How Woodhouse Fish Co. Played a Role in the Early Days of Broke-Ass Stuart

Alas, Woodhouse Fish Company will be closing its Market Street location this coming Tuesday, January 23rd. The news was broken by Paolo Bicchieri over on Eater SF. As you probably know, Paolo is also one of the fine writer/editors here at BrokeAssStuart.com.

But what you may not know is that I actually worked at Woodhouse on and off for four years in the 2000s. In fact, I was part of the original crew who opened the place in 2006. So yes, this one is a bummer for me. I’ll tell you more of my Woodhouse story in a moment, but first the good news. The Fillmore Street location will remain open! So, you can still get that unbelievable clam chowder, their famous crab rolls, and all the rest of the delectable food they serve.

Besides the fact that I love the food at Woodhouse, I love the people behind it too. And by working there, I became good friends with their entire family. In 2006 I had just finished writing the Ireland chapters for Lonely Planet’s Europe on a Shoestring and Western Europe books, and as I had no other gigs with LP lined up, I needed a job. I had mentioned this to my college friend Tyler MacNiven who said, “Perfect timing! My brothers are opening a new seafood restaurant!” and he set up an interview with his two brothers Dylan and Rowen. Shortly thereafter I had a job slinging fish & chips and oysters.

My first stint at Woodhouse was for five or so months. During this time, I got embedded into the lives of the Brothers MacNiven. I became friendly with their parents, their girlfriends, and our friend circles began to mesh together. Considering it was a family business, and I was there four days a week, I basically became an honorary member. Eventually I left to travel Latin America for a few months and had to give my two weeks’ notice. Little did I know I’d be back working at Woodhouse Fish Company within a few months.

When I left San Francisco to go traveling I gave up my apartment because I knew that, when I came back, I’d only be in SF for a limited time. The plan was to travel for at least three months, then come back to SF to write Broke-Ass Stuart’s Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco before moving to New York to research the NYC book. I had absolutely no plans for what my life would be like after that.

When I got back to SF, there were some shifts open at Woodhouse, so I was able to hop right back in where I left off. What I did not have though, was a place to live. While I was able to crash with my girlfriend most nights, her roommates got pretty sick of me because I was that fucking dude who was there all the fucking time but didn’t actually live there. Yes, that dude. So, I bopped around a number of couches for the four months I was in SF and a good number of those couch nights were spent with the MacNivens.

With the Woodhouse Fish Co. crew on the 2nd anniversary in 2008 Can you spot me?

After four months or so, my girlfriend and I moved to New York, so I quit Woodhouse again. Was this my final stint at the seafood shack? No dear reader, it was certainly not.

After spending a year in NYC waiting tables and researching my book, I was back in San Francisco with my GF, and once again needed a job. Luckily for me, someone had just left Woodhouse and they needed a server. This ended up being my longest run there. My third and final stretch selling shrimp rolls was from about May 2008 till October 2010. The decade was ending and so was my time in the service industry…so I thought. I was going to a wedding in Catalonia, and then planned on traveling through Spain for three weeks. Once I came back, I’d start preparing for the TV show Young, Broke, & Beautiful that I’d created and would be starring in after the new year. I was about to be a TV star; I was out of the service industry forever.

Or so I thought. I was back in it by the following November, but this time as a bartender. My days at Woodhouse were now just as a customer.

But I stayed good friends with the MacNiven clan. I cheered them on as they went on to open another Woodhouse, then West of Pecos, and The Wooden Spoon. And I was stoked when they began running Cafe du Nord and the Swedish American Hall. And it’s been wonderful as we’ve all gotten older and met our spouses and shared many more nights of shenanigans together. Now Tyler and Rowen each have three kids, who I’ve dubbed The MacNuggets.

While I was already friends with Tyler from college, it was Woodhouse Fish Company that gave me the rest of the MacNivens, and I’m so thankful for that. It’s a bummer for the Castro that WFC will be closing shop there, but luckily for San Francisco, we can all still go to the Fillmore location. And while I don’t have to eat fish & chips if I want to see my friends, it’s certainly an added bonus.

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