14 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Coast Weekend’s local
restaurant review
Old-fashioned pizza parlor parked in the past
Review and photos by
MOUTH OF
THE COLUMBIA
BJ’S PIZZA
PALACE
T
The menu confi rms what a
quick look around BJ’s Pizza
Palace suggests: The Seaside
restaurant and sports bar was
established in 1970. Indeed,
BJ’s is funky and warn,
dressed mostly in its original
clothes.
The building’s exterior
is particularly odd, walls
jutting in and out, suggesting
multiple additions over the
years. Just past the bridge on
the north end of Seaside, at
the mouth to Gearhart, most
of the windows are in the
rear, overlooking Neawanna
Creek.
The restaurant side is
puzzlingly segmented into
fi ve disparate dining spaces.
They lack any fl ow or logic.
Some seem forgotten and a
bit lonely. The high-ceilinged
banquet room, dubbed the
“party zone,” escapes these
trappings. It is bright, open
and spacious, and it took me
back to the post-game pizza
parties of Little League.
On my trips, however,
the restaurant side was like
a ghost town, almost spook-
ily quiet. The bar, while not
bustling, showed signs of life.
With west-facing windows,
natural light and placid views
of the water, it was soft and
easy. With a number of TVs
and the full menu available,
I’ve found it a fi ne place to
watch football.
I was joined by four
friends who were ready to
nosh after a business meeting.
I asked the server what she
liked, and she pointed toward
the pizza and the chicken.
“That’s all I eat here,” she
said. I went for both and add-
ed the daily special: barbecue
ribs.
While waiting for our
food, an enticing smell fi lled
The broasted chicken was succulent.
the air: the chicken, which
was being broasted. The
20-odd-minute process —
pressure frying — is becom-
ing rarer, but those who are
familiar swear by it, touting
meat that’s much juicier and
less greasy. And with what we
got on the eight-piece platter
($15), I must join the convert-
ed. The crunchy, peppery skin
popped to reveal succulent
white and dark meat.
In a world of moderniz-
ing techniques and palates,
broasting offers a vintage
value and appeal. If someone
got a broaster into a food
cart, chicken like this could
compete in the trendy pods
of Portland. At BJ’s it may
be overlooked but shouldn’t
be — at least for fans of fried
bird. You can get it different
ways: buckets (which are a la
carte platters), with fries and,
amazingly/puzzlingly, with
spaghetti (say goodnight —
it’s nap time!). Sadly though,
waffl es are nowhere to be
found.
There was nothing rare
about the pizza, but I enjoyed
it just the same. BJ’s is thin
crust that is not insubstantial.
Toppings run right to the edge
— there’s no fl uffy, doughy
The half-rack barbecue ribs
special was a whole lot of
sweet, fatty, fi nger-licking
food.
The hamburger’s hand-pressed patty was seasoned but on the
salty side.
ridge — and slices are crisp
throughout. Heavy with the
cheese, light on sauce, the 13-
inch medium felt big enough
to feed three. At the server’s
suggestion we tried the BJ’s
Special ($16.65 / medium),
which featured pepperoni,
Canadian bacon, beef and
tomatoes. It, like most every
pie at BJ’s, offered familiar
fl avors. Again I was remind-
ed of the post-game Little
League parties. To wit: This
is an old-fashioned, Ameri-
can pizza parlor — not some
modern boutique offering fi gs
and goat cheese nor wood-
fi red Italian classicism.
The half-rack of barbecue
ribs ($11.95) didn’t impress
as did the pizza or chicken.
They were slow cooked and
falling off the bone, though
the ketchup-based sauce —
and the meat itself — lacked
depth. The accompanying
coleslaw was a corn-syrupy
soup, and the baked beans
featured a big fat hunk of
bacon. If nothing else, it was
a whole lot of sweet, fatty,
fi nger-licking food.
I returned to try the Ham-
burger ($7.25) and appreci-
ated that the hand-pressed
patty was seasoned, even if it
was on the salty side. Cooked
nearly well-done, it was
accompanied by a choice of
fries, tots or jo-jos. It was a
fi ne, mid-sized, drive-in style
burger but lacked that special
something that makes it es-
sential — either value (say a
happy-hour price) or fl avor.
Much of the rest of the
menu fi t BJ’s ’70s style. The
majority of it was fried, heavy
and meat-y. I was tempted
by the Philly and the French
Dip, which featured prime
rib, likely the leftovers from
the Saturday special. But
instead I opted for the outlier,
a gluten-free pizza crust, per-
haps the only addition to BJ’s
menu during this century.
I went with the Garlic
Chicken ($12.50 / small, plus
$2 for gluten free), another of
the server’s recommendations.
For my taste, there wasn’t
enough of the garlic sauce
against the pungent olives and
Rating:
2490 U.S. Highway
101, Seaside
503-738-7763
HOURS: 11 a.m. to 9
p.m. Monday to Friday
and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday.
PRICE: $ – Entrées hov-
er around $10; pizzas
are a good value.
SERVICE: Knows the
regulars by name.
VEGETARIAN / VEG-
AN: A meatless pizza
is probably the only
worthwhile vegetarian
dish.
DRINKS: Full bar, soda,
coff ee and tea.
KEY TO STAR
RATING SYSTEM
Poor
Below average
Good
Excellent
Best in region
tomatoes. But anyway, this
was about the crust, which I
found ... just O.K. Of the few
gluten-free pizza crusts I’ve
tried in recent months, this was
probably the most successful,
the least rubbery, though still
on the chewy side. The tech-
nology for gluten-free crusts is
improving but has yet to fully
arrive — at least on the North
Coast.
Of course, BJ’s isn’t about
the future. It’s parked fi rmly
in the past, with salad bar and
the sneeze guard to prove it.
If you can get past the warn,
rough decor, the pizza is ro-
bust, and the broasted chicken
a forgotten classic.