A fish restaurant at the end of Pier 4 in Hadley, Washington. Dinner Wednesday through Sunday from five, and the bar stays open late.
Twice a day the tide stops. For a little while the harbor goes flat, the boats come in easy, and nobody on the pier is in a hurry. We named the restaurant after that.
We buy almost everything from six boats, two oyster growers, one farm and a man named Pete who will not tell anyone where the chanterelles are. They all work within forty miles of this pier, and most of them eat here.
So the menu gets written in the afternoon, after we know what came in. If the weather keeps the boats tied up, the menu gets shorter. We would rather run out than fill the gap with something off a truck.
Dee Marchetti lights the oven at half past four, before anyone else is in. It’s built from firebrick we pulled out of the old cannery boiler, and it takes two hours to come up to heat.
The first loaves are out around sunrise: a country loaf made with rye from the Palouse, and a seeded one for the counter. Whatever is left at noon becomes breadcrumbs, croutons or the kitchen’s lunch.
Loaves are sold at the host stand from 5 pm, $11, until they’re gone. They are usually gone by half past six.
Every morning the boats unload at the pier, the oysters come up from the flats and the farm truck backs in around nine. We write all of it down. This is today’s sheet, and it’s what tonight’s menu is built from.
Pier 4 · Receiving
Slack Water, Hadley WA
Today
| In | From | What | Qty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06:52 | F/V MaritA. Petersen | Black cod Canary rockfish | 61 lb 28 lb |
| 07:30 | Hadley Flats Oyster Co.L. Tanaka | Pacific oysters Kumamotos | 24 doz 14 doz |
| 09:05 | Alder Run FarmN. Sayre | Chicories, leeks, delicata | 4 crates |
The kitchen spends the afternoon on prep: fish to break down, stocks, the bread for tomorrow’s crumbs. While they work, here is a little about the building.
1926
The Hadley Bay Packing Company builds a shed at the end of Pier 4 to store its gillnets. They hang from hooks in the rafters to dry and are mended upstairs all winter.
1948
The cannery’s best year. It packs 148,000 cases of salmon, and forty-one people work the net loft in the off season, most of them from the Finnish families up on Ridge Street.
1979
The cannery closes. The Port uses the shed to store boats for a while, and then for nothing at all. In the storm of December 1996, the south wall goes into the bay.
2017
Ruth Ellingsen, whose grandfather fished a gillnetter out of this harbor for thirty-one years, signs a lease with the Port of Hadley, along with a promise not to sand the floors.
2019
Slack Water opens with 38 seats and a hearth built from the boiler brick. The south wall is rebuilt, and what was left of the old one becomes the tables.
Now
Forty-six seats, a counter at the fire, and the loft upstairs for private dinners. The nets are long gone, but 212 of the hooks are still in the beams. We counted.
Before service everyone sits down at the long table and eats together: dishwashers, owners, and whoever is delivering the ice. It’s usually rice, whatever fish didn’t make the menu, and a salad nobody wanted to make.
“My grandfather ate fish three times a day and never once called it an ingredient.”
Chef and owner
Grew up in Hadley, cooked in Seattle, then spent two years at a grill house in Getaria on the Basque coast. Came home in 2017. Runs the hearth most nights.
General manager and wine
Keeps the list short, mostly the Northwest and the Loire. Will talk you out of the expensive bottle if the cheaper one is better with fish.
Bread and pastry
Hasn’t missed a morning since 2021, including the one when the power went out and he baked by headlamp.
Sous chef
Runs the raw bar and the fish butchery. Can break down a forty-pound halibut in about four minutes, and will show you if you ask.
We close Mondays and Tuesdays so everyone gets two days off in a row. Everyone who works here gets health insurance and a share of the service charge.
Forty-six seats under the original fir trusses, with the fire at one end and the harbor out every window. The counter seats eight and looks straight into the hearth.
“Order the collar. Then order another one and don’t share it.”
“A restaurant in a net shed at the end of a pier, with no interest whatsoever in pretending otherwise.”
“The bread alone is worth the drive from Portland. I have now made the drive twice.”
Tables open thirty days ahead, at ten in the morning. Parties of up to eight can book here. For nine or more, have a look at the loft.
Rather talk to a person? (360) 555-0142, from 2 pm on days we’re open.
Slack Water
400 Water Street, Pier 4 · Hadley, WA
You’re booked.
Upstairs, where the nets were mended, there is one table, built from the old south wall. It seats up to twenty-four, or forty standing, and for the night it’s yours.
Ruth writes a family-style menu for each dinner from whatever is running that week. Theo will help with the wine, or you can bring your own at $30 a bottle.
From Highway 101, turn at the Hadley Bay sign onto Water Street and follow it until it turns into a pier. We’re the grey building with the cupola at the very end.
Dinner Wednesday to Sunday from 5 pm
| Monday | Closed | |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Closed | |
| Wednesday | 5 to 9:30 pm | Bar until 11 |
| Thursday | 5 to 9:30 pm | Bar until 11 |
| Friday | 5 to 10 pm | Bar until midnight |
| Saturday | 5 to 10 pm | Bar until midnight |
| Sunday | 5 to 9:30 pm | Bar until 11 |
Closed Thanksgiving, and from December 24 through January 2.
Yes. The bar and half the counter are kept for walk-ins every night. On Fridays and Saturdays, come early or come late.
Most of them. Tell us when you book and remind your server when you sit down. We can’t promise a kitchen free of shellfish or nuts, and the counter menu can’t be made shellfish-free.
The dining room, counter, bar and restrooms are step-free from the Port lot by the east ramp. The loft is up twenty-two stairs and has no lift.
The 20% goes to the whole team, cooks and dishwashers included, and it’s how we pay everyone a real wage with health insurance. Please don’t tip on top of it.
Corkage is $30 a bottle, two bottles per table. We waive it if you also buy a bottle from us. Please don’t bring anything that’s already on our list.
Very. We have two high chairs, crayons, and a small plate of fish and potatoes that isn’t on the menu. Earlier in the evening is easier for everyone.
On the pier deck from May to September, yes, and there’s a water bowl. Inside, service animals only.
Any amount, and they never expire. Pick one up at the host stand, or call and we’ll post it to you in a proper envelope.
One email on Tuesdays: what’s coming in, what’s changing on the menu, and the odd recipe Ruth will admit to.
We’re hiring a line cook for the hearth and a weekend server. $24 to $28 an hour plus a share of the service charge, health insurance after sixty days, and two days off in a row.
jobs@slackwaterhadley.com