A mysterious glow of a neon cheesecake appeared in the papered-up windows of the subterranean kitchen under Berliner Beerhall a few weeks ago. The owners of the German pub in downtown Tacoma had decked out the space with Blodgett deck ovens for a presumed pizza parlor, but years had passed, and it had yet to open. What could it be?
It’s Bas Que, a new bakery from DJ Park and Seong Hyun Lee, an ambitious couple already producing some of the finest baked goods in the area.
The signature and guaranteed mainstay is a luscious Basque-style cheesecake, the crustless version with a caramelized, nearly burnt top that originated — only in the late 1980s — at a humble restaurant in San Sebastien, La Viña. Park and Lee spent several months traveling through the British countryside, France and Spain, but they fell head-over-heels for the laissez-faire, bar-hopping, tapas here and pinxto there, maybe we’ll have dinner at 10 p.m. chill of this distinctive region of Spain…