14 // COasTWeeKeNd.COM
Thursday,
15 February
// COasTWeeKeNd.COM
14, 2019 // 14
READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS
BEST BURGER, BEST CHEF, BEST CLAM CHOWDER, BEST FINE DINING
BEST LIVE THEATER, BEST MUSIC VENUE
BEST COFFEE, BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE
THE LIBERTY THEATRE
Colin Murphey
Michael Lalewicz sets a table in the dining room of The Depot Restaurant in Seaview, Wash.
THE DEPOT
SEAVIEW, WASH.
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
BEST BURGER
Runner-up: Portway Tavern, astoria
Honorable mention: dairy Maid, Warrenton
BEST CHEF
Runner-up: dan brownson, Carruthers
Honorable mention: andrew Catalano, street 14
Cafe
BEST CLAM CHOWDER
Runner-up: buoy beer Company, astoria
Honorable mention: silver salmon Grille, astoria
BEST FINE DINING
Runner-up: Carruthers, astoria
Honorable mention: T. Paul’s supper Club, astoria
his isn’t the first time the popular
Seaview restaurant on the Long Beach
Peninsula has won first place Read-
ers’ Choice awards for Best Burger, Best Clam
Chowder, Best Chef and Best Fine Dining.
“We’re honored,” said Nancy Gorshe,
manager and proprietor at The Depot. “At the
same time,” she added, laughing, “it makes us
nervous every year.”
Diners who have enjoyed the restaurant’s
regular offerings of rib eye steak or southern
comfort pork — a slow braised pork shoulder
that pairs sweet and savory and so delights
one customer he has told executive chef
Michael Lalewicz that it would be his choice
for a last meal if he ended up on death row —
see no reason for the nerves.
The restaurant, which opened 16 years
ago, is housed in Seaview’s historic train
depot. Trains that passed through the depot
T
transported mail, passengers and thousands of
sacks of oysters.
Gorshe and Lalewicz say they are lucky
to have a fabulous staff, some of whom have
been longterm employees. In the kitchen, sous
chef Jamie Gisby has been with them for 12
years while junior chef Roger Moorley has
been there for 10. Longtime server Don Porter
earned a second-place mention in this year’s
Reader’s Choice.
“We could not be doing this without our
amazing team,” Gorshe said.
Lalewicz and his kitchen change The
Depot’s menu twice a year, following the sea-
sons and using fresh ingredients. Simplicity is
often key.
Take that award-winning chowder, made
with only a few ingredients and fresh oysters.
Lalewicz decided not to include bacon, often
a popular ingredient in clam chowders, opt-
ing instead to bring the flavors of the oysters
to the forefront.
Every Wednesday from October through
June, The Depot holds a burger night. Din-
ers design their own custom burger from a list
of possible ingredients that include options as
basic as lettuce and tomato to less common
toppings like avocado, pineapple and a friend
egg.
Special wine dinners, where dishes are
paired with specific wines, allow the restau-
rant to branch out in its offerings.
Lalewicz designed The Depot’s first
menus around foods he himself loved to eat
— an approach that continues to guide the
restaurant.
“I just wanted to make things that I liked,
things that I craved and savored,” he said. CW
Colin Murphey
Micha Cameron-Lattek, who co-owns Street 14 Cafe with his wife, Jennifer, mixes a coffee drink
behind the counter.
STREET 14 CAFE
ASTORIA
By RYAN HUME
edward stratton
Indie folk band Blind Pilot — including (from left) bassist Luke Ydstie, trumpeteer and keyboardist Dave Jorgensen, lead singer Israel Nebeker, drummer Ryan Dobrowski, percussionist Ian Krist
and multi-instrumentalist Kati Claborn — kicked off Liberty Theatre’s Sunset Series in 2016, part of an effort to draw a younger audience to the historic venue.
ASTORIA
By EDWARD STRATTON
BEST LIVE THEATER
Runner-up: astor street Opry Company,
astoria
Honorable mention: Coaster Theatre Play-
house, Cannon beach
BEST MUSIC VENUE
Runner-up: Fort George brewery, astoria
Honorable mention: sou’wester Lodge,
seaview, Wash.
he Liberty Theatre, the
region’s oldest concert hall, has
taken home the Readers’ Choice
awards for Best Live Theater and Best
Music Venue — two awards it won last
year.
The theater, originally opened in
1925 after a major fire destroyed much
of downtown, was restored and reopened
in 2006 by local nonprofit Liberty Resto-
ration Inc. The theater has since become
the region’s preeminent venue for classical
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music, highlighted by the Astoria Music
Festival entering its 17th year.
Last year, the theater hosted more than
17,000 visitors, including 10,000 paying
customers, 4,600 attending free community
events and 2,500 visiting students. Execu-
tive Director Jennifer Crockett credits the
theater’s popularity to its responsiveness to
patrons, adding new events and dropping
others that have fallen out of favor.
“We don’t want to get too comfortable,”
she said. “We always want to keep engag-
ing with our patrons.”
In 2016, Liberty Theatre began the Sun-
set Series, bringing in more modern rock
and folk bands such as Blind Pilot in an
effort to attract a younger audience, along
with a partnership with Ohana Media
Group to bring in tribute bands. The the-
ater has also focused more on dance
groups such as BodyVox and free fam-
ily events to get more people in the door,
Crockett said.
The theater has expanded its role in
the annual FisherPoets Gathering, hosting
readings Feb. 22 and 23 this year. It will
hold the Hollywood Awards Night, a live
screening of the Academy Awards, Feb.
24. In May, the venue will host a Cinco De
Mayo celebration in partnership with the
Lower Columbia Hispanic Council featur-
ing Mi Cultura ballet folkloric and regional
mariachi bands.
The original restoration of the Lib-
erty Theatre took seven years and $6 mil-
lion, focusing on the building itself. Lib-
erty Restoration Inc. is now in the midst of
a $3.3 million modernization of its back-
stage, concessions and other support areas.
Its first annual gala in November took in
$300,000.
Over the next couple of months, the the-
ater will roll out new LED lighting in its
iconic sign on Commercial Street, along
with other improvements to the facade
and box office, to show that it is making
progress and spending the money people
have given to improve the theater, Crock-
ett said. “Basically, it’s just visibility and
experience.” CW
BEST COFFEE
Runner-up: The rusty Cup, astoria
Honorable mention: 3 Cups Coffee house,
astoria
BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE
Runner-up: The rusty Cup, astoria
Honorable mention: The depot restaurant,
seaview, Wash.
icha Cameron-Lattek, co-owner
of Street 14 Café along with his
partner Jennifer, has a pretty
good idea of why his well-regarded cof-
fee shop snagged another Readers’ Choice
award for Best Coffee, as well as addi-
tional kudos for Best Customer Service.
“Part of the reason we like working
with Stumptown is the resources,” Camer-
on-Lattek said. “We take advantage of all
the training resources we can get.”
The Cameron-Latteks have a longtime
relationship with the award-winning Port-
land-based coffee roaster, going back to
their days brewing cups of Joe in Ber-
lin, Germany, before they transplanted to
Astoria.
Case in point, upon a recent visit to
Street 14 to congratulate them upon their
Readers’ Choice wins, two trainers from
M
Jennifer Crockett, executive director of the
Liberty Theatre in Astoria.
Stumptown were out on the coast to perco-
late a discussion.
Cameron-Lattek is quick to point out the
knowledgeable and affable nature of their
staff. “We have had a pretty solid crew for
over two years now,” he said.
The main blend they use for espresso
drinks is Stumptown’s Hairbender, which
is sourced from Indonesian, Latin Ameri-
can and East African beans. But, as Camer-
on-Lattek pointed out, there’s much more
to a coffee drink than just the grounds.
“Ninety per cent of our drinks are milk-
based,” he said.
The cafe has forged relationships with
local farmers and vendors for their menu,
so milk from, say, the Bennett Family Farm
in Tillamook can also be used for coffee
drinks for a small additional fee. They also
keep seasonal rotating house-drip coffee on
hand.
Of course, part of great customer ser-
vice in a small town is also being a great
neighbor. Street 14 does this through multi-
ple donations to local organizations as well
as through hosting pop-up events.
Look for a one-night-only event on Feb.
15, when Street 14 will turn over their
kitchen to Smoked Bones BBQ. March 1
will usher in another annual Ferry Street
Friday, where there will be specials and
sales at many 14th Street businesses. CW