With tremendous vision, Luke Colvin, the founder of Buoy Beer Company, has taken what was once the Bornstein Seafoods cannery on the Astoria pier and turned it into a bustling brewery, taproom and fledgling restaurant. I applaud entrepreneurs with vision such as this, and I especially appreciate it when old, historical locales get the chance at a new life.

On a recent visit, and with a growling stomach, I ordered an appetizer special of pink shrimp garlic cheese bread, which included a generous portion of shrimp amid a cheesy pesto sauce, spread and baked on French bread. The bread was a tad greasy but very flavorful and rich, and it was overall a nice foray in to the evenings eatings.

Fried Ellingsworth cheese curds with two different dipping sauces, house-made ranch and a Romesco sauce, were next. Although I have an odd fondness for cheese curds, I must admit that the concept of eating them, breaded and fried, didnt appeal to me that much but I was wrong. So, so, deliciously wrong. Crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle, with the delightful squeak that cheese curds often lend, they were tasty little morsels, indeed, and they were eaten rapidly by my fellow diners and me. I preferred the ranch dip to the rather bland Romesco, but I should also note that the cheese curds were amply tasty on their own, no dip needed.

My favorite dish of the day was a smoked salmon plate, with two generous slabs of smoked salmon belly, smoked locally at Bornstein Seafoods Warrenton Deep Sea Market, with grilled flatbread, hard boiled eggs, capers, and slices of radish, cucumber and red onion. The fish itself was incredibly delectable with the perfect flavor combination of smoky, salty and sweet, and the grilled flatbread, veggies and egg were a fun, tapas-style accompaniment. My only complaint with the dish was the lack of a cheese, spread or sauce of some kind; feta crumbles, chevre or spreadable brie would have lent itself well to the dish, or perhaps a spiced sour cream or crème fraiche. A spreadable dairy of some sort would have completed the sandwich concept and tied together the protein (salmon), the veggies, and the flatbread, as well as bringing in a needed flavor and textural element; the sum of the ingredients was very dry without it. This is a minor point, though, and if addressed this would be a dish I would order for lunch on a regular basis.

The Buoy burger, a beer butter basted bison burger (say that 10 times fast) with Tillamook cheddar, pepper bacon and caramelized onion on a house bun seemed an obvious choice, as it shared the name of the restaurant itself. Bison meat is similar in taste to ground beef but is lower in calories, fat and cholesterol and although Im very health conscious in general, I unfortunately find bison, for all its superior nutritional value, to lack in flavor, at least where burgers are concerned.

Because of its leanness, bison cooks quickly and is often over cooked, and this was unfortunately the case with the burger I sampled. Traditional beef is marbled with fat, which slows its cooking time. A bison burger, in my opinion, tastes best when its served a little pink in the middle, and because of its relative leanness, more seasoning is needed in order to punch up the flavor. On the whole, I found the bison burger patty to be dry, overly cooked, and somewhat flavorless, and in hindsight I wish I had ordered the traditional burger instead. The pepper bacon and caramelized onion seemed like they might aid in the burgers flavor plight, but sadly they couldnt make up for the flavorless patty, and the onions hadnt been cooked long enough to achieve proper caramelization; they were still somewhat crunchy.

The burger is served with either fries or a side salad and I chose the salad. It was delightfully different than what I often find in a restaurant salad, and with organic baby greens, sunflower seeds, a host of crisp veggies and green goddess dressing, it was certainly better than average and a nice change of pace. I would have preferred that the green goddess dressing, which usually includes some combination of mayonnaise, sour cream, anchovy, chervil, tarragon, chives and lemon, be a bit thinner the consistency was thick and dip-like, and although tasty, was rather awkward atop a salad. The simple addition of some olive oil would have thinned it a bit and made the consistency looser. Still, the dressing was tasty, and the salad itself was crisp and fresh.

On the whole there was a great deal I enjoyed about my experience at the Buoy Beer Company. I applaud the owners for their commitment to creating a successful business in a refurbished, historical locale, and I think the menu has tremendous potential.