Ocean Atmosphere Making Cowansville Restaurant Profitable

by Jonathan Weaver

Residents locally and as far as Erie and West Virginia are coming to get tastes of the Ocean City Boardwalk in central Armstrong County.

Just inside the Village of Cowansville border on Route 268 (East Brady Road) lies the “Shorehouse Eatery” - a BYOB restaurant brainstormed by a handful of former Ocean City natives looking to make their mark.

In the property formerly occupied by the Grill Haus, Owners Michael Knapp, his brother, Jason, mother Molly Eckman, and fiancée Mary May, transformed the space just six months ago.

“It doesn’t feel like six months - feels like just yesterday,” Knapp laughed. “I think it was a long process to convince ourselves to do it (but) the rest is history.

“If we can make Cowansville feel just like the beach, that’s exactly what we are trying to do. That’s a success.”

Even though he said business has boomed since opening Valentines’ Day Weekend, Michael, 33, thought guests would also enjoy a new menu that will be arriving soon - cooked by a trio of local chefs - Executive Chef Kevin James, Sous Chef Ricky Tarr (of Adrian) and Fry Cook Jared Croyle.

“Now that we’ve seen what our kitchen can really do, we want to push them a bit and do some more intricate dishes - a little bit fancier and a little bit more seafood-oriented,” Knapp said. “When we first started this, we didn’t know how well seafood was going to do out here so we did seafood but we also did a lot of traditional American items you would find in a restaurant here in Armstrong County.

“But, we found people really responded to the seafood, so we’re going to broaden the horizons on the seafood-side.”

Guests - such as the 80 people that routinely make reservations during the weekend - have particularly enjoyed the Maryland Blue Crabs introduced a few weeks ago.

Carry-out crabs are also available.

“It’s been a little crazy around here the past few weeks,” Knapp said.

As Mary explained, the restaurant is the only restaurant in the state that can prove the crabs authenticity.

“(Shorehouse Eatery) is the only restaurant in Pennsylvania with the “True Blue” certification, proving our crabs do come from Maryland - specifically the Chesapeake Bay.

“We’re probably paying double, sometimes triple, for our crab meat,” Mary said. “A lot of our vendors said it would cost way too much money, but I stayed up almost every single night researching until I could find a place. We’ve been unbelievably-happy with that decision. You can absolutely taste the difference.”

Michael explained that coldwater crabs -like in the Chesapeake Bay- are sweeter because of more fat in the meet.

“There are a lot of places even in Maryland that aren’t using Maryland crabs,” Michael added.

The restaurant recently completed its six-month audit that confirmed 100 percent certification.

Outdoor seating also opened in June with the hopes that someday guests will be able to dine closer to the pool and enjoy drinks from a tiki bar or a hammock.

The Kittanning Senior High graduate, Michael would live in Ocean City each summer with his mother and met his fiancée in Ocean City, along with Mary’s sister (and Shorehouse Head Waitress) Gina.

Michael hopes his birthday present next month includes the restaurant’s liquor license.

The business, which has been profitable so far, also hopes to eventually expand hours during the week and add a Sunday brunch.

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