Longtime PDX Oyster Bar Renovates, Adds Ice Cream Parlor
Monday, February 23, 2015
Photo: Dan & Louis Oyster Bar Facebook page. 
First open in 1907, it was a few years later, with the advent of prohibition, that Louis C. Wachsmuth acquired the food bar from the famous Merchant’s Exchange Saloon formerly located on Southwest First Avenue and Ankeny Street and started serving hot oyster stew—the same recipe they use to this day.
As the Dan & Louis Oyster Bar website indicates, "soon the old bar couldn’t accommodate the growing number of hungry customers and Louis built several small dining rooms adjacent to the bar. Seating for larger parties was provided when the “Main” dining room with its distinctive sailing ship interior was built in 1937. The opening of the “Reserve” dining room with the ship shaped kitchen “Star of Oregon” followed in 1940."
It is in the ship-shaped kitchen where much of the major remodel is being done. The kitchen is under going a $40,000 remodel that will repurpose the original Star of Oregon kitchen. The plan is to also add a flash bar to the dining room.
The renovation will also make room for a hand-crafted, made in-house ice cream that will be served from a new shop on the corner of Southwest Ankeny and Second Avenue. General Manager Robert Cross says they will also open up the buildings boarded over windows on of Second Avenue, a view that has been closed to the public since the early 40’s.
This will be the first addition to the space since Dan & Louis added a bar in the early 90’s.
Cross says they hope to open of the ice cream shop just in time for summer.
Banner photo: Interior of Dan & Louis Oyster Bar
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The Tenth Annual Portland Seafood and Wine Festival at the Oregon Convention Center landed smack dab in the middle of Dungeness Crab season.
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Seafood and Wine Folks
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