14 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Coast Weekend’s local
restaurant review
THE FISHERMEN
The Fishermen
meets the tourist-
pleasing bar — and
sometimes clears it
Rating:
200 Broadway, No. 4
Seaside, Ore., 97138
Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Thursday through Tuesday
Price: $ – Fair value, cash only
Service: Food court counter
service
Vegetarian / Vegan Options:
Pretty meaty
Drinks: Bottled water, soda
Review and photos by
THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA
KEY TO STAR RATING SYSTEM
Poor
Below average
Worth returning
Very good
Excellent, best in region
MOUTH@COASTWEEKEND.COM
FACEBOOK.COM/MOUTHOFTHECOLUMBIA
F
or a time The Fishermen, one
of four stalls in Seaside’s
mini food court on Broad-
way, served only chowder and
fish and chips. That changed with
“Fisherman” or “Fishermen”?
ownership early this year.
After years of working in area
restaurants, including the Pig ’N
a steady stream of hungry visitors
Pancake, new owner-operator
to which he can deliver “beach-y”
Luis filled out the Fishermen’s
standbys like fish and chips,
menu, adding burgers, sandwich-
chowder and burgers at reasonable
es, breakfast and more.
prices with easy counter service.
Because his experience is
From what I sampled over a few
in the back-of-the-house, that
trips, The Fishermen meets those
Luis has yet to dial in things like
bars and occasionally clears them.
branding is perhaps no surprise.
Indeed, a traveler in search of
The Fishermen has no online
fish and chips could do far worse.
presence to speak of. Google finds In the midst of tourist traps like
… everything but. And until the
Broadway, you can certainly pay
name gets nailed down — it’s
more for inferior products like
spelled “Fishermen” and “Fisher-
pre-packaged burger patties and
man” in different places — per-
fish that was caught and breaded
haps that’s for
halfway across
the best. (As it’s
the globe.
a one-man opera-
To be sure,
‘I WAS BUOYED
tion, might I vote
the seafood at
for the singular
the Fishermen
BY THE
“Fisherman”?)
doesn’t come
FISHERMEN’S
Such lack of
off local boats,
PORTION
AND
clarity — includ-
but it is properly
VALUE. THEIR
ing an absence
prepared. Luis
CUP WAS NEAR
of posted hours,
says he cuts
THE SIZE OF THE the fish himself
contact informa-
tion and so on —
AVERAGE BOWL.’ and breads it to
may not end up
order. As such
as deal-breakers.
it can take a bit
(Accepting only
longer, but it’s
cash, however, might.) Luis seems worth the wait. The four tennis
to be betting that his location,
ball-sized chunks of cod ($9.95)
smack dab in the middle of Broad- came out scalding hot and were a
way’s tourist vortex, will produce
joy on a frigid day. (Even when
Reuben sandwich
Cod fish and chips
the weather’s warm, fried fish
should be blazing hot.) Inside
Panko’d crust, the cod was flaky
and tender, if unremarkable.
Nonetheless, I was plenty satisfied
by the temperature and crunch.
As it happens, last week a
group of landlocked friends
visited for the weekend, and they
wanted fish and chips. Recalling
so many slap-dash fish and chips
I’ve munched as the Mouth, I
thought for a moment about trying
to change their minds. Then I
remembered I was once like them,
and that associations with place
and food are deeply ingrained;
they punctuate seaside visits.
The same goes for chowder,
which so many coastal restaurants
include out of obligation rather
than inspiration. The Fishermen’s
clam chowder ($4.50 cup, $5.50
bowl) is of this ilk: thick, buttery,
salty, uniformly standard. But like
the fish and chips, I was buoyed
by the Fishermen’s portion and
value. Their cup was near the size
of the average bowl.
In my trips to the Fishermen,
though, I ended up enjoying the
turf more than the surf.
On toasted marble rye, the
Reuben ($9) was just about every-
thing it should be: slurpy, briny,
sweet, salty and bulging with
thick-sliced pastrami.
And the burgers (starting at $7
with fries … or is it $8? The menu
has them both ways), are chubby,
juicy and hand-pressed. They’re
lightly seasoned, but the beef was
of a reasonable quality. I had the
Bacon & Blue Burger ($10 with
fries). The blue cheese was a tad
mild, but the bacon was supple,
cooked just right.
The burger, like the Reuben,
was prepared and assembled
with care. But I couldn’t help but
wonder what Luis might do with
a menu that incorporated more
of himself — a menu that traded,
say, the club sandwich for some-
thing distinct or creative.
But in the thick of Broadway
St., pleasing tourists is job No. 1.
The Fishermen’s scratch pro-
cesses, attentive construction and
value ought to do just that. In such
a setting, exciting the Mouth —
and, by extension, I hope, locals
— is a distant second.
Yet Luis manages to make
me smile in a different light.
I’m pleased to see anyone take
a chance and step out from the
kitchen of regional chains to be
their own boss. CW