Saltzer Creek Seafood & Burgers, which recently opened on Kresky Avenue, is decorated with nautically-themed tchotchkes.
Owner Bill Currier, center, takes meal orders at Saltzer Creek Seafood & Burgers, which recently opened on Kresky Avenue.
Stepanie Reese, whose father Bill Currier owns the restaurant, works to refill napkin holders at Saltzer Creek Seafood & Burgers, which recently opened on Kresky Avenue.
Some of the windows at Saltzer Creek Seafood & Burgers, which recently opened on Kresky Avenue, are shaped like port holes, reinforcing the nautical theme.
Growing tired of fighting with the corporate heads at Skipper’s, the Chehalis restaurant owner Bill Currier decided go into business for himself, with a new name, Saltzer Creek Seafood & Burgers.
“It’s a play on that creek right out there,” said Currier, pointing out the window of his restaurant on Kresky Avenue. “I know it’s kind of strange and crazy but it’s a play on food with salt and Salzer, the name of the creek.”
“Cause fish come from salt water,” added Stephanie Reese, a co-owner and Currier’s daughter. “But people are not understanding it. I put it on the sign and people were calling telling us we spelled it wrong.”
Currier said only the chowder, fish and sauces have changed. Everything else was already an in-house recipe.
“Our chowder isn’t as salty and it’s more creamy and flavorful,” Reese said. “And the burgers are the best, but people won’t try it because we’re a seafood place.”
They changed from pollock to cod, which Currier considers to be a better fish for a better price.
“I don’t believe in gouging the customers,” Currier said. “People get a hot plate at a decent price.”
Occasionally, Currier said, customers are disappointed that he no longer serves food from the Skipper’s menu.
“But it’s been about 80 percent positive. I can’t expect to please everyone,” said Currier, a 36-year veteran of restaurant work. “Everything revolves around food but it’s my life. I don’t know if you call that a workaholic or an idiot.”
Currier started working for Skipper’s in 1995. In 2002, he left the business to pursue employment opportunities in fast-food.
In 2007, he returned to Skipper’s until it closed down in 2009.
“They didn’t tell anyone they were in jeopardy,” Currier said. Currier wanted to open a family restaurant so he decided to buy the rights to the Skipper’s. However, he said, Skipper’s started controlling the way he ran his business more than he liked.
Currier said he faced many obstacles in opening Saltzer Creek. He had to fix much of the damage left over from the flood in 2007, which filled the restaurant with 36 inches of water. Currier said he also had to fix structural damage to the building because someone ran their car into the side of the building in 2008, causing six months worth of repair work.
Finally, in January of 2009, Currier opened his doors.
“I wanted someplace my wife, my daughters and I could all do something we love together,” he said. “But I just wasn’t happy being a Skipper’s.”
Currier waited until his corporate contract ran out and changed the name officially this February. He expects to have his new neon sign in place by sometime this week.
”I love doing what I do. I’m grumpy sometimes but I still come back the next day,” he said.
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Amy Nile: (360) 807-8235
