Jack’s BBQ has been making headlines in the Seattle food world since Jack Timmons opened his original spot in SoDo in 2014. Since then, he’s gone on to open multiple locations around Seattle and beyond, most recently adding a Bellingham location, as well as Jackalope Tex Mex and Cantina (opening both during a pandemic, and meeting rave reviews from guests and critics). It’s no surprise to me that Jack’s success continues to flourish – I vividly remember the first time I tried his brisket. My eyes got wide with the first bite and I looked across the bar and said, “Jack, that’s like meat butter“. It truly was, the brisket is so tender it practically melts in your mouth.
Not only is Jack a brilliant brisket smoker and restauranter, he is also one of the best humans I have ever met. You probably don’t realize that it was Jack who started the trend of delivering meals to front-line hospital workers during the pandemic. He got the idea when he dropped off some breakfast tacos for his then-girlfriend (now wife), Dr. Anne Lipke, and her co-workers at Swedish Medical Center a month or so into Covid. It was such a hit that Jack started doing it regularly, and opened up sponsoring meals to frontline workers on his website. Within weeks, restaurants all over town were jumping on this trend.
So, It was no surprise to me when I called Jack up to talk about the serious issue of the need for blood donations in our area, that he was already aware of it and actively working on the problem. He was seeing this extreme shortage firsthand through his wife’s medical experience; she had patients who needed blood and there just literally hasn’t been enough to give people what they need. “A patient will need four pints of blood and she’ll only be able to give them two, because there’s just not enough,” he told me. “A month or so ago I sent out an email to everyone on our email list with an urgent message to please donate blood if they could, and we gave them a bbq sandwich if they did it”. Jack told me dozens of folks came in and reported back that they had given blood.
When Jack heard that Uber Eats was helping to raise the awareness of this need by providing promo codes to incentivize blood donations, he was inspired to support the effort in his own way. We decided the best way to do that would be to do a surprise Jack’s BBQ lunch drop-off at a Bloodworks Northwest donation center for all of their employees. Jack delivered all these meals to the Bloodworks Northwest office in Capitol Hill personally, and I came along for the ride to document and raise awareness of this important need in our community.
Jack and his team packed up massive brisket and pulled pork BBQ sandwiches for the crew, along with all the fixings; pickles, cornbread, sauces, salads, and mac ‘n cheese last week for our donation center drop-off. (I taste-tested the brisket for quality control and can report back that it is as good as ever).
Jack is all loaded up and ready for the drop-off! It only seems right that his license plate bears the word “Brisket”.
Jack and Ron of Bloodworks are ready to make the delivery. In true Texas form, Jack arrived for the delivery in his cowboy hat.
You can tell everyone here is all smiles even behind the masks! What a warm welcome we got from the Bloodworks team, who walked us through their facility and were beyond grateful for the boxes of barbecue we dropped off.
It was really heartwarming to witness the appreciation from these Bloodworks employees, as well as the incredible generosity of Jack and his team. We hope this will inspire you to consider a blood donation, as it is needed more than ever in the Pacific Northwest (and beyond). Bloodworks Northwest has a dozen donation centers in the Washington area, and you can schedule your appointment to give blood here or call 800-398-7888.
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