Heidi Bartlett brings out several orders of fish 'n' chips to Bowpicker regular Bruce Finucane of Warrenton.

There is beauty in simplicity. Take a restored Columbia River bowpicker, add two fryers, cook up some of the best fish ‘n’ chips in town and hope people will come. That’s it? Well, not exactly. The business flows like that now, but it took a lot of vision, hard work and planning to get Bowpicker Fish & Chips up and running.

It started with Ron Ford at the helm, who now owns and runs Bowpicker with his wife, Linda, and daughter, Leah. According to Linda, he developed a passion for fish ‘n’ chips while working as a logger in New Zealand. As a bachelor, he and his friends found fish ‘n’ chips to be an ideal meal.

When Ford returned to Astoria after working in New Zealand and Alaska, he decided to combine his love of fish ‘n’ chips with his passion for history and the Columbia River. When friends offered him an old Columbia bowpicker, he decided to give it a new life as a restaurant. Ford put in a new galley and set up shop serving fish ‘n’ chips across from Astoria’s Maritime Museum.

The original bowpicker caught fire and is waiting to be restored, but fortunately, the Fords found a replacement. The current 28-foot bowpicker, built in 1948 by Columbia Boat Works, was discovered hidden in a blackberry patch and restored by the Fords. Built out of Port Orford cedar, with a Doug fir cabin and deck, it is a historic treasure. The term bowpicker refers to gillnet boats, where fishers lay their nets over the bow of the ship as opposed to the stern.

Fish ‘n’ chips at the Bowpicker are served as half or full orders, pictured.When Ford decided on serving fish ‘n’ chips, his quest was to “keep it simple.” He told Linda, “There are too many choices in this world.” Experimenting with different batters and types of fish, he gathered his friends around in the boat and “used them as his guinea pigs.” When the votes were counted, albacore tuna in beer batter was the winner. And so it remains. Fish and steak fries are the only items on the menu. It is that simple, and they are so good.

On a recent spring day, we stepped up to the Bowpicker (with a view of the Columbia River) to place our order. The customer in front of us (who it turns out works at Mo’s in Cannon Beach) inquired what her choices were for seafood. “We only use albacore,” was the answer. She seemed OK with that. She asked for lots of lemon and other condiments, and they were all there – lemon juice, hot sauce, malt vinegar and more at her side on the counter. Just as we placed our order, a chilling wind came up off the river. Holding our warm packages of fish ‘n’ chips, we grabbed our sodas out of the cooler and made it back to the car just in time for a hail storm to hit.

Hungry diners wait in line as the smell of fish ‘n’ chips wafts out of the cabin of the Bowpicker.A few minutes earlier, we would have sat at a nearby picnic table in the sun, but, like others, we had a cozy picnic in the car – watching ships cruise by on the river (with the defroster and windshield wipers running), and watching steam pour off the roof of the Bowpicker.

If you’ve never tasted locally caught albacore fish ‘n’ chips, you are in for a treat. I just finished my chilled leftovers yesterday and I can’t wait to return for more. White-fleshed, dense and meaty, albacore is “the other white meat.” Right out of the fryer, the fish has a perfectly crisp (beer batter) crust. The next day, it is not so crisp, but it rewarms nicely, and I really enjoyed it cold (as does Ford, according to Linda).

Think about it. You have the ultimate fish ‘n’ chips served out of a land-locked historic Columbia River gillnetter overlooking the Columbia River. Where else could you find this? For a taste of history in Astoria, and the great taste of local albacore tuna fish and steak fries, don’t miss Bowpicker Fish & Chips.