The Mango Lassie

Empanada Boy and I are in Portland visiting our respective family members and getting ready to celebrate Passover. After a delicious, but pricey, lunch on Friday at Wildwood in Portland, I was back in the groove of fresh, local Northwest-style eating. That theme carried into our meal of freshly caught dungeness crab from Cannon Beach’s Ecola Seafood. Unfortunately, Wildwood is above my price range and beyond the confines of this blog. But yesterday in Cannon Beach, we visited another spot that serves cuisine that is just as quintessentially Northwest in spirit.

That place was the Warren House Pub, an historic house turned into a restaurant and brewpub. The house, which is South of the heart of Cannon Beach, was originally owned by William and Emma Warren, early pioneers to the area. It’s owned by the same people who own Bill’s Tavern, a popular pub and brewery on the main strip of town. Bill’s makes its own beer, and the Warren House serves that along with a few other options.

I tried the hop-infused Duckdive Pale Ale and Mango Mama and Daddy Salmon both ordered a hefeweizen known as Foggy Notion. EB tried the Shark Rock Red made by the Astoria Brewing Company in Astoria, OR. It was late, and we were all in serious need of some sustenance, so these already tasty brews seemed even more divine.

What better to pair with a beer than a burger? That’s exactly what Mango Mama was thinking was she ordered Ken’s Big Boy, a truly well-made burger, topped with grilled onions, mushrooms and Pepperjack cheese. This was a simple, yet decadent option, served on a plump Kaiser roll. It proved the already well-established point that mastery of the classics is a sign of greatness. The burger comes with a choice of chips or pea salad, and Mango Mama chose the later. The salad is a relatively light mixture of green peas, onions, bleu cheese and water chestnuts. It is a perfect side dish for a heavy meal, virtually guaranteeing that you can’t leave feeling as uncomfortably full as you would with a side of fries.

EB and I took burgers to a new level by ordering the oyster burger, made with a tender fried oyster from nearby Willapa Bay breaded in panko and grilled. It was delicious, flavorful and filling, despite being much smaller than the burger. EB and I were in heaven after taking our first bites because we could taste the ocean in those oysters, making them into symbols of that time and place.

Daddy Salmon tried a riff on schwarma with the Greek “Meats” West sandwich, made with lamb, mushrooms and olives, among other things stuffed into a pita. I thought there was too much of the caper feta cheese sauce on top of the meat. The dish was tasty, but it lacked that special connection to the surrounding environment that we tasted so clearly in the oysters.

Empanada Boy and I look forward to our return trip to the Warren House Pub. When we come back next time, we’ll taste another seasonal beer and sample more unique local pub fare. Maybe then we’ll get another taste of the Oregon Coast with the Pacific halibut burger. My mouth waters at the thought of it.

Warren House Pub
3301 S. Hemlock St.
Cannon Beach, OR 97110
503.436.1130