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Oregon Coast Tourist Landmark Gets Major Makeover

Oceanside

(Oceanside, Oregon) – That Oregon coast landmark called the Anchor Inn & Grill, in the tiny burgh of Oceanside, has been around just about as long as anyone can remember. After a couple years of finagling with public policies to get the construction okayed, it’s now called the Historic Anchor Inn and Grill and has a greatly expanded menu, a gorgeous dining room and the addition of a beautiful, upscale hotel.

The Anchor is now a much bigger deal.

Owner Steve Camden said the expanded restaurant and larger menu is not an attempt to become more upscale, but instead to open up the dining options and include families, as well as take further advantage of the bar area, upgrade the food and add breakfast to the menu.

The hotel part sits upstairs, above the restaurant and bar area, featuring hardwood floors in all five of the guest rooms. “It’s one of the most lavish places to stay on the Oregon coast,” said Camden. “We wanted to create a boutique inn, with down comforters, duvee covers, plasma screen TV’s and ocean views.”

The inn portion of the premises also boasts European bath fixtures, cast iron tubs and king beds. One suite features ocean views as well as a nearly panoramic view of Maxwell Point and the hills of uber quaint Oceanside.

“It’s designed for couples who want to get away,” Camden said. He added the rooms only allow for two people, partially in reverence of the neighbors, who might be disturbed by larger families staying there. Rates run $175 - $210.

The restaurant is an enormous change from the old building, which had the family-friendly area close to the bar. Now, the two are quite separate, with hardwood floors running beneath both, high ceilings, and a bar that Camden said came from an old booze joint in dusty Colorado.

The interior looks like an upscale restaurant – with an incredible view of the ocean – but it’s not snooty. “We just wanted to upgrade the food,” Camden said. “And we wanted to take advantage of fresh fish products, which we couldn’t really do with the old kitchen.

“We hired a culinary grad from Portland to run the kitchen. We wanted to be able to better balance seafoods and meats, and add a kids menu.”

Camden said the Anchor’s signature dish is its cioppino ($18), which includes salmon, halibut, shrimp, oysters and calamari. The “seafood platter” ($14) contains grilled garlic prawns, seared sea scallops, beer battered halibut and pan-fried oysters. There’s a Parmesan Halibut Fillet, and the Anchor’s old standby: fish & chips for $10. Their large steak selection includes Angus rib eye in a roasted rosemary cream sauce, a New York steak with sun dried tomato cilantro butter, a porterhouse with crab butter and a flame-broiled monster of a burger – all between $8 and $20.

The lunch menu includes a seafood quesadilla, calamari fritti, a smoked salmon spread, and various gourmet sandwiches. Breakfast sees the Anchor start the morning with what Camden calls the Anchor’s signature omelet (includes cod and shrimp), and various combinations of steaks, omelet incarnations and some enormous breakfast sandwiches. They also serve espresso.

At this point, the bar is only open until about 9 p.m. It will stay open later in the summer months. www.oceansideshistoricanchorinn.com. 1505 Pacific Hwy, Oceanside. 503-842-2041.

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