By SCOTT D. JOHNSTON
It was almost exactly one year ago today that Brodey and Mirihia Jones began to believe that their dream would soon become a reality. On April 14, they’ll throw a party to celebrate their first year as the new owners of Ocean Beach Roasters & Bistro, at 841 Pt. Brown Ave. NW in Ocean Shores.
Local business owners Pat and Jean Brunstad opened the coffee shop in 2013 in what had been a display home and office. “Jean put a lot of love and passion into it,” Pat said. “The OBR grew into one of the best restaurants in Grays Harbor,” he added, and the success of this business at the beach seems to confirm that.
Pat explained that “we also had a lot of other things going on.” They build custom and spec homes, own a real estate company, and last March, Pat became project management lead and spokesperson for the Oyhut Bay beach community development in south Ocean Shores.
“We decided that if the right people came along that we would be interested in selling the OBR. Brodey and Mirihia were the right people,” he said.
A Hoquiam native and 2001 graduate of Hoquiam High School, Brodey had worked in area restaurants much of his life, from busboy at Waves in Ocean Shores to management at Galway Bay and Hoquiam’s 8th Street Ale House.
Mirihia is from Bremerton and “moved around a lot” before ending up in Aberdeen in 1999. About 10 years later they met when she was a newly single mom with two kids and a need for a better paying job, and Brodey hired her at Galway Bay. They fell in love, had a daughter in 2013 and got married in 2017.
Brodey was working at 8th Street in February last year when Pat came in and mentioned that OBR might be for sale. They started talking seriously in early March and the Joneses became the new owners on April Fool’s Day.
“Pat wrote us out a very friendly deal,” Brodey said.
“Knowing the restaurant business,” Pat explained, “we wanted to give them the best opportunity and chance to succeed and to continue the dream and vision that we had for the OBR.”
Mirihia said, “Pat told me … if someone hadn’t taken a chance on him, he wouldn’t be where he is today and be as successful as he is. And so, they took that chance on us. They really wanted to pass this on to a couple who shares the same passion for food and for people, and they saw that in us, and gave us this chance.”
Since then, the Joneses have been slowly making OBR their own. They’ve brought in two chefs who are culinary school graduates, Josh Decker and Ocean Shores native Patrick Minks, who had been cooking in Seattle area restaurants for the past 10 years.
They’ve expanded the breakfast menu, grown to a full lunch menu, and started offering a limited dinner menu Thursday through Saturday. They recently bought a new coffee roaster that Mirihia said allows a wide variety of roasting options. They also are looking forward to offering more seasonal menu items and adding more outdoor seating and fire pits.
Pastry chef and baker Leslie Reedy rejoined the team last November, bringing her proven and popular gluten free, sugar free and paleo recipes. She explained, “I worked there most of the time since Jeannie opened it. I truly loved that place,” and she thinks the Brunstads “did a really good job picking Brodey and Mirihia; they’re perfect!”
The business is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.
They plan to expand their hours in the summer. More information can be found online on their Facebook page.
