By Owen Sexton / owen@chronline.com
Having closed in September 2021, the longtime residence of the Package Carson Household Restaurant in Chehalis stayed vacant for a couple of yr earlier than Seattle Chef Eyner “Rene” Cardona started renovating the constructing in preparation to open his first restaurant, Ocean Prime, a household eating expertise.
He’s now weeks away from the grand opening, which Cardona hopes will happen earlier than Christmas. All that’s left to do is to complete up renovations and prepare the brand new employees.
The Chronicle met with Cardona and his new normal supervisor, Saul Vargas, to speak about what made them select Chehalis and their plans for Ocean Prime’s menu.
Cardona started his profession working at Ruth’s Chris Steak Home after which spent 15 years within the kitchen of BluWater Bistro in Seattle. He selected to depart Seattle for Chehalis to be nearer to household, as he has cousins who reside within the space.
“I used to be working laborious for this, now it’s time to open my very own place,” Cardona mentioned.
Ocean Prime’s menu might be totally from scratch, in accordance with Cardona, from the sauces and salad dressings to butchering steaks and fileting recent fish.
“It’d take a bit of bit longer to prepare dinner, however every thing goes to be recent. I see in a whole lot of eating places that they use pre-made dressings or frozen meals. That is gonna be completely different,” Cardona mentioned.
The primary staples of the menu might be steak and salmon; nonetheless, there might be loads of different objects for the discerning palate. On Monday morning, The Chronicle was invited to a menu sampling together with members of Cardona’s household and the house owners of the constructing, Steven and Michelle Blankenship.
Among the many menu objects included have been three types of steak: ribeye, dry aged New York strip and tomahawk. All three got here out completely cooked to a young medium uncommon, served with fluffy, house-made mashed potatoes and inexperienced beans, amongst different sides. And talking of steaks, the surf’n’turf with lobster was a divine mixture when cooked by Cardona.
A hand-tossed bleu cheese salad was additionally sampled that got here garnished with candied nuts, crimson onions and pear slices.
An 8-ounce king salmon filet was additionally served. Different seafood dishes included clams in butter sauce and prawns in tomato gravy. The hand-pressed burgers have been additionally grilled to perfection, juicy, sizzling and completely balanced with recent crunch of crimson onions, lettuce and tomatoes in addition to a house-made chipotle aioli.
Within the opinion of this reporter, who himself labored for almost a decade in varied kitchens, Cardona is aware of what he’s doing and is a devoted and proficient chef.
Vargas and Cardona have by no means labored collectively earlier than. They met by probability earlier than turning into enterprise companions.
“He went to my dad’s workplace, he’s an accountant. They went over there and mentioned they ‘have been opening a brand new restaurant, we’d like a normal supervisor,’ and I used to be simply working for DoorDash and delivering for Walmart,” Vargas mentioned.
Vargas has managerial expertise however was working in supply because of the pandemic. As for his personal normal supervisor expertise, he labored at Denny’s, for Sheraton Lodges in California and even owned and managed his personal restaurant, La Poblanita, positioned in Bremerton.
Except for serving to full the renovations, Vargas is working with Cardona to replenish their worker roster for the restaurant’s opening. They’re currenting nonetheless hiring and trying to fill positions in each the back and front of the home.
These thinking about making use of can e-mail their resumes to Vargas at Saulvplata@gmail.com.
Renovations have been happening for a number of months and almost every thing is new. From the paint on the inside and outside, to the roof and loos, to the kitchen ground and cooking home equipment and even the eating room lighting and furnishings — it has all been changed.
“All the pieces from the previous restaurant is gone,” Vargas added.
“We’re shut. We at the moment are like 90 to 95% able to open. I give it like two extra weeks and we’ll be able to open. That’s the plan, to open earlier than Christmas,” mentioned Cardona.
In relation to Ocean Prime’s service itself, cleanliness would be the high precedence, they mentioned.
“It’s clear now and we need to maintain it like that, cleansing, cleansing, cleansing. That’s me, once I’m working with my guys, we shut after which we have now one to 2 hours the place everyone cleans,” Cardona mentioned. “Now my kitchen is model new, so we’re going to maintain it like that, clear. That helps folks get pleasure from it right here. Individuals can come and really feel comfy and have an amazing meal with household and a good time. That’s how we handle clients.”
Cardona believes cleaner kitchens produce not solely the perfect meals however the most secure as properly.
“That’s what made me get on his staff. He’s gonna be the chef, you already know? And that is gonna be his restaurant. Which means he’s not gonna stop (cleansing),” Vargas added.
Ocean Prime, positioned on 107 SW Interstate Ave., might be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Menu costs might be set to compete with different household eating institutions within the space reminiscent of Ramblin Jacks RibEye, Jeremy’s Farm to Desk and The Pasta Bowl, in accordance with Vargas.
No actual date has been set for the grand opening of Ocean Prime; nonetheless, The Chronicle will report it when a date is chosen.
