to the winery location, she said, revenue has increased 25 to 30 percent – partially due to being “a pop-up restaurant every first Friday” and catering the winery’s events.
“I’m looking for a mini-me,” said Kim. “I need a sous chef.”
Working together, Class Cooking and Burnt Bridge Cellars aim to “make our location recognized for amazing food and wine,” said Mark. Wallace added that they plan to grow their wine club.
“There’s tremendous opportunity for more penetration into Portland,” said Wallace. “We want to show them that Vancouver is neat and thriving – it’s not the Vancouver they remember from 20 years ago.”
