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A staple of Pillar Point Harbor for nearly 50 years, Ketch Harbor Pub – formerly Ketch Joanne Restaurant & Harbor Bar – has been revived under new ownership that has modernized the space while paying homage to its predecessor with a menu that includes many of diners’ favorite longtime dishes.
Ketch Joanne’s namesake, Joanne Franklin, first opened the business in 1975 in the Princeton-by-the-Sea community north of Half Moon Bay. Initially, the eatery offered breakfast and lunch, with two tables for seating and the Franklin children helping serve food and run the cash register. After the restaurant added dinner service, patrons began requesting cocktails with their meal, leading to the addition of the Harbor Bar.
Joanne Franklin crafted the dishes on the menu from her own recipes, influenced by the cooking of her Italian and Portuguese grandmothers, according to a historical backstory provided on Yelp. The harborside restaurant developed an extensive food and drink menu featuring seafood, burgers, breakfast, sandwiches, pasta and more.
Many of Ketch Joanne patrons’ favorite dishes, including the Joanne Benedict, the Ketch Joanne salad and the halibut and chips, are back on the menu at Ketch Harbor Pub.
Behind Ketch’s revival is David Westendorf and the Pelagic Restaurant Group, a collective of 15 residents and business owners that includes Westendorf and his wife Mishelle, who run Jettywave Distillery at Pillar Point Harbor, along with “a PE teacher, a firefighter, a farmer, a spearfisherman, a baseball mom, a Mavericks surfer, a nurse, a drone photographer, a Dreamer, a mixologist, a spin instructor, a cocktail wizard, and a world class chef,” according to Ketch’s website.
The Franklin family and business partner Albert Dunne sold three separate leases to the restaurant group, according to the Half Moon Bay Review. Westendorf plans to open Pelagic Harbor Grill and Pelagic Fish Market in the other two spaces this year.
The Franklins announced Ketch Joanne’s closure in August 2023; the restaurant had been closed most of the year for renovations stemming from an Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit in 2018, according to the Half Moon Bay Review.
“The Ketch has been the heart and home of this community for nearly half a century and it is with heavy yet hopeful hearts that it is time to say goodbye and set sail for a new adventure,” the Franklin family posted in a statement shared on Instagram Aug. 2.
Westendorf co-founded Jettywave Distillery four years ago “largely as a retirement experiment” after a 33-year career as a tech leader that included stints at Stanford, Google and Motorola. His work often took him to Asia and Europe, where he would find time to “eat at the world’s coolest restaurants.”
“I wouldn’t go to the expensive restaurants; I went to the ones locals really love,” he said. He collected recipes from many of these eateries and wanted to retire in Half Moon Bay and “develop a restaurant group that rallied around all these experiences,” he said.
“Businesses should exist to solve problems, and the problems we seek to solve on our coast are No. 1, a lack of consistent comfort food that’s available seven days a week at reasonable prices and No. 2, a venue that has a large enough area to seat all the different walks of life, whether you’re a fisherman, tourist and if you’re a local just looking for a consistent palace to come and take your family,” Westendorf added. “We wanted to create a place that captured the essence of the beautiful bounty we have on the coast and create a brand people are proud of.”
Ketch Harbor Pub opened Dec. 6 with chef Eduardo Coronel at the helm, former executive chef and co-founder of Rio Grill in Carmel. The eatery polled former Ketch Joanne patrons about their favorite dishes, and the new menu encompasses 40% “old classics” and 60% “iterations of classics but with our twist,” Westendorf said.
Dishes like the Ketch burger, the Dungeness crab sandwich and clam chowder all serve as an homage to Ketch Joanne. Diners will also find chilaquiles with Argentinian skirt steak, citrus cream and green tomatillo salsa; biscuits served with agave-smoked jalapeno whipped butter and seasonal house jam; and a menu of eggs Benedicts ranging from the classic Joanne Dungeness Crab to one with mezcal-cured salmon and a chive Hollandaise sauce.
Tap beer is among the drink offerings for the first time in the bar’s history. Bartender Benjamin Middlemiss, who worked at the Half Moon Bay Yacht Club, is also serving a full cocktail menu with an emphasis on “traditional Harbor Bar drinks: beer, well drinks and value-based prices,” Westendorf said.
Pelagic Harbor Grill, which he anticipates opening in the first quarter of 2024, will be an upscale restaurant serving “world ocean cuisine” with a more mixology-oriented drinks menu.
“We aim to take recipes from beach communities around the world and marry them in new form world fusion,” Westendorf said.
The fish market, slated to open by the spring, will take advantage of the fishing fleet at the harbor.
Ketch Harbor Pub visitors have significantly more room for dining and drinking in the revamped space: The seating capacity grew from 150 to 254, doubling outdoors and incorporating the cozy fire pit patio atmosphere from Jettywave.
The signature bar was disassembled, cleaned out and partially lowered for ADA access before being placed back in its original spot with a clean stone top.
“We tried to pay respect to what it was, but clean it up and modernize it,” Westendorf said. “We wanted to make sure we weren’t wasting anything of the previous decor or infrastructure that was valuable. We took every piece of wood on the wall, numbered it, disinfected, stripped and repainted and put right back in position every floorboard and wallboard.”
A private dining area has also been added in between the future Pelagic Harbor Grill and Ketch Harbor Pub for corporate parties, wedding rehearsals and other events.
With Ketch Harbor Pub up and running and Pelagic Harbor Grill and the fish market to come, Westendorf said the restaurant group will focus on its current establishments before eyeing new properties by the end of 2024.
“Our goal is to stay local and create a real healthy footprint of bartenders, front-of-house kitchen (staff) and back-of-house people and really get an establishment going where we have systems, processes and talent and then look at new properties,” he said.
Ketch Harbor Pub, 17 Johnson Pier, Half Moon Bay; 650-727-0017, Instagram: @ketchhmb. Open for breakfast 8 to 11:30 a.m., lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., dinner starting soon. Bar bites menu 5-7 p.m., bar open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays (open until 10 p.m. weekends). Closed Tuesdays.