Gig Harbor waterfront spot still the place for breakfast, chowder and, oh, those views

Most of the net sheds that once dominated the pastoral Gig Harbor waterfront have disappeared. Today, 17 remain, and it’s just about impossible to imagine the scenery and the city itself without the now-iconic one at 3313 Harborview Drive — the one we think about when we think about net sheds.

Thanks to the formidable hospitality duo of Katie Doherty and Thad Lyman, for 10 years, “net shed” also brings to mind pancakes bigger than our heads, the batter whipped with cornmeal and ricotta; French toast soaked in custard, decorated with fresh fruit; cinnamon rolls in a cast-iron skillet, shared with friends at a table under the sun, the water around and below us.

On an unseasonably warm Monday in May, the deck at Netshed No. 9 was bustling with guests soaking it all in. Diehards sit there with blankets and heaters when it’s tented from late-fall through mid-spring. The interior, which, including the kitchen totals just 1,900 square feet, is also quite cozy. On Mother’s Day weekend — and most warm-weather weekends — a line formed well before the doors opened at 8 a.m. for a chance at a table before 3 p.m.

In the early days, Doherty said, “We had busy summer days, but they were nothing like they are now.”

When Netshed opened in 2013, Doherty, who was raised in the harbor, and Lyman, executive chef, already had established a reputation for testing comfort zones. Brix 25, their fine-dining seafood restaurant now located next door, debuted in 2008.

“We are not traditional — we never have been,” Doherty said in May. “We were never going be that place, but from Day 1 we have never apologized for that. As a team, we have always said, ‘This is how we’re going to be and this is going to work.’”

Lemon curd with French toast, cornmeal clandestinely dotting your pancake, a “sausage breakfast” burger, putting chilaquiles (a carryover from their long tenure in California) on the menu at all — these little details immediately set Netshed apart.

It’s the clam chowder for me, in a region (world?) swimming with viscous versions, that stands out as emblematic of why this modern diner celebrated 10 successful years in the harbor this spring. Unlike most others, the bowl at Netshed is admittedly “not too thick,” drinking more like a brothy cream situation than a chowder, but still packed with clams, bacon and potato. It’s “chunky and smart,” as the menu reads, and a spoonful paired with the crunch of a housemade crouton will change your mind about all chowders before and after.

As Doherty explained when I asked how it came to be, wondering if I were alone in my obsession, “It definitely has a following. When you put it in your mouth and close your eyes, it’s a chowder.”

It takes some serious gumption to update such a tried-and-true dish — a seafood dish at a waterfront restaurant in a historic fishing town, no less. Yet, as the population of Gig Harbor has nearly doubled, according to Census Bureau data, since Netshed’s arrival, the team never abandoned its conviction to bring unique food and warm service to a stunning setting.

In the beginning, said Doherty, guests would comment on the lack of straightforward breakfast dishes.

“I clearly remember talking to a guest sitting in the dining room. I even know what table he was sitting at. ‘You’re never going to make it through winter,’” she recalled. “I remember looking at him and saying, ‘What an awful thing to say! Why would you say that?’ So every year when I make it through winter now, I think of him.”

One thing they have learned, though, is that you can’t mess too much with breakfast. The menu still has the classics, but as the chowder description adds, they are developed under the auspices of the Netshed No. 9 tradition.

“People are more willing to experiment with their sandwich,” said Doherty, “where they’re not as willing to experiment with their breakfast.” About 75 percent of the menu is very similar to what it was that first summer of 2013.

We can thank also the continuity of leadership: In addition to Lyman, senior chef Will Rieck continues to assist the Netshed team while leading the kitchen at Brimstone PNW, the group’s barbecue restaurant, which just celebrated its fifth anniversary, and neighboring I Screamery, an ice cream shop that started scooping last year.

They have tweaked and updated and swapped sandwiches over the past decade. At the moment, you can nosh on a banh mi with short ribs and house-pickled chiles, a “Rubenesque panini” with cheese curds and pickles, and a Cubano that questions its own classicism. They are particularly compelling choices for dinner, served only on summer weekends since 2020.

“In the old days, people weren’t coming for the sandwiches — now they do,” said Doherty. “To take the BLT off would be a problem.”

For now, perhaps the biggest conundrum is the water itself, which flooded the restaurant for the second time in three years during a King Tide last winter. The possibility does little to dissuade Doherty and her team.

“It’s such a beautiful location,” she said. “I still go outside and go, ‘Oh my God, this is beautiful.’ You get that chance to be right there on the heart of the harbor, right on the water like that. You don’t see those kinds of restaurants often. I wouldn’t give them up for anything.”

NETSHED NO. 9

▪ 3313 Harborview Drive, Gig Harbor, 253-858-7175, netshed9.com

▪ Breakfast & Lunch: Thursday-Monday 8 a.m.-2 p.m. (closed Tuesday-Wednesday)

▪ Dinner: Friday-Saturday 4-8 p.m., first week of June-Labor Day weekend

▪ Details: 10-year-old brunch destination with modern spins on the classics, sandwiches, awesome clam chowder and waterfront deck seating

This story was originally published May 26, 2023 at 5:00 AM.