The Daily Times

It won’t be open in time for “shrimp on the barbie” — unless you’re a dedicated year-round griller. But the Shrimp Dock should be open in Alcoa in time to provide Blount Countians fresh seafood for the holidays.

That’s what Joe Zappa, of Joseph Construction, is telling Phil and Becky Dangel, owners of the Shrimp Dock locations in Farragut and Bearden and new owners of the former Long John Silver’s restaurant property at 325 S. Calderwood St.

“October 21-November 1,” Phil Dangle says, after checking with Zappa as people from the seafood store, the construction company and the architecture firm converge last week on the closed fast-food restaurant. They are ready to get on with the conversion to a fresh-food store.

The Dangels bought the 0.52 -acre Long John Silver’s property at auction in June. Now it’s time to start remodeling the 2,411-square-foot building.

Stuart Anderson, with George Armour Ewart Architect of Knoxville, takes field measurements with a tape measure and a laser device, and sketches the interior dimensions on a clipboard. As Phil Dangel and Zappa consult, Becky Dangel checks out the kitchen and imagines how the front counter area will be set up.

“We’re going to do the case lines here, because we’ve got two free-standing freezers, self-serve. One’s for soup and one’s for the out-of-the-ordinary things,” she says.

“We’ve got an ice table with all the fresh stuff on it and the two long refrigerator cases. And that’s cramped. Bearden’s tight. That’s OK.”

OK because the intimate nature of the seafood shop gives it personality and makes for easy interaction with customers. There’s no place you can stand where a Shrimp Dock employee behind the counter can’t say “What can I do for you?” to anyone checking out the seafood selection.

“I just think this is going to be great,” Becky says.

THE TRI-FRECTA

Her Bearden reference was to the Shrimp Dock location there. That’s the second Shrimp Dock the Dangels acquired. First they opened the Farragut location with a partner. That came after a suggestion — almost a dare — by the owner of the original Shrimp Dock formerly on Alcoa Highway in Knoxville.

The Dangels, who live in Farragut, were regular customers at the Alcoa Highway Shrimp Dock before it closed several years ago.

“The original guy actually is a shrimp boat captain. He has a place in Kodak and a place in Louisiana and he goes back and forth to deliver shrimp,” Becky Dangel says.

That original guy is Paul Willis, who plans to be at the opening of the Blount County Shrimp Dock, according to Phil Dangel.

“But he wanted to go fish and we wanted to own a company, so it worked out great,” Becky says. “The Farragut store’s three-and-a-half-years old, and it’s been two years since we’ve owned Bearden, and now we’ll have this. So it will round out the city.

Not exactly “the” city. Three cities to be exact — Farragut, Knoxville and Alcoa. Not that city limits matter to seafarers or sea fish. The key is that the Shrimp Dock receives fresh seafood six days a week from domestic suppliers that use sustainable fishing methods.

“This is like coming back to our roots, coming back to where we started,” Phil says.

Those roots were on Alcoa Highway, where they first hooked up with the Shrimp Dock — an Alcoa to Alcoa connection.

MERCHANDISING BACKGROUND

Before getting into the seafood business, Phil and Becky had worked in department store marketing. Both were with Macy’s, and then he went with Goody’s where he was vice president over part of the merchandising operation. The original Goody’s went bankrupt. Opportunity knocked.

“I was a shopper at the Shrimp Dock, like everyone else,” Phil says. “I kept saying to the owner, Paul Willis, ‘You need to come west. You need to come to Farragut.’ And he said, ‘If you really want to come west that bad, why don’t you open your own store?’ So we did.”

Willis eventually headed west, too, and opened the Bearden store. Then Willis got the urge to return to the sea.

“He missed being on his boat,” Becky says. So the Dangels reeled in the Bearden store, too.

They stock fresh shellfish and fish in season, ranging from tuna to amberjack, halibut to escargot, shrimp to crawfish tail meat, live Maine lobster to Arctic char. Among the homemade soups offered are clam chowda, shrimp etoufee, bouillabaisse, shrimp and crab bisque, seafood gumbo and oyster stew. There’s also dips, spreads, salads, cakes and sides. You can eat in, too, but seating is limited.

“We’re going to be a fish market that serves food, but our main thing is going to be selling fresh fish and shrimp and oysters,” Phil says as he looks around the former restaurant and points to a row of booths against the far wall.

“More than likely, we’re going to leave this row in place. But we’re not going to be open till 8 o’clock at night and Sundays for dinner.”

But they will offer dine-in from around 11 a.m. to about 3-4 p.m.

“We make lunch — shrimp po’ boys, oyster po’ boys, that kind of stuff. We’re not going to become a restaurant. Fresh seafood, that’s what we’re about.”

Fresh — and just in time for holiday dining.

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