Welcome to Neskowin’s living room
By Gretchen Ammerman
Oregon Coast TODAY
When Genie and Frank Ullrich decided to pass the torch of the Cafe on Hawk Creek on to new owners, they took care that it went to the right people.
“They were really nervous about someone messing up their baby,” said new owner Josh Johnston. “It’s such a big part of the Neskowin village community and they didn’t want that to change.”
So the couple did research into Independent Restaurant Concepts, the company Johnston owns and operates with partner Jim Hall, and decided they were just the right people for the job.
“They found out about some of our projects, like the Cadillac Cafe,” Johnston said. “There was already an amazing following when we bought it, so we didn’t want to do anything to lose the essential flavor of it. Our goal was to not change anything in the front, but do what we could in the back to help it thrive.”
Another of the business partners' pet projects is Paddy’s Bar & Grill, the oldest Irish pub in Portland.
“That was another place with an amazing history and a dedicated local following,” Johnston said. “We mostly wanted to keep it open and continue giving the same customer experience it’s had all along.”
Projects like these assured the Ullrichs that the Neskowin village’s “living room” was safe.
“It’s hard to create character and history in a strip mall,” Johnston said. “These historical institutions are gems and we like to preserve them as much as possible.”
Johnston and Hall met roughly 20 years ago at a Harriers run which, now that they are shared pub owners, makes perfect sense: the Hash House Harriers groups welcome “drinkers with a running problem,” and value fun as much as they value a good workout.
Johnston, an OSU alumnus who played professional rugby for many years, had recently returned to Portland after playing internationally.
“Jim was a merchant marine based out of Portland and I was getting ready to quit my job and go backpacking with my girlfriend but we broke up before the trip so I put out a message to anyone who wanted to go. Jim mailed me a walky-talky, which immediately charmed me, and we met up in Cuzco then backpacked through Peru and Bolivia and just got along really well. He was already working on opening a business when the trip was over and I was planning to open a bar so we decided to partner up. We opened our first place, North 45, then took over Paddy’s and the rest is history.”
The addition of the cafe at the coast has brought the number of places they own to nine.
“I’m obviously biased, but I think we are a neat company because we are just two owner-operator guys that are pretty accessible,” Johnston said. “But because we own multiple restaurants we can also provide the kind of things corporations can, like stability through seasonal changes.”
Based in Portland, the company purchased a home in the Neskowin village and retained the Cafe on Hawk Creek chef, who lives locally, so that they can be as much a part of the community as possible.
This also gives them the opportunity to enjoy the menu.
“I try to mix it up,” Johnston said. “The pizzas are fantastic but I order the shrimp melt a lot and the halibut bites, which are one of our biggest sellers.”
One change that the business partners make when they begin operations of a new place is to keep all the customer favorites on the menu but remove anything that doesn’t sell so that they can try new things and give customers more options.
“One of the things we added is the truffle cheese bread,” Johnston said. “It is really fantastic and fast becoming a customer favorite.”
The truffle cheese bread is cooked in the wood oven and topped with hot honey, truffle oil and green onions and served with marinara.
“Another thing that blows my mind is the truffle ravioli,” Johnston said. “It has the perfect balance of richness and brightness.”
Mushroom truffle ravioli comes topped with sautéed asparagus, snap peas, balsamic tomatoes and herb cream sauce.
The Hawk Creek Cafe has long been known for its wood oven fired pizzas, so any changes made there were made carefully.
“Pizza is such a big seller but also a big choke point since they are all cooked in the wood-fired oven, so we can only do a few at a time. It sounds counterintuitive, but we expanded the signature pizza menu to make it more efficient.”
They are also making small but fun changes to the Village Scoop, the little van that vends ice cream and other treats in front of the cafe’s large, open deck.
“With the evolution of to-go drinks with alcohol, we came up with what we are calling ‘easy slushies,’” Johnston said. “We’ll have a rotating menu of flavors like margarita. But we’re keeping the rest the same. Why mess with what works?”
The Ullrichs can sleep well knowing that their baby is in good hands.
The Cafe on Hawk Creek is located in Neskowin at 4505 Salem Avenue and is open from noon until 8 pm, Sunday through Thursday and noon to 9 pm Friday and Saturday.
For more information, go to www.cafeonhawkcreek.com.