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Yesterday morning I found refuge from the freezing rain inside Beyond the Bridge Café on Tacoma's Sixth Avenue. Grabbing a hot Americano, I warmed my cold bones next to their fake fireplace, when co-owner Ben Rubke dropped exciting news.

Julie Rex, formerly of Corina Bakery fame, will begin baking for Beyond the Bridge Café Friday, March 11. I tossed a few questions at Rubke before heading back out in the wet.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: How did you hook up with Julie?

BEN RUBKE: Both of our pods landed on earth at the exact same time.  Julie and I are cut from the same dream weaving fabric of the universe and wove the tapestry of our lives together on the loom of free will. I was part of a marauding band of gypsies and stole her from the Eastern Bloc before the wall fell.  Take your pick from any of these, as the real truth is much less exciting. We know each other through mutual friends.

VOLCANO: What will she be baking?

RUBKE: An assortment of pastries, AND we will be making sure to have a gluten free option to try and carve out a niche with the gluten free consumers, which apparently, is half of Tacoma. I am all about it, just a little perplexed about how 50 percent of my friends developed a gluten allergy within the last four years.

VOLCANO: What goodie excites you the most?

RUBKE: Her blackberry tart. Hands down.  Mmmmmmmmmm.  A world where sweet and savory mingles with puckering tart and they all hang out in the casa de butter is exactly the kind of utopia every pastry on the planet should strive for.

Beyond the Bridge Café

6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Friday
8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday
2717 6th Ave., Tacoma
253.572.9199

LINK: Weekly Volcano columnist Steph DeRosa harassed Rubke