By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – Michael McQuay, owner of the popular Kokopelli Grill in Port Angeles, seems to have weathered the Covid storm better than many in the industry. But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t felt the pinch. McQuay recently closed his other restaurant, Coyote BBQ Pub, conveniently located right next door at Front and Lincoln. He says skyrocketing meat prices during the pandemic made the BBQ business unsustainable.
“We couldn’t raise our prices fast enough. When prime brisket went from three dollars a pound to 6, which puts it, after it’s trimmed and smoked, it’s about the same cost to me as filet mignon, and we just couldn’t keep up with the prices.”
That’s not to say that he’s out of the BBQ business, but more on that later. The location has been shuttered for a few weeks, but that’s only so McQuay and company could retool the venue for his latest venture, the Hook and Line Pub, Port Angeles’ newest seafood restaurant, set to open Monday.
“It’s a better fit for our location. And the other thing is, you know, there’s a lot of restaurants in town that have fish and chips on their menu, but there isn’t a fish and chip and chowder house in Port Angeles. And we’ve needed one. That’s just a big hole in the menu cycle of what’s available. Especially downtown. We’re right on the water, I just knew it was the right thing to do.”
Anyone who’s sampled McQuay’s fish and chips or smoked salmon chowder at CrabFest or the Juan de Fuca Festival knows that he’s good at those, but the menu at Hook and Line takes a much deeper dive. Start with fresh oysters, Dungeness crab cakes or Louisiana gumbo, with shrimp, halibut, cod and andouille sausage over rice.
“And it’s the bomb. If you’ve never had it, it’s the bomb. Along with a gluten-free clam chowder that is so freaking good. No bacon, no flour. Took me awhile to perfect that.”
Hook and Line will also be serving up New Orleans-style Po’ Boy sandwiches with your choice of fish, shrimp or fried oysters, a crab and shrimp melt on sourdough, and Baja-style seafood tacos.
As for BBQ, you won’t find that at Hook and Line, but Coyote BBQ Catering Service is alive and well.
“I’ve got one huge smoker and two smaller smokers. But yeah, I mean 40, 50, 60, 100, 150, 200, 300, we can still kill it with barbecue and we still will.”
Hook and Line opens Monday, March 7, noon to 8 daily, corner of Front and Lincoln.