New Shell Beach restaurant and taphouse promises good times for adults and kids alike
The taphouse may be new, but its name will be recognizable to longtime Shell Beach residents.
A brand-new family-friendly restaurant called the Cape Cod Eatery and Taphouse is slated to open in June, featuring East Coast favorites like clam chowder and lobster rolls and space for kids to play while adults relax, according to owner Adam Lee.
The name is a nod to the Motel Cape Cod, the business that formerly occupied the lot at 1127 Shell Beach Road where the restaurant is soon to open. That building was built in 1953 and operated as a motel for decades.
Lee said he and his wife leased the property roughly a year and a half ago and have since been working with the city to transform it into a restaurant, while still keeping the historic building intact.
“It’s just a very unique property,” Lee said Wednesday in a phone interview with The Tribune. “One of the things that we’ve been really trying to do is keep the historic-ness of this property.”
Once it is completed, Lee said he anticipates spending roughly a $1 million to open the restaurant.
Lee said the new business will primarily be an outdoor restaurant, with fire pits for roasting marshmallows — s’mores kits will be available for purchase — and an outdoor beer taproom. Lee also acquired some of the original Pismo Pier pilings from before the structure’s renovation, which he will use at the new lot, he said.
“I don’t think there is a place here that lets parents take their kids to play on a play structure while their parents enjoy a nice glass of wine,” he said. “Really, it’s a place to be warm, have good food, have good drinks, and let their kids run wild.”
“It’s totally geared toward the atmosphere,” he added. “It’s very much an outdoor restaurant.”
Lee said if all goes as planned, he hopes to have the new restaurant up and running on June 1, just in time for the summer crowds.
Correction: A previous version of this story gave incorrect ownership of the property. Lee and his wife are leasing the property.
This story was originally published March 14, 2019 at 9:25 AM.
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