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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 2016)
Sam’s Seaside The Garlic Lover’s Burg- er is blanketed with raw chopped garlic, grilled onions and Swiss cheese. Cafe The Cheesy Jalapeño Stuf ed Tots are a crusty shell around little fl ecks of diced jalapeño, cheese and potato. This local Seaside haunt offers value for your hard-earned dollars A A friend of mine remembered going to Sam’s Seaside Cafe back in the ’90s. She and her high school classmates would pack into the booths and gather around bottomless baskets of fries. The bygone special wasn’t on the menu; it was meant for locals. The price: just one dollar. Now, that deal has dried up, but the val- ues continue, making Sam’s — in the heart of Broadway’s tourist mecca — a local haunt. Paramount is the dollar beer special during happy hour. From 4 to 6 p.m. every day — even weekends — Sam’s offers beers for a buck. You can get Pabst, and better yet, Session bottles. The price matches — and sometimes beats — retail. “There are people that have been coming here for years for the sweet, sweet dollar beers,” a server told me. “Then at si[ they À y away.” ,n- deed, the ambiance probably isn’t keeping them. To call Sam’s casual or laid back would be an understatement. With booths lining the walls, it’s dim, deep and cavernous. On one trip, a damp, musky odor hung in the air, likely the aftermath of a Sisyphean attempt at cleaning ancient À oors. The building’s east wall is made mostly of win- dows. They look across a 10-foot alley onto the neighboring building’s cedar shakes. While during the day they offer nice ambient light, at night you can hardly tell they exist. The back third of the building is a bar, which looks much like the front, only with TVs and video slots and livelier bursts of conversation. At times, servers are given the unfortunate task of covering both rooms. Despite being spread thin, , found them good natured. ,t helps, no doubt, to share with customers that beers are just one dollar. As , witnessed, other patrons were overjoyed — it really is a pleasant surprise. The food, a little less so. Our server recommended the ¿ sh and chips, noting the ¿ sh was house-breaded and never fro]en. , went with the cod 1.. The three medium-si]ed pieces of white¿ sh were beer-bat- tered and terri¿ cally oily. They came with a load of hand-cut fries, and they too were oily. Quick- ly the fries shriveled, like ¿ ngers after a long bath. ,t seemed as if the deep-fryer wasn’t Tuite hot enough, keeping ¿ sh and fries from sealing Tuickly enough. (verything was edible, and my companion particularly liked the ¿ sh, though he Tuali¿ ed them as a “guilty pleasure.” We both enjoyed the Cheesy Jalapeño Stuffed Tots 4.. With a more de¿ ned, crunchy, crusty shell around little À ecks of diced jalapeño, cheese and potato, they are the offspring of ja- lapeño poppers and tater tots. They were also about as creative as the menu at Sam’s got. Oth- erwise, it’s soups, salads, burgers, a modicum of seafood, and hot and cold sandwiches. The Turkey sandwich 6. was about as simple as it gets, with lettuce, tomato, onion and mayonnaise on white bread. The vegetarian sandwich aka Tubular Tracy’s Veg Supreme, 6. might as well be called the hummus sandwich, as it’s the dominant ingredient, À a- vor and texture. The veggies — avocado, toma- to, lettuce, cucumber, onions and mushrooms — were of passable Tuality, but including the mushrooms raw was a turn-off. ,t was, if noth- ing else, ¿ lling. And at . for a half-sand- wich with potato chips, reasonably priced. At the advice of a regular, , tried the *ar- lic /over’s Burger . on another trip. The pre-formed, unseasoned patty was whol- ly blanketed with chopped garlic, as well as grilled onions and Swiss cheese. The amount and preparation of garlic was at once overkill and dulled. Roasting the garlic would’ve been preferable, as would’ve a sharper, more pun- gent cheese. From the hot sandwiches, a server recom- mended the Philly Cheese Steak 10 with mouth OF THE COLUMBIA COAST WEEKEND’S LOCAL RESTAURANT REVIEW Story and photos by THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA • mouth@coastweekend.com Sam’s Seaside Cafe Rating: 104 Broadway, Seaside 503-717-1725 HOURS: 11 a.m. to midnight Wednesday to Sunday. PRICE: $ – Downright cheap SERVICE: Upbeat and overworked. VEGETARIAN / VEGAN OPTIONS: Slim. DRINKS: Full bar, soda, cof ee and juice aplomb. “Without a doubt,” she said. While the tender, juicy, thinly-sliced, peppery beef and grilled peppers and onions were on point, tomato and lettuce aren’t usually found on a tra- ditional Philly Cheese. Nor is Swiss cheese — provolone and, believe it or not, American and Cheez Whiz are the sandwich’s staples. Still, it worked. So did the *rilled Buffalo Chicken Sand- wich 9.0, a daily special also served on a hoagie roll. The chicken breast was thick and moist, dripping in bright but un-spicy buffalo sauce and slathered with a thick, pasty, blue cheese spread. Of everything , tried, it was probably the most enjoyable. That said, it’s not a À avor that ,’ll make a point of coming back for. There really aren’t any, as up and down Sam’s menu the sourcing and preparation are wholly anodyne. And yet, if the timing’s right, , could see my- self returning. With a large slice of lemon, mild cocktail sauce and a thankfully small oyster, the shooters were another sweet deal. Consider the following: For you could get two oys- ters, a beer, and leave a dollar tip. Where else is that even possible? KEY TO RATINGS poor below average good & worth returning excellent outstanding, the best in the Columbia-Pacific region March 17, 2016 | coastweekend.com | 15
