The 42^nd Street Café

Treat yourself in Seaview, Washington

I love the beach. When it is stormy I watch the waves and do jigsaw puzzles. When it is windy, we all fly kites. Sunshine makes me walk on headlands to lighthouses, and build sandcastles. With all these activities I get hungry, and finding a great place to eat is a tasty bonus.

The 42^nd Street Café is a delicious find in any weather. It is owned and operated by Blaine and Cheri Walker: he the front of the house manager and wine guru, she the kitchen and all things food-related controller. For over 15 years they have masterminded the growth of this 48 seat restaurant, a neighborhood place lovingly frequented by locals and savvy tourists alike, who relish the menu blend of elegant fine-dining dishes, and down home country favorites. Here we find a nationally-celebrated chef having fun doing what she enjoys: cooking, horseback riding and playing the harp on Sunday evenings October – March at 6:00 p.m.

Photo: Blaine Walker demonstrating one of his critical skills

Cheri, whose interest in cooking started at the tender age of 6 when she couldn't find the fuzzy bunny in her mother's rabbit stew, found herself on the Long Beach Peninsula in 1982, earning national recognition as chef of the Shoalwater Restaurant in the Shelburne Inn.

"…the subtle skills of Cheri Walker are evident throughout."

The quaint timber-framed building now housing the 42nd Street Café was once a Coast Guard barracks, moved to its present location from Fort Canby Station just after WWII. First commercial use was Russell's Café, Beach Home of the Baked Potato, when a 16-oz U.S. choice T-bone steak was $2.95, grilled jumbo razor clams $1.60 and the famed baked potato 25 cents. Then came an all-night Chinese restaurant followed by the Bonnie B Café, Bakery and Court. In 1989, Leonard Guy, the former owner of Mary McCrank's Road House in Chehalis, remodeled and opened the 42nd Street Café, serving American traditional roadhouse favorites with those now infamous complimentary condiments. 42nd Street Café, 4201 Pacific Highway, Seaview WA, 360-642-2323 www.42ndstreetcafe.com Private parking lot, handicap accessible

For twelve years she honed her cooking ability to build flavors of elegant complexity into both sophisticated and simple dishes, taught cooking classes, and co-authored "The Shoalwater's Finest Dinners; Cooking For Wine." In the process, Cheri was named one of the top chefs in the Northwest by Pacific Northwest Magazine.

In 1994 when the Walkers bought the 42^nd Street Café, Cheri's philosophy was "everyone deserves a meal that delights the senses: and flavor needn't be expensive." Her credence holds good to this day. Menus are journeys emphasizing local and fresh ingredients; Blaine's wine list follows with a total Northwest presence.

Wake up in the morning to a Hangtown Fry with local oysters, House-smoked Salmon Scramble or Ma Walker's Chicken, Biscuits and Gravy. If an omelet is more to your liking, choices include crab and shrimp, three-bean chili, a Greek vegetarian or a low country jambalaya. The 42^nd house-made waffles are another tasty option slathered in butter and maple syrup, loaded with local wild blueberries and doused with Cheri's own Wild Blueberry Syrup or for a more savory version, cooked with pieces of thick bacon inside. If sausage, eggs, and fried red potatoes, pot-roasted beef hash, or a chicken-fried steak and eggs are more your style, they are on the menu also. Prices range $6.50 - $13.95.

The lunch menu is served alongside the breakfast menu and offers a range of creative and tasty sandwiches, burgers, pasta, salads, soup and, of course, seafood. It is extremely hard to decide what to eat, because now into the mix comes the Fishmonger burger, a halibut and shrimp cake sandwich on a bun with parsley-caper mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato, pan-fried oysters plain or with Cajun spices or one pound of fresh Willapa Bay steamer clams in white wine and basil pesto. For those who don't want to eat fish every meal of the day, the natural beef cheeseburger is one delicious option, made with hormone-free Oregon Country beef, aged Tillamook white cheddar cheese, Cheri's special sauce, and the optional, though for me necessary, two thick rashers of bacon. Another option is a four-cheese ravioli with sautéed apples, red onions and Parmesan in a cider and Madeira glaze. Lunch menu prices range from $6.50 for a steaming bowl of Cheri's clam chowder to $13.95 for fried razor clams with house-made tartar sauce, hand-cut fries or the 42^nd Street's own honey coleslaw.

Dinner at the 42^nd is a fun and delicious experience. For an appetizer, try the fried green tomatoes with cumin, orange and green chili mayonnaise; savory Dungeness crab beignets rolled in spicy apricot marmalade; or a mousseline of portabello mushrooms and chicken livers with house-made cranberry apple chutney. Next comes a complimentary house salad of mixed greens with your choice of one of Cheri's lively dressings.

Two sets of entrees are listed: "Our Famous Roadhouse Dinners" and" Our Featured Entrées," the latter being of the more fine-dining style and flavors. Even those who aspire to this side of the menu enjoy the complimentary condiments which are reminders of the earlier roadhouse fare: Cheri's own marionberry conserve, with oranges, strawberries, and walnut in the mix, and the corn relish. If you want traditional, choices include cast iron skillet-fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, or the eight hour pot-roast.

Non-traditional entrées showcase Cheri's adept handling of seafood. Again we see her signature fried razor clams and those tasty shellfish from Willapa Bay. But now she adds a complex seafood stew and troller-caught, cedar-planked "wild" Chinook salmon. In an article by Michael Frank in Travel & Leisure, August 2003, he wrote "Cheri's cedar-planked salmon and her 8 Hour Pot Roast are unparalleled." That was four years ago, and the same sentiments are still voiced by satiated patrons. For those non-fishy people, the jumbo pork chop with cranberry barbecue sauce, beef stroganoff made with filet mignon strips or the charbroiled top sirloin steak served with crispy fried onions and a steak butter of Rogue smoked blue cheese and rosemary are the way to go. Entrée prices range $16.95 - $25.95 and include salad, house-baked bread and condiments.

Photo above: Cheri's signature fried razor clams

Desserts change seasonally and ice cream flavors monthly. Past favorites include lemon almond "Dainty," a warmed cranberry bread pudding and a chocolate rum truffle cheesecake. Desserts are typically priced around $6.00.

Blaine Walker, hailed by The Daily Astorian as one of the world's great talkers, is the man behind what the Seattle Times, March 2006, said was an "Outstanding Wine List." His current list offers four white and four red by the glass and bottle; 44 from Washington and 15 Oregon, ranging in price from $19 - $100. His beers ranging $2.75 - $15.00 are mainly from the Northwest and include a selection of vintage and batch-bottled beers.

The 42^nd Street Café has an informative website—check for the sign-in space to receive Blaine's fun, informative, and valuable e-newsletter. It's in this newsletter that Blaine's droll sense of humor really pops.

Penny Rawson/July 2007

Penny Rawson is a long-time Northwest food writer and owner of Penny Rawson Public & Media Relations.

All photos courtesy of James Rawson (yes relation)