|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Fresh fish is back at Pelagic Fish Market, formerly Princeton Seafood Market, as of Feb. 8.
The Half Moon Bay fish market underwent renovations to fix equipment and infrastructure, and despite its new name, the fish market’s goal will remain largely unchanged – it will still offer filleted fish, boiled crab and other local seafood, said David Westendorf, CEO of Pelagic Restaurant Group. The grand opening is planned for salmon season in April, at which time the market will offer refrigerated goods like bottled beers and takeaway kits featuring items like corn-on-the-cob, bread and boiled crab, Westendorf said.
For Westendorf, reopening Pelagic Fish Market (as well as nearby Pelagic Harbor Grill and Ketch Harbor Pub) was a flashback to his childhood – when he worked at the Scoop Deck at Dana Point Harbor.
“It was probably the best job I ever had in terms of smiles and satisfaction,” he said.
Westendorf said he “always wanted to open up a restaurant… that has the energy of the harbor and can capture the passion and the terroir that Half Moon Bay has.” An entrepreneur in the startup world for 33 years, founding the Pelagic Restaurant Group was his debut into the food and beverage industry, and he plans to use his restaurant group to create career development opportunities.
“We have aims of trying to create a place where employees come to do better with themselves, improve their lives,” he said. “We aim to try to create a special place where they not just come for work, but they come for improvement and self development as well.”
Westendorf plans to offer language services to help workers develop fluency in English and to create a culinary higher education so people can learn about hospitality management and strategic planning, he said.
The Pelagic Restaurant Group is a recently formed LLC of 12 people participating financially, but also with their time and expertise, Westendorf said.
“Our investors have an eye not just on a financial return, but on an emotional return, adding to the depth of our community, getting satisfaction out of that as well,” he said. “We have an investor who’s taken the general manager role of our fish market, who’s an expert in fisheries and fishery protection, and another one who’s a window and door expert, and so he’s done all the construction, the entire front facade for us as his contribution.”
Westendorf recently reopened Ketch Harbor Pub, formerly known as Ketch Joanne Restaurant and Harbor Bar, modernizing the space and increasing seating capacity.
April will be a big month for the Pelagic Restaurant Group – in addition to the grand opening of Pelagic Fish Market, the group plans to also reopen Pelagic Harbor Grill, formerly Princeton Seafood. Unlike Pelagic Fish Market, however, Pelagic Harbor Grill will look, feel and taste completely different.
“The cuisine is going to be a new theme that we’ve forged, which is called ‘world ocean fusion,’” Westendorf said. “We’ve gathered recipes from beach communities around the world and are creating a new type of cuisine that celebrates the relationship that people have with the ocean and culture and humanity.”
Pelagic Fish Market, 9 Johnson Pier, Half Moon Bay. Instagram: @pelagicfishmarket. Open weekdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Wednesdays) and weekends 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.