Old Oregon Smokehouse shines in new light

Highway 30 seafood market breathes a breath of fresh air under new management approach

By Darryl Swan

The South County Spotlight, Nov 11, 2009, Updated Nov 11, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Darryl Swan / The Spotlight

Bill Kernion of Scappoose hands over some dough for his order of halibut fish ’n chips. Once only offered on weekends, the dish is now part of the Old Oregon Smokehouse’s daily menu.

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Jessi Goedjen has the kind of sunny, sparkling disposition that sets newcomers to the Old Oregon Smokehouse immediately at ease.

That’s a real business plus, especially considering that everyone — everyone — who walks through the front door must immediately forge a close relationship with Goedjen.

Let’s just say the Old Oregon Smokehouse is…cozy, in the stature sense of the word.

“I’m afraid I might outgrow it, but I want to stay here as much as I can,” Goedjen says of the pint-sized digs.

In the eight weeks since she’s taken over management, Goedjen, a former regional sales manager for L.A. Fitness athletic clubs, has introduced charm to the former real estate office building. It’s been repainted a dusky sea-foam green, its walls outfitted with fish market-esque photos (courtesy of Goedjen’s own photography skills), and a section of the counter has been cut away to open unused space to a handful of indoor dining tables and a live Dungeness crab tank, the latter scheduled to be up and running within the next two weeks.

“People walk in and go, ‘Wow, what happened?’” says the smiling 36-year-old. “I’ve girled it up just a little bit.”

Not compromised in the affair, however, has been the seafood. Goedjen’s brother, Adam Brecht, runs daily trips to the coast for the bulk of the fare, except for the halibut, cod and salmon, which is flown in from Alaska. Oregon wild salmon is seasonally available.

It’s the diversity and quality of fresh seafood that keeps Dennis Krieger, 48, of Deer Island as a devout customer.

“I buy all of my seafood here,” Krieger says. “It’s the freshest. That’s the thing, too. It’s not like buying it at the store. It doesn’t even compare.”

Krieger adds that, on some occasions, he’ll purchase as many as 500 oysters at a time. “I’ve never had a bad oyster. Never.”

The Old Oregon Smokehouse got its start a decade ago in Scappoose when Goedjen’s father, Harold Brecht, stopped work as a logger and ventured into the wholesale fish business. There are now four locations: Two in Rockaway Beach and one in Tillamook.

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