Duke’s Chowder House Scores Prime Spot at Shilshole Marina

Seattle’s sustainable seafood staple, Duke’s Chowder House, has landed a deal to build a new restaurant at Shilshole Marina, some 30 feet from the water, with a 240-degree unobstructed view of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains.

“It’s a dreamy spot,” founder Duke Moscrip tells Eater. “There aren’t many like it in the world. We hit a home run.”

Moscrip’s local chain secured the space through an open call for proposals put out by the marina about a year and a half ago. Moscrip wasn’t aware of the opportunity until a guest brought it to his attention; he scrambled to submit a last-minute proposal, and the rest is history.

Duke’s/FB

Because Moscrip is building the restaurant from the ground up, he says it won’t open until 2019. There’s a bit more permitting red tape because of the location near the shoreline, and he doesn’t expect to break ground until next summer.

Moscrip has long emphasized sustainability at his restaurants, which source only from fishers he has personally vetted. The new marina restaurant will take that concept even further, with hydroponically-grown vegetables, a photovoltaic roof, and perhaps a rainwater catchment system that would allow the restaurant to forgo the use of city water.

As at each of the company’s six existing locations, the latest addition plans to serve halibut quesadillas, Dungeness crab cakes, an array of gluten-free chowders, fish and chips, fish tacos, and other seafood mains, as well as grass-fed burgers for good measure.

But the Shilshole restaurant will look more like Duke’s forthcoming Bellevue outpost, which is currently anticipated for August. When Eater spoke to Moscrip about that location in February, he said to expect “a high-end lodge look, like Filson meets Ralph Lauren.”