Mo's on Newport's Historic Bayfront
Legendary Comfort Food
By Niki Price • OREGON COAST TODAY
A restaurant is just a building with a kitchen, tables and chairs. It’s a place where food is made and served, eaten and paid for. It’s a crossroads in time and space, where people meet for a while and then depart, on their way to the rest of their lives.
But, if the food is good and the owners are resolute, a restaurant can become something bigger. The struggling diner can grow from a neighborhood institution to a tradition honored by countless families, a destination unto itself. If it hangs on long enough, it can become a symbol of something greater than just food and drink. It can become an icon.
Such is the case with the original Mo’s restaurant, which has served chowder and seafood on Newport’s Bayfront for the past 60 years. Since it was founded in 1946 by Mohava Marie Niemi, the café has served hot food on the waterfront to fishermen, tourists, famous actors, rock stars, politicians and many a hungry, chilled camper — like Oregon native Beth Magnon, who made her first visit to Mo’s in 1968.
Magnon now lives in Tucson, Ariz. Her mother, Carolie Mullan, lives in Lubbock, Texas. We found them in the midst of what they called a “nostalgia trip,” visiting their favorite places in the state they used to call home. The itinerary featured homes where they had lived, a trip out to the coast and a meal at Mo’s, which Magnon said she had been anticipating for years.
“When you come to the Oregon coast, you have to come to Mo’s. It’s not an option,” Magnon said. “We used to come here camping in the 1960s, and we always came here for chowder. I think it’s the best comfort food. You can eat it, and it makes you feel better.”
An Oregon original
“Mo” Niemi’s legacy began in pre-World War II Newport, when she and her father bought a local tavern, the Bay Haven Inn (which is still around, too, about four blocks north on Bay Blvd.). She sold the bar in 1946 to go into business with her friend, Freddie Kent. The café was called “Freddie and Mo’s”: a few years later, when Kent became ill, Mo bought her friend out, and the restaurant became known simply as “Mo’s.”
At the time, Mo was a divorced mother of two sons. To keep the restaurant alive and make ends meet, she took a desk job at the local radio station, KNPT. It wasn’t long before she began to host her own neighborhood talk show, a slot she kept for nearly 30 years.
“Within a short time, Mo became the voice and heartbeat of Newport. She reported on who got married, who had a baby, who went on a trip, who she saw at the grocery store. People loved running into her, because they would hear their names on the air,” wrote her granddaughter, Cindy McEntee, in the 2004 “Mo’s on the Waterfront,” a business history and biography. “She became the Hedda Hopper of Newport.”
In 1955, Mo married the captain of the F/V Sea Lion III, Kaino Dutch Niemi; his fishing ventures helped subsidize the restaurant while his seafaring tales added a touch of romance. But by most accounts, it was Mo’s personality and work ethic that truly made the restaurant a success.
Business was brisk enough that by 1968, she opened Mo’s Annex across the street; four years later, a third location was added at Devils Punchbowl, in Otter Rock. Today, there are six Mo’s locations in all: the three mentioned above, plus one each in Lincoln City, Florence and Cannon Beach. The company also makes its concentrated clam chowder base in a factory on Bay Blvd., and ships it all over the world.
Feel the love
However good the chowder might be at home, there’s really no substitute for the atmosphere, décor and history found at the original restaurant. The walls are covered with six decades’ worth of memorabilia, from the photos of Sen. Robert Kennedy’s visit in May 1968 to one of the earliest menus. Other frames flash back to 1970, when Paul Newman and the rest of the cast from “Sometimes a Great Notion” partied here (Mo herself appears in one of the tavern scenes).
On the street side, there’s a garage door that was installed after a woman accidentally drove through the wall; on the inside, it’s painted with a mural of the comically frightened perpetrator behind the wheel. Fishing gear, wooden signs and jokes galore surround the dining room, which seats about 60 on tables that are often, by necessity, communal.
The menu features clam chowder, of course, along with other warm-ups like chili, oyster stew, fish and chips, cioppino and slumgullion (clam chowder plus shrimp). Halibut, clam, salmon and oyster meals are served through the day, along with seafood sandwiches and salads. Hamburgers, hot dogs and onion rings make sure that everyone in the family, even those who don’t care for fish, stays happy.
But honoring tradition doesn’t keep Mo’s from noticing food trends. Between the fried and the creamy you’ll find side dish options like green beans and rice pilaf, char-broiled fish, Gardenburgers and salads made with in-house dressings. Last year, all six restaurants switched over to frying oils that are free of trans-fats, and there is an approved list of menu items that are officially gluten-free.
“I care about the health of my customers,” said Gabrielle McEntee-Wilson, Mo’s great-granddaughter and vice-president for public relations. “My children eat here, too. I want the food to be as healthy as it can be.”
Be that as it may, few come to Mo’s to adhere to their low-fat diets. Many, like Beth Magnon, come from long distances just to eat the same food, see the same painting and feel the same way they did last year, or even 40 years ago.
“Most of our customers really don’t want to see a new menu. They want to have slumgullion and garlic cheese bread, and they want it every year for the next 60 years,” McEntee-Wilson said. “They want simple coast comfort food: fish and chips, chowder and oysters, delicious but simply prepared. When they eat it here on the bay, they feel good.”
The original Mo’s Restaurant, 622 SW Bay Blvd. in Newport, is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. They don’t take reservations, but you can call the restaurant at 541-265-2979. Or, head to www.moschowder.com.
Editor’s Note: As a service to readers and participating restaurants, the TODAY keeps archived dining features posted for an extended period of time. Please note that, especially in seasonal markets like the Oregon Coast, hours, menus, and days of operation frequently change, and may no longer match those in place at the time features like this one were first published. We encourage you to phone ahead, or visit these restaurants’ websites, before finalizing your plans.
By Niki Price • OREGON COAST TODAY
A restaurant is just a building with a kitchen, tables and chairs. It’s a place where food is made and served, eaten and paid for. It’s a crossroads in time and space, where people meet for a while and then depart, on their way to the rest of their lives.
But, if the food is good and the owners are resolute, a restaurant can become something bigger. The struggling diner can grow from a neighborhood institution to a tradition honored by countless families, a destination unto itself. If it hangs on long enough, it can become a symbol of something greater than just food and drink. It can become an icon.
Such is the case with the original Mo’s restaurant, which has served chowder and seafood on Newport’s Bayfront for the past 60 years. Since it was founded in 1946 by Mohava Marie Niemi, the café has served hot food on the waterfront to fishermen, tourists, famous actors, rock stars, politicians and many a hungry, chilled camper — like Oregon native Beth Magnon, who made her first visit to Mo’s in 1968.
Magnon now lives in Tucson, Ariz. Her mother, Carolie Mullan, lives in Lubbock, Texas. We found them in the midst of what they called a “nostalgia trip,” visiting their favorite places in the state they used to call home. The itinerary featured homes where they had lived, a trip out to the coast and a meal at Mo’s, which Magnon said she had been anticipating for years.
“When you come to the Oregon coast, you have to come to Mo’s. It’s not an option,” Magnon said. “We used to come here camping in the 1960s, and we always came here for chowder. I think it’s the best comfort food. You can eat it, and it makes you feel better.”
An Oregon original
“Mo” Niemi’s legacy began in pre-World War II Newport, when she and her father bought a local tavern, the Bay Haven Inn (which is still around, too, about four blocks north on Bay Blvd.). She sold the bar in 1946 to go into business with her friend, Freddie Kent. The café was called “Freddie and Mo’s”: a few years later, when Kent became ill, Mo bought her friend out, and the restaurant became known simply as “Mo’s.”
At the time, Mo was a divorced mother of two sons. To keep the restaurant alive and make ends meet, she took a desk job at the local radio station, KNPT. It wasn’t long before she began to host her own neighborhood talk show, a slot she kept for nearly 30 years.
“Within a short time, Mo became the voice and heartbeat of Newport. She reported on who got married, who had a baby, who went on a trip, who she saw at the grocery store. People loved running into her, because they would hear their names on the air,” wrote her granddaughter, Cindy McEntee, in the 2004 “Mo’s on the Waterfront,” a business history and biography. “She became the Hedda Hopper of Newport.”
In 1955, Mo married the captain of the F/V Sea Lion III, Kaino Dutch Niemi; his fishing ventures helped subsidize the restaurant while his seafaring tales added a touch of romance. But by most accounts, it was Mo’s personality and work ethic that truly made the restaurant a success.
Business was brisk enough that by 1968, she opened Mo’s Annex across the street; four years later, a third location was added at Devils Punchbowl, in Otter Rock. Today, there are six Mo’s locations in all: the three mentioned above, plus one each in Lincoln City, Florence and Cannon Beach. The company also makes its concentrated clam chowder base in a factory on Bay Blvd., and ships it all over the world.
Feel the love
However good the chowder might be at home, there’s really no substitute for the atmosphere, décor and history found at the original restaurant. The walls are covered with six decades’ worth of memorabilia, from the photos of Sen. Robert Kennedy’s visit in May 1968 to one of the earliest menus. Other frames flash back to 1970, when Paul Newman and the rest of the cast from “Sometimes a Great Notion” partied here (Mo herself appears in one of the tavern scenes).
On the street side, there’s a garage door that was installed after a woman accidentally drove through the wall; on the inside, it’s painted with a mural of the comically frightened perpetrator behind the wheel. Fishing gear, wooden signs and jokes galore surround the dining room, which seats about 60 on tables that are often, by necessity, communal.
The menu features clam chowder, of course, along with other warm-ups like chili, oyster stew, fish and chips, cioppino and slumgullion (clam chowder plus shrimp). Halibut, clam, salmon and oyster meals are served through the day, along with seafood sandwiches and salads. Hamburgers, hot dogs and onion rings make sure that everyone in the family, even those who don’t care for fish, stays happy.
But honoring tradition doesn’t keep Mo’s from noticing food trends. Between the fried and the creamy you’ll find side dish options like green beans and rice pilaf, char-broiled fish, Gardenburgers and salads made with in-house dressings. Last year, all six restaurants switched over to frying oils that are free of trans-fats, and there is an approved list of menu items that are officially gluten-free.
“I care about the health of my customers,” said Gabrielle McEntee-Wilson, Mo’s great-granddaughter and vice-president for public relations. “My children eat here, too. I want the food to be as healthy as it can be.”
Be that as it may, few come to Mo’s to adhere to their low-fat diets. Many, like Beth Magnon, come from long distances just to eat the same food, see the same painting and feel the same way they did last year, or even 40 years ago.
“Most of our customers really don’t want to see a new menu. They want to have slumgullion and garlic cheese bread, and they want it every year for the next 60 years,” McEntee-Wilson said. “They want simple coast comfort food: fish and chips, chowder and oysters, delicious but simply prepared. When they eat it here on the bay, they feel good.”
The original Mo’s Restaurant, 622 SW Bay Blvd. in Newport, is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. They don’t take reservations, but you can call the restaurant at 541-265-2979. Or, head to www.moschowder.com.
Editor’s Note: As a service to readers and participating restaurants, the TODAY keeps archived dining features posted for an extended period of time. Please note that, especially in seasonal markets like the Oregon Coast, hours, menus, and days of operation frequently change, and may no longer match those in place at the time features like this one were first published. We encourage you to phone ahead, or visit these restaurants’ websites, before finalizing your plans.
