<I>Photo by ALEX PAJUNAS</I><BR>Smoked salmon available at Karla's Smokehouse in Rockaway Beach.

ROCKAWAY BEACH – Driving by at 45 miles per hour, Karla’s Smokehouse resembles a nondescript shed with sundry paraphernalia piled outside.

Don’t be fooled; this place is a must-stop roadside attraction in Rockaway Beach, and on center stage is namesake proprietor Karla Steinhauser, along with the seafood she smokes and sells.

Chinook, sockeye and white salmon (ocean chinook with light-colored flesh), black cod, tuna, prawns and Willapa Bay oysters seasoned with herbs, garlic, lemon juice and peppers take up space in a couple display cases and a cooler. The saltwater bounty has spent just the right amount of time in Steinhauser’s propane-fired smoker, built in 1978 and fueled with alder and dried maple.

“I don’t know how many thousands of pounds of fish I’ve smoked over the years, I just couldn’t tell ya,” says Steinhauser, a 71-year-old bona fide character who lives on the premises and is fiercely proud of her product. “But I’ve done all of my own fish by myself. That’s the way I prefer it.”

Words come easily to the personable Steinhauser, a former Portlander of German-Norwegian heritage with short brown hair, rosy cheeks and an ever-ready story to share with customers. Such as the time her parents dipped her into a sun-warmed tide pool when she was but eight months old. “Even with my diapers full of sand fleas, my parents said I didn’t want to get out,” she says. So began her love affair with the Oregon coast, especially Tillamook County’s Rockaway Beach, where her grandfather purchased land in 1912.

Steinhauser learned how to smoke seafood from her grandmother well more than a half century ago and has honed her technique ever since. She custom-smokes fish for folks who catch their own, and she’ll explain the process if people are interested – she offers two- and three-pound bags of dried fish cure ($5 and $7) for those who want to try smoking at home. Mostly though, customers arrange their schedules to coincide with fish exiting Steinhauser’s smoker, usually on Friday and Saturday afternoons, her busiest time.

“I operate with a little old-fashioned homemade smoker, and I use sashimi-quality seafood, including all my salmon,” says Steinhauser, who founded her business in 1964. She’s reluctant to share her sources, lest the competition zero in on her purveyors. When asked about farmed salmon, her brow furrows and a frown replaces her usually ready smile. “I wouldn’t feed that to a dog. It’s just not right.”

Steinhauser claims she’s a down-home sort of lady. “I treat people like friends, and my customers have become my family,” she says. That family enjoys access to some of the tastiest smoked fish in the country. “I’ve got a huge following because I’ve been here so long and people are happy with the product,” she says with justifiable pride. “I don’t want other people doing my work. I’m literally a craftsman, like the old German sausage makers, but with limited production. My name or business will never be sold.”