Owner of thriving Luna Sea in Yachats buys former Yuzen restaurant in Seal Rock to open second outlet, even in these crazy times

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com

Other restaurant owners tell Robert Anthony he’s nuts to be opening a second outlet during a pandemic.

He shrugs that he might be.

But after record years at his Luna Sea Fish House in Yachats, Anthony is expanding north – buying the former Yuzen Japanese restaurant in Seal Rock. By mid-March or April, it will become LunaSea of Seal Rock.

“Who in their right mind would buy a restaurant in the middle of Covid,” Anthony asks himself.

Well, he answers himself, “I have.”

By the time the building is cleaned, gets a new kitchen, some interior remodeling and decorating, and outside grounds filled with tents and picnic tables, Anthony will have made one of the biggest investments of his life.

“It’s a great location,” he says during a break in overseeing work at the property. “The Pacific Ocean is right across the street. There’s campgrounds everywhere. Highway 101 is right outside.”

The Yuzen restaurant has been closed since last July when its owner, Kazunori Bessho, 73, drowned after falling into an irrigation reservoir at Crestview Golf Course in Waldport. His family, which operates restaurants in Las Vegas, did not want to continue with his Seal Rock business.

The opening of the restaurant will add another bit of business activity in Seal Rock, whose businesses have struggled a bit the last few years. A convenience store and pizza maker have opened to the north and the popular Indulge Sweets candy store has moved out of it’s longtime home to the red building next door to LunaSea.

Although still limited by coronavirus restrictions, Anthony says Luna Sea in Yachats has thrived because it has ample outside seating, does well with take-out meals and is open seven days a week, 365 days a year. Now 12 years old, Luna Sea had record sales in 2019 – and still beat that in 2020.

It was the lure of a big lot to handle outside seating – including plans for a tented area — with ample parking that sealed the Seal Rock location deal for Anthony.

“It’s huge,” he says of the property. “That’s what pulled the trigger for me to buy it – the room for outside dining.”

Owner not shy about jumping in

Anthony, 70, is a well-known figure around Yachats.

He’s seen constantly around his restaurant, dropping off supplies or jumping in to take orders when customers pile up. He’s not afraid to take on or pitch in on construction projects, whether it be staining boards, climbing ladders to help with a new building, or spending a Saturday helping paint the interior of his new place.

And then there’s the fishing.

Anthony started commercial fishing for salmon on the F/V Luna from Santa Cruz, Calif. in 1980. In 1988 he sailed north to Oregon, fishing out of Newport after California’s earlier salmon season wound down.

After two seasons in Oregon, he moved to Yachats – traveling south to California for the early salmon season in California, then returning to fish off the central coast in mid-summer. He bought his current boat, the 45-foot F/V Liberty, to replace the Luna in 2008.

To make ends meet between seasons, Anthony had his salmon and tuna canned and then sold them, first at craft fairs, then at fish markets and other outlets along the coast.

In 2008 a taqueria in Luna Sea’s current location in Yachats closed. Anthony knew little to nothing about the restaurant business, but jumped in. He credits his first manager, Judy Buchko, now owner of Nye Beach Café, for creating the menu and running the place.

“She started the learning curve for me,” he says.

Luna Sea’s menu focuses on the same simple but variety of fish and chips, fish tacos, in-season crab, clams and slumgullion. In 2019, a travel writer for The Oregonian newspaper said the restaurant had the best fish and chips on the Oregon coast.

“It’s been the same menu since we started,” Anthony says.

Yachats menu moves north

That philosophy will move north to Seal Rock.

The new restaurant will carry the same menu – with three notable additions — and have staff rotate between the two sites. Anthony will be hiring, including up to 25 more people for the busy summer season.

The Seal Rock restaurant will offer crab cakes and Marionberry cobbler – not usually available in Yachats. And, unlike in Yachats, Anthony plans a full bar including beer on tap.

Luna Sea stopped breakfast service in Yachats when the pandemic forced closures and changes. Anthony hasn’t decided yet whether to offer it in Seal Rock.

The interior of the Seal Rock restaurant is much larger than the one in Yachats and is getting a makeover to give it a more nautical look. But it was the possibilities outside that sealed the deal for Anthony.

Workers will cut a large door on the south side of the building to allow direct access to the kitchen, which is getting remodeled and refurbished.

There’s a large concrete pad that can be covered with a wood patio and tent or wood awning. The large, grassy lot will have at least 20 picnic tables, Anthony said. There’s also room to the east for a small bandstand for musicians.

“It’s a nice lot that will enable us to do a lot of things,” he said.

But it will not have – at least at the start – sushi, which was the main attraction at Yuzen. Anthony says he wants to get the place up and running before considering adding sushi.

“If I do sushi I want it to be top notch,” he said.