written by Kerry Newberry
Start your morning with the locals at Sea Level Bakery (www.sealevelbakery.com), a husband-and-wife-owned spot serving up scratch-baked bread, veg-packed quiche and pastry specials like a crispy, caramelized kouign-amann, blueberry scones and sticky buns the size of frisbees. Expect a line on most days, but it’s easy to pass the time watching cute beach dogs bustle by.
Next stop, picnic provisions for the beach, which you can find a few blocks away at Fresh Foods Cannon Beach (www.freshfoodsmarketplace.com). Early summer, local berries start to roll in and you’ll find ready-made snacks to tuck in beach totes. After exploring the town’s art galleries, boutiques and indie bookstores, swing by the boat-to-table Ecola Seafoods (www.ecolaseafoods.com) for a classic crab cocktail or a deeply satisfying seafood-and-chips basket.
Find your afternoon refresh at the beloved Sleepy Monk Coffee Roasters (www.sleepymonkcoffee.com) or Suzy’s Scoops (www.suzysscoops.com). After more beachcombing, enjoy a convivial happy hour at Cannon Beach Hardware & Public House (www.cannonbeachhardware.com), the coast’s only combo hardware shop and pub (modeled after the iconic Foxy John’s Pub in Dingle, Ireland).
For a casual dinner, the fresh fish tacos or signature IPA-brined chicken salad at Public Coast Brewing (www.publiccoastbrewing.com) can’t be beat. Reserve ahead of time for an elegant four-course tasting menu at the Stephanie Inn (www.stephanieinn.com), where chef Aaron Bedard puts his own creative spin on classics like Dungeness crab cakes with creamy risotto and wild leeks and lingcod Oscar.
BEST PLACES TO SHOP THE DOCKS
CAPTAIN’S CORNER
Two couples are reimagining what a seafood market can be in the charming fishing village of Garibaldi. Set near commercial fishing docks, the market stocks its fish counter with the seasonal catch—crab, tuna, rockfish and shellfish. The owners can tell you the name of the captain of the boat from which the catch came. On sunny afternoons, order up a round of oyster shooters, a crab or shrimp cocktail or clam chowder, perch at one of the picnic tables outside and watch charter boat guides unload their prize fish.
500 BIAK AVE.
GARIBALDI
www.captscorner.com
PORT OF NEWPORT
At the peak of summer, join weekend tours of Newport’s fishing docks with Oregon Sea Grant, a cooperative program between NOAA and Oregon State University. These “Shop the Dock” walks give an introduction to the Port of Newport, home to around eighty vessels that haul in Dungeness crab, pink shrimp, black cod, halibut, tuna and more. On the walk, you’ll meet local fishers and have the opportunity to buy direct from commercial fishing boats in the town that’s deemed “The Dungeness Crab Capital of the World.”
SW BAY BOULEVARD
NEWPORT
www.seagrant.oregonstate.edu/outreach-and-engagement/shop-dock
PORTS FOR OREGON ALBACORE
When the Oregon Albacore fleet is in, you can shop the docks from Warrenton to Winchester Bay and many port towns in between. Visit the Oregon Albacore Commission’s website for updates and contact information for individual fishers that sell direct to consumers such as Patrick Roelle, who captains James Lee, a beautiful wooden fishing vessel designed to go out to sea for up to thirty days.
OREGON COAST
www.oregonalbacore.org/the-fleet-is-in
