Owners of popular South Beach Fish Market took very different routes to Newport

By KATHLEEN O’CONNOR/Lincoln Chronicle

It’s hard to say whether South Beach Fish Market at the south end of the Yaquina Bay Bridge is better known for its crisp, golden fish and chips or for its wide selection of fresh fish and seafood to take home for dinner.

Clams, shrimp, all kinds of fish, and most importantly, Dungeness crab, fill the cold case every day. The lunch menu includes just about every type of seafood the central Oregon coast has to offer.

This colorful, quirky business is owned by Jim Iverson and Steve Halsey, longtime friends with very different backgrounds.

Iverson grew up in Detroit but left as a young man after the 1964 riots disrupted the city. He moved to Chicago only to witness the 1968 riots there. He decided to make his way west, spending what he describes as his roughest years mining gold in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California.

Halsey, on the other hand, grew up in Los Angeles, where his father was an aerospace engineer. In high school he earned spending money working at a sheet metal shop in Manhattan Beach and spent his teenage nights body surfing in the ocean near his family’s home. After graduating from college in Arkansas, he completed law school at the University of San Diego.

He went on to practice law in San Diego, mostly handling divorces. Within five years he grew weary of the negativity and returned to the sheet metal shop.

Iverson, who had learned the trade in Detroit, was working there at the time, and the two became friends. After 10 years Halsey rose to become the firm’s general manager but was dismissed when the family-owned company was passed to the next generation. He returned to practicing law, this time in Missouri with a focus on estate planning, but after Sept. 11, 2001 he was again looking for a change, especially wanting to get back near the ocean.

By then Iverson had settled in Newport. He had purchased South Beach Fish Market, then known as the Lighthouse Deli, in 1990, shortly after it was started by Dick Goodreau. In 2001 he decided to start a small crab shack on the Newport bayfront, and convinced Halsey to join him in Newport as the “crab man”.

The two became business partners shortly after Halsey arrived, and they went on to turn the South Beach Fish Market into a coastal landmark.

Question: Tell us about how South Beach Fish Market moved from such small beginnings to its current size.

Answer: “When I bought the business in 1990 it was very new so there wasn’t any traction yet,” Iverson said. “On a good day we made about $60. I spent years building a reputation by buying fresh fish from the Newport fishing fleet for both the cold case and for fish and chips. Over time I expanded the restaurant menu, and I did my best to always have a wide selection of fresh seafood.

“Two things happened that pushed the business to the next level. First, ODOT did extensive work on the bridge in 1997, backing up traffic for long periods of time. People would leave their cars for a short period of time to come in and order lunch or buy fish for dinner. Then, in 2002, a feature in The Oregonian about our market brought a lot of new customers — locals and visitors. From there the business has continued to grow. We’re now frequently named as one of the top places to order fish and chips on the Oregon coast, and we work hard to earn those honors.”

Q: What is the process for acquiring fresh fish for the cold counter and for the restaurant offerings?

A: We work with about 30 local Newport fishermen/women, and we start buying at 6:30 in the morning. They are all experienced people who know how to handle their catches, and they know the quality and size that we want. For Dungeness crabs, for example, we will only buy crabs that weigh two or more pounds. Fishing seasons vary so sometimes it’s necessary for us to buy from fishermen in Washington, Alaska or Canada. We buy enough tuna to vacuum pack and freeze so that we can offer it all year round.

Q: How are the South Beach Fish Market and the South Beach Grocery related?

A: The South Beach Grocery has been here since 1948. When the fish market opened in 1990 we leased our space from the owner of the grocery until 2012 when we were able to buy the grocery business and the property from him. Our minds are at ease now because previously there was always the possibility that the fish market lease wouldn’t be renewed. Owning both businesses and the property has given us more flexibility. We’ve been able to expand the indoor restaurant seating and add additional parking. The grocery store used to be open 24 hours a day but recently we were robbed for the first and only time, and we decided to adjust the hours to 4 a.m. to midnight. An employee is still onsite overnight, stocking shelves from midnight to 4 a.m.

We changed the name from Lighthouse Deli to South Beach Fish Market in 2007, mostly to reflect our location, making it a bit easier for people to find us.

Q: How do you manage the crowds in the summer?

A: The fish market is open year-round from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and can get very busy in the summer.  Wait times of 30 or 40 minutes aren’t unusual. Most people are happy to wait for their favorite thing on the menu, and eating outside at our weathered tables is part of the experience. In the summer, we add extra staff at the front counter to take orders and get them to the kitchen more quickly. When we first started back in 1990 we just had two fryers in the kitchen – now we have five – four for fish and one for fries.

Fish and chips is by far our most popular menu item, with about half our customers ordering cod and chips and half ordering halibut and chips. The crab burger is another favorite, made with four ounces of fresh Dungeness crab.

Q: What other services do you offer?

A: We operate the only crab boiler in Newport, so we are constantly cooking crabs for people who have caught them in Yaquina Bay. We charge 50 cents each to cook them, and 50 cents each to clean them.

Our timing for cooking crabs is precise – they are cooked for 17 minutes starting from the time the water returns to a boil after the crabs are added.

We also offer canned fish – tuna, salmon, sturgeon and oysters. We obtain the seafood locally and have it shipped to Chuck’s Seafood in Charleston to be canned. In addition, we ship our canned items and fresh seafood anywhere in the United States. For recreational fisherman we will vacuum pack their catch and store it until they are ready to leave town or have it shipped.

Tell us a secret.

We have a secret recipe for clam chowder, but as you might expect, we can’t tell you what that is…