Mo's Restaurant • Lincoln City
Hi! Welcome to Mo’s Toy Drive
Employees celebrate 10 years and $6,000 in toy donations
By Niki Price • Oregon Coast TODAY
The volunteers of North Lincoln Fire & Rescue District often drop by the Mo’s Restaurant in Lincoln City to pick up a pint of chowder, or a halibut sandwich to go. But one day a year, around Dec. 15, the firefighters come in for new kids’ bicycles. And board games, footballs, books and dolls, all donated by Mo’s employees and their families.
The staff of the Lincoln City restaurant has been taking part in the NLFRD Toy Drive since 2001. Every year, they solicit vendors, promote raffles and reach into their own pockets to raise a sizeable pool of money. Then, with assistance of local stores, the employees shop for toys for kids ages 5-13.
The Mo’s Restaurant drive began in 2001, after kitchen manager Lewis Hartwell lost his mother, Daisy Hartwell, in a car accident.
“She had always worked with kids, and I wanted to do something she would have done. I thought, we live and work in this community. Let’s give something back to them,” Hartwell said. “First, I went around to the employees and asked for a dollar. Then I did it again the next week. And with 50 to 75 employees, that starts to add up.”
In 2001, he raised $187. On the following year, that figure was doubled; the following year, it was doubled again. Hartwell began to investigate fund-raising through the restaurant’s suppliers, and became an expert in rebates, points and loyalty programs. He has redeemed those points for big-ticket items, and then held raffles to raise more cash. The best year was in 2009, when the Mo’s crew handed over $1,200 worth of bikes and toys to the NLFRD. In total, in the past 10 years, they’ve given more than $6,000 worth.
“It seems to us that everybody buys for babies, and for kids who are 2 and 3. We always look for toys for that older group, 5 to 13: puzzles, learning books and things they can take outside,” Hartwell said. “We try to stay away from video games, or things that take a lot of batteries. But if they do need batteries, we always buy them, too.”
Employees celebrate 10 years and $6,000 in toy donations
By Niki Price • Oregon Coast TODAY
The volunteers of North Lincoln Fire & Rescue District often drop by the Mo’s Restaurant in Lincoln City to pick up a pint of chowder, or a halibut sandwich to go. But one day a year, around Dec. 15, the firefighters come in for new kids’ bicycles. And board games, footballs, books and dolls, all donated by Mo’s employees and their families.
The staff of the Lincoln City restaurant has been taking part in the NLFRD Toy Drive since 2001. Every year, they solicit vendors, promote raffles and reach into their own pockets to raise a sizeable pool of money. Then, with assistance of local stores, the employees shop for toys for kids ages 5-13.
The Mo’s Restaurant drive began in 2001, after kitchen manager Lewis Hartwell lost his mother, Daisy Hartwell, in a car accident.
“She had always worked with kids, and I wanted to do something she would have done. I thought, we live and work in this community. Let’s give something back to them,” Hartwell said. “First, I went around to the employees and asked for a dollar. Then I did it again the next week. And with 50 to 75 employees, that starts to add up.”
In 2001, he raised $187. On the following year, that figure was doubled; the following year, it was doubled again. Hartwell began to investigate fund-raising through the restaurant’s suppliers, and became an expert in rebates, points and loyalty programs. He has redeemed those points for big-ticket items, and then held raffles to raise more cash. The best year was in 2009, when the Mo’s crew handed over $1,200 worth of bikes and toys to the NLFRD. In total, in the past 10 years, they’ve given more than $6,000 worth.
“It seems to us that everybody buys for babies, and for kids who are 2 and 3. We always look for toys for that older group, 5 to 13: puzzles, learning books and things they can take outside,” Hartwell said. “We try to stay away from video games, or things that take a lot of batteries. But if they do need batteries, we always buy them, too.”
That $1,200 year was a lot of fun, Hartwell said.
“There’s nothing like five people in a toy store with $1,000,” he said. “This drive brings everyone together, and when we see all the toys together, it makes us all feel good.”
Hartwell has also been asking the restaurant’s food suppliers to pitch in. Some have given cash donations while others donate products, which Mo’s gives to the Oceanlake Elks Lodge and North Lincoln Eagles. Those groups assemble food baskets, which are always delivered to needy families along with the toys.
For Hartwell, who has worked for Mo’s for 13 years, giving is part of what makes that company special. When it comes to donation requests, Mo’s is known for its “just say yes” policy.
“We have all seen how much the company does for the community, and it’s really nice when the employees follow suit,” said the restaurant’s assistant manager, James Slentz. “That’s just a part of being Mo’s. We give back.”
The Lincoln City Mo’s Restaurant, 860 SW 51st St. overlooking Siletz Bay, is one of six Mo’s on the north-central Oregon Coast. It’s open daily at 11 a.m. For more information, call 541-996-2535 or head to moschowder.com.
Mo's Restaurant • Lincoln City
The chowder that made Mo’s famous
by NIKI PRICE • Oregon Coast Today
There are six Mo’s Restaurants on the Oregon Coast: two in Newport, and one each in Cannon Beach, Lincoln City, Otter Rock and Florence. They have different views and architectural styles, but all the Mo’s outlets have one thing in common: they have all been built on clam chowder.
Perhaps it wasn’t the primary building material (even though it is thick and hearty), but chowder was definitely the grout. Mo’s recipe, with potatoes, bacon and whole milk, topped with a pat of butter and sprinkled with paprika, has been served to millions of people visiting the Oregon Coast from around the world. Between the restaurants, outside catering jobs, community donations and the sale of chowder base in grocery stores and by mail order, Mo’s serves more than 500,000 pounds of clam chowder every year.
Could it have turned out differently? Yes, said Mo’s executive Bob Scull. When Mohava Niemi (pronounced “Nye-me”) founded the Newport café with her friend Freddie Kent, in 1946, they specialized in spaghetti and other diner food. Clam chowder was on the menu, but there was no house recipe.
“In the beginning, there was no specific chowder recipe; actually there were many. The cooks would make different chowders, depending on who was working that day, but over time they began to find favorites, and favorite ingredients,” said Scull. “At some point, in the early 1950s, Mo allowed her staff to come up with a chowder recipe competition, because they were going to be serving just one (the same one, all the time). We don’t know who the winner was, but we’ve been making that chowder ever since.”
When Freddie Kent became ill, Mo bought her out – and spent the next 20 years working to keep her eponymous restaurant alive. The turning point, according to most accounts, came when Robert Kennedy brought his presidential campaign to Newport, and the scion of New England put his spoon into a bowl of “Mo’s famous.” He took a liking to it, and to the generous, straight-talking proprietor, whom he asked to accompany him to Los Angeles. Mo politely refused, but delivered several gallons to the Kennedy plane herself. When the candidate was killed four days later, Mo and her staff realized they had been witness to history.
“When word got out that it was Mr. Kennedy’s favorite, the chowder caught on, on a national level. Then, in 1970, Paul Newman and Henry Fonda hung out there when they were filming ‘Sometimes a Great Notion,’” Scull said. “Those celebrity endorsements put Mo’s on the map.”
Mo expanded to the Annex across Bay Blvd. in 1968, and to Otter Rock in 1972. By the mid-1980s, there were Mo’s Restaurants in Lincoln City, Florence and Cannon Beach, all serving the same clam chowder. The process was consolidated into a single location, a factory in the floors above the original restaurant.
There, all the ingredients but one (whole milk) are combined, cooked and cooled, to make a thick chowder base. It is packaged into large plastic bags, for its journey to the outlying restaurants, and into smaller branded packages, for grocery store freezer cases and for shipping around the world.
What sets Mo’s chowder apart? The recipe is a closely guarded secret, but the standard ingredients are no mystery: clams, potatoes and onions. Scull also believes in the power of bacon.
“I think that if we took the bacon out of the chowder, it just wouldn’t be the same. There’s something about the way the bacon and the clams work together,” he said.
The method for turning the base into chowder, on the large scale required at the busy coastal restaurants, is another contributor to the success of Mo’s Chowder. Well-trained cooks add the whole milk, and then bring it up to temperature over a double boiler for more than 90 minutes.
“We do not serve our clam chowder until it’s reached a certain consistency. Just the right amount of milk, just the right amount of heat, just the right amount of stirring – until it’s perfect.”
If it’s done right, the customer will have the same bowl that he enjoyed at another restaurant, in another city, or even when he was a child, during a beloved vacation at the beach. In the past 65 years, generations of Oregonians have come to associate this chowder with the beach, and with the friendly hospitality that Mo herself espoused.
“I think it’s a combination of the clam chowder and the feeling when you’re at the coast. People go back to their homes, and think about coming to Mo’s. At the forefront of their minds they may be thinking about chowder, but it’s more than that. It’s the feeling they have when they’re here.”
The Lincoln City Mo’s Restaurant, 860 SW 51st St. overlooking Siletz Bay, is one of six Mo’s on the north-central Oregon Coast. It’s open daily at 11 a.m. For more information, call 541-996-2535 or head to www.moschowder.com.
Editor’s Note: As a service to readers and participating restaurants, the TODAY keeps archived dining features like this one 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
There are six Mo’s Restaurants on the Oregon Coast: two in Newport, and one each in Cannon Beach, Lincoln City, Otter Rock and Florence. They have different views and architectural styles, but all the Mo’s outlets have one thing in common: they have all been built on clam chowder.
Perhaps it wasn’t the primary building material (even though it is thick and hearty), but chowder was definitely the grout. Mo’s recipe, with potatoes, bacon and whole milk, topped with a pat of butter and sprinkled with paprika, has been served to millions of people visiting the Oregon Coast from around the world. Between the restaurants, outside catering jobs, community donations and the sale of chowder base in grocery stores and by mail order, Mo’s serves more than 500,000 pounds of clam chowder every year.
Could it have turned out differently? Yes, said Mo’s executive Bob Scull. When Mohava Niemi (pronounced “Nye-me”) founded the Newport café with her friend Freddie Kent, in 1946, they specialized in spaghetti and other diner food. Clam chowder was on the menu, but there was no house recipe.
“In the beginning, there was no specific chowder recipe; actually there were many. The cooks would make different chowders, depending on who was working that day, but over time they began to find favorites, and favorite ingredients,” said Scull. “At some point, in the early 1950s, Mo allowed her staff to come up with a chowder recipe competition, because they were going to be serving just one (the same one, all the time). We don’t know who the winner was, but we’ve been making that chowder ever since.”
When Freddie Kent became ill, Mo bought her out – and spent the next 20 years working to keep her eponymous restaurant alive. The turning point, according to most accounts, came when Robert Kennedy brought his presidential campaign to Newport, and the scion of New England put his spoon into a bowl of “Mo’s famous.” He took a liking to it, and to the generous, straight-talking proprietor, whom he asked to accompany him to Los Angeles. Mo politely refused, but delivered several gallons to the Kennedy plane herself. When the candidate was killed four days later, Mo and her staff realized they had been witness to history.
“When word got out that it was Mr. Kennedy’s favorite, the chowder caught on, on a national level. Then, in 1970, Paul Newman and Henry Fonda hung out there when they were filming ‘Sometimes a Great Notion,’” Scull said. “Those celebrity endorsements put Mo’s on the map.”
Mo expanded to the Annex across Bay Blvd. in 1968, and to Otter Rock in 1972. By the mid-1980s, there were Mo’s Restaurants in Lincoln City, Florence and Cannon Beach, all serving the same clam chowder. The process was consolidated into a single location, a factory in the floors above the original restaurant.
There, all the ingredients but one (whole milk) are combined, cooked and cooled, to make a thick chowder base. It is packaged into large plastic bags, for its journey to the outlying restaurants, and into smaller branded packages, for grocery store freezer cases and for shipping around the world.
What sets Mo’s chowder apart? The recipe is a closely guarded secret, but the standard ingredients are no mystery: clams, potatoes and onions. Scull also believes in the power of bacon.
“I think that if we took the bacon out of the chowder, it just wouldn’t be the same. There’s something about the way the bacon and the clams work together,” he said.
The method for turning the base into chowder, on the large scale required at the busy coastal restaurants, is another contributor to the success of Mo’s Chowder. Well-trained cooks add the whole milk, and then bring it up to temperature over a double boiler for more than 90 minutes.
“We do not serve our clam chowder until it’s reached a certain consistency. Just the right amount of milk, just the right amount of heat, just the right amount of stirring – until it’s perfect.”
If it’s done right, the customer will have the same bowl that he enjoyed at another restaurant, in another city, or even when he was a child, during a beloved vacation at the beach. In the past 65 years, generations of Oregonians have come to associate this chowder with the beach, and with the friendly hospitality that Mo herself espoused.
“I think it’s a combination of the clam chowder and the feeling when you’re at the coast. People go back to their homes, and think about coming to Mo’s. At the forefront of their minds they may be thinking about chowder, but it’s more than that. It’s the feeling they have when they’re here.”
The Lincoln City Mo’s Restaurant, 860 SW 51st St. overlooking Siletz Bay, is one of six Mo’s on the north-central Oregon Coast. It’s open daily at 11 a.m. For more information, call 541-996-2535 or head to www.moschowder.com.
Editor’s Note: As a service to readers and participating restaurants, the TODAY keeps archived dining features like this one 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.
