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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 24, 2015)
Ecola Seafood Restaurant & Market Raw, preserved or prepared, this Cannon Beach restaurant serves authentic eating experiences “ “Friends don’t let friends eat farmed salmon,” reads a sign at Ecola Seafood in Cannon Beach. It continues: “We serve only quality ocean troll- caught salmon.” 7he sign hangs among a Zave of ¿ shing-relat- ed ephemera, most prominently a series of family photographs. They document children growing up alongside the family business. Dressed in rain-slickers and standing on the decks of boats, the kids display their catches. It’s more than a sentimental show. The Beck- man family own and operate two commercial ¿ shing boats. They’ve been at it since . The market and restaurant opened in , and here the Beckmans sell their catch of both salmon and halibut. (The rest, like the crab, comes largely from Bornstein Seafoods, a West Coast regional provider with facilities in Astoria.) The offerings fall into three basic categories: raw (like whole Dungeness crab and salmon steaks), preserved (like smoked tuna or pickled herring), and prepared (¿ sh tacos and sandwich- es). In a handful of trips I found myself more drawn to the raw and preserved offerings than the dishes that came from the kitchen. Which is no dig Ecola Seafoods’ ¿ sh and chips (we’ll get to them). It’s more that ¿ sh and chips (and clam chowder) are everywhere on the North Coast; smoked mussels and seaweed salad, not as much. And it was through this lens I most enjoyed Ecola Seafoods: Creating a tasting platter — the kind of thing you might enjoy with a few friends, some wine and cheese — made for more excit- ing and authentic eating experiences. Indeed, for around the price of an entrée, one can gather a pic- nic’s worth of nibbles. Ecola Seafood’s smoking is done in-house, and since salmon and halibut are currently out of season, they’re the best way to get a taste of what the family has caught. The prices — like . per pound for smoked Chinook salmon and hali- but — might afford a bit of sticker shock, but re- member: A pound of smoked ¿ sh is also a lot of ¿ sh. <ou it eat in tiny bites. For around ¿ ve bucks you’ve got yourself a cell-phone or wallet-sized chunk that’s enough to share. 2f the three smoked ¿ llets I tried, I most en- joyed the peppered salmon. It was À aky and fa- miliar, though perhaps overly-sapped of its oils. It was also hastily de-boned — in a small chunk, my companion and I discovered three. Drier still, the ¿ brous halibut was almost chalky. The Smoked Tuna (. per pound) was tough and more re- sembled a jerky. It frayed, almost like an old rope. 12 | December 24, 2015 | coastweekend.com But there was something about that roughness I quite liked. It felt like food that belonged on a hiking trip, in a backpack beside some trail mix. There, it would be an absolute delicacy. Now, I realize my reactions to the smoked ¿ shes might sound harsh. But know this: While they didn’t blow my mind I will indubitably ¿ nish them all. From other smoked offerings I tried the Mus- sels (. for a small cocktail, . for the large). Along with the house-made cocktail sauce they were delightful. Meaty and chewy with blackened edges and that smokey essence, it was almost as if they’d been barbecued. Both heavy and velvety smooth, the Pickled +erring (. for a small cocktail, . per pound) were tactilely quite exciting. The bite- sized chunks were slick, supple, brine-y and but- tery. I think I enjoyed them more experientially — the texture was so distinct. My companion, meanwhile, was head over heels for the lightly sweetened white¿ sh. A Seaweed Salad offered both a palate cleans- er and a different type of oceanic essence. That At Ecola Seafood, you can pick and choose pre- served items to make an exciting tasting platter, like smoked muscles, front, pickled herring, left, and a seaweed sal- ad, back. said, I’m absolutely stumped why it costs as much as it does, particularly the small cup at .. (In bulk it’s . per pound) Even after three trips to Ecola Seafood I still harbor a little fear that I might’ve missed out on something. With two long coolers, accouterments stacked above and below them, as well as numer- ous menu boards behind, there’s a lot to choose from. I had trouble deciding, and I noticed a num- ber of customers with similar dif¿ culties. They’d offer to let me go ahead, or visa versa, and almost inevitably the other would decline: ”I’m still thinking...” On one of those three trips I found the coun- terperson both knowledgeable and happy to help. The other two visits, however, I was on my own. mouth OF THE COLUMBIA COAST WEEKEND’S LOCAL RESTAURANT REVIEW Story and photos by THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA • mouth@coastweekend.com Ecola Seafood Restaurant and Market Rating: 208 N. Spruce St., Cannon Beach 503-436-9130 “Everything is good” is about as useful an answer as none at all, especially when it comes down to trying to decide between smoked calamari, bread- ed razor clams or teriyaki oysters. Of course, a trip to Ecola Seafood doesn’t have to be that adventurous. <ou can just stick with the ¿ sh and chips. The lunch order of Pacif- ic Cod (.) lit up all those familiar pleasure centers: The beer-battered breading snapped with crunch, and once you cracked it open, the steam- ing ¿ sh inside was burn-your-tongue hot (though maybe a tad dry). With fries, it was a ¿ ne value. (On the scale of “Cannon Beach pricing” so too is the hamburger at ., and though the burger patty may be pre-formed, it was actually salted, a simple step skipped all too often.) From the prepared menu — which includes ¿ sh sandwiches and tacos that can be prepared grilled as well as fried — I also had the Crab Melt (., a la carte). Served open-faced, it featured a reasonable amount of crab atop tall, spongey, light, Texas toast (and what I think was a layer of Thousand Island dressing). It was coated with a slick of melted, mild cheddar cheese. Among all the oils and creaminess, the salt and butteriness of the crab, the sandwich needed squeezes of the accompanying lemon, or some Tabasco, for edge. It was succulent, cholesterol-heavy, and a bit puz- zling: as if someone took a diamond (the crab) and plopped it in baseball cap. Again, I found the more elemental tastes — the raw and preserved seafood itself — more authentic and exciting. Indeed, when it comes to ¿ shing and regional sourcing, Ecola Seafood’s fa- milial connections are beyond reproach. HOURS: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily KEY TO RATINGS PRICE: $$ – Entrées run from $10 to $25, bulk foods have high sticker prices but good values lurk VEGETARIAN / VEGAN OPTIONS: Probably not the place, save for pescatarians DRINKS: Soda, coff ee, tea, beer and wine poor below average good & worth returning excellent outstanding, the best in the Columbia-Pacific region
