Q: Is South Fork Baking Co. at the Port of Everett worth a visit?
A: Yes. Katherine Hillmann’s bakery at 1410 Seiner Drive, Suite 103, serves scratch-made pastries, locally roasted espresso, and breakfast and lunch sandwiches on the Port of Everett Marina esplanade — with covered and open-air patio seating facing Port Gardner Bay. Open Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and weekends 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The jalapeño cheddar bagel and the blueberry pistachio scone are the move.

South Fork Baking Co. on the Everett Waterfront Is the Bakery Everyone Forgets to Tell You About

Go to the Port of Everett on a Saturday morning and you will hear three conversations about the rooftop deck at Tapped Public House, two about whether Marina Azul is actually open yet, and approximately zero about the small bakery tucked into the ground floor of the waterfront residences that has been quietly outbaking everyone on the esplanade since it opened its retail storefront there.

That bakery is South Fork Baking Co., and if you have not made the walk from the parking structure past the fountain to Seiner Drive, Suite 103, this weekend is a good time to do it.

Who is behind South Fork Baking Co.?

South Fork is owner-operator Katherine Hillmann’s project. She has been running South Fork Baking Co. since 2016 and spent more than a decade in the kitchens of regional bakeries before opening her first retail storefront on the Port of Everett’s waterfront. The Waterfront Place shop is the retail expression of a wholesale and pop-up operation that had built a following long before the door on Seiner Drive opened.

What you get now is a full pastry case baked in-house every morning, a working espresso bar, breakfast and lunch sandwiches, and — this is the part the locals actually talk about — a schedule for pastry and cake-decorating classes that Hillmann runs out of the shop.

The address, hours, and how to actually find it

The shop is at 1410 Seiner Drive, Suite 103, Everett, WA 98201, which sounds clear until you are standing in the Waterfront Place garage trying to figure out which set of townhomes houses a bakery. Here is the shortcut: park in the Fisherman’s Harbor parking structure, walk toward the marina esplanade, and follow the smell of butter. The storefront faces the esplanade with indoor dining, a covered patio, and open-air seating.

Hours are Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Parking is easy — the Port’s garage is right there, and the morning rush has not hit volume that crowds the esplanade tables. Yet.

What to order at South Fork Baking Co.

The menu rotates, but the standing order for anyone walking in cold should be this:

• Jalapeño cheddar bagel. Dense crumb, real heat, real cheese crust. It holds up to the bagel-with-egg treatment and is the best $7 breakfast on the waterfront right now.
• Blueberry pistachio scone. Crumbly the way a scone should be. Not dry. The pistachio is actually pistachio, not a rumor.
• Cinnamon roll. Worth ordering early. They sell out before 10 a.m. on Saturdays.
• Caprese sandwich. The lunch move. Fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil, on bread baked that morning. It is not complicated food. That is the point.

The espresso bar pours a clean shot. Not the best coffee on the Everett waterfront — that is a different conversation — but more than good enough to pair with a scone and a harbor view.

Why South Fork matters for Everett

The Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place has been racing to fill its retail bays for a couple of years now. The ones that get headlines are the splashy ones — Tapped, Fisherman Jack’s, The Net Shed. South Fork has the quieter, stickier kind of success: a neighborhood bakery on a marina with almost no neighborhood around it yet, making bread and coffee for the waterfront condo residents and the people who walk the Grand Avenue Park bridge down to the esplanade on weekends.

It is the kind of business a waterfront needs if it is going to be a waterfront people live on, not just visit. The Sawyer and Carling’s condo buildings next door are at near-full occupancy. The esplanade is quietly becoming a Saturday-morning destination for people in neighborhoods that used to think of the port as a boat parking lot. South Fork is feeding that shift one bagel at a time.

What South Fork is not

It is not a full brunch spot. The line is reasonable. The seating is limited at peak. If you want eggs benedict and a bloody mary at noon, walk one block to Tapped Public House or across to Fisherman Jack’s. If you want a jalapeño cheddar bagel with a real egg and a small Americano, eaten on a patio looking at a marina, this is the spot.

It also is not cheap in the way that a grocery-store bakery is cheap. Pastries run $4 to $7, sandwiches $12 to $15. You are paying for scratch baking on the Everett waterfront. That is the trade.

The class schedule is the sleeper move

Hillmann runs pastry and cake-decorating classes out of the storefront. This is not a gimmick. This is a working baker with more than a decade of technique who is willing to teach you how to not overwork croissant dough. If you have been looking for a weekend hobby that is not Jetty Island or the Grand Avenue Park bridge, the class list on the South Fork Baking Co. website is worth a look.

The verdict

South Fork Baking Co. is the anchor the Everett waterfront bakery scene needed and the one no one is talking about loudly enough. Go early on a Saturday. Get the jalapeño cheddar bagel. Walk out to the esplanade. Watch the boats. This is the kind of low-key, high-quality neighborhood bakery every waterfront should have, and Everett’s finally does.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is South Fork Baking Co. located?

1410 Seiner Drive, Suite 103, Everett, WA 98201, on the Port of Everett’s Marina esplanade at Waterfront Place.

What are the hours?

Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Is there parking?

Yes — use the Fisherman’s Harbor parking structure at the Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place. It is a short walk to the esplanade.

Who owns South Fork Baking Co.?

Owner-operator and head baker Katherine Hillmann, who has run South Fork Baking Co. since 2016. The Waterfront Place storefront is the brand’s first retail location.

Do they have gluten-free or vegan options?

The menu is scratch-baked and rotates daily. Call ahead at the number on southforkbaking.com to ask about current gluten-free and vegan items — availability varies.

Do they do special-order cakes?

Yes. Custom cakes and pastry orders can be placed through the South Fork Baking Co. website. Hillmann also teaches pastry and cake-decorating classes out of the storefront.

Is South Fork Baking Co. kid-friendly?

Yes. The patio and indoor seating both accommodate families, and the esplanade right outside the door is a good place for kids to decompress with a cinnamon roll.

What’s the best time to visit?

Weekday mornings before 9 a.m. for the quietest experience. Saturday mornings around 8 a.m. if you want the full waterfront-bakery vibe without waiting for pastries that sold out at 9:30.