Tyler Kean doesn’t necessarily want to have a neighborhood cookout, but if it comes down to it he and his crew at Oso at Bear Point Harbor will be behind the grills and griddles.
Kean was busy prepping his waterfront restaurant at the east end of Orange Beach on Thursday, Oct. 6, as landfall from Hurricane Isaias loomed about 36 hours away.
Over on Cotton Bayou and facing the Gulf, Tacky Jack’s CFO Ken Kichler was looking out at Perdido Pass as crews there prepped the downstairs area and the gift shop.
In the back of their minds, both remember the backhanded slap both restaurants and all of Orange Beach got from Hurricane Sally on Sept. 16, 2020. What was billed as a tropical storm event quickly escalated into a Category 2 storm by the time it reached Orange Beach and the Gulf Coast.
“It was supposed to hit New Orleans and then took a turn north late,” Kean said, taking a break from the prep. “We're a little more prepared than that for this one.”
Kichler said a room on the lower level at the Orange Beach location used for private parties was blown out by Sally and never rebuilt, so it’s just a matter of securing what a 100-mph wind might spirit away.
“Everything on the lower levels is being removed,” Kichler said. “The gift shop, which is prone to flooding, moving stuff to higher ground, and chairs, tables, furniture, anything loose preventing flying furniture or whatever,” Kichler said.
Before Sally, there were marks on pile-ons on the lower level showing water levels from previous storms. Sally washed those away.
One big thing is different from Sally looking ahead to Isaias, Kichler said, is the lack of boats at the docks up and down Cotton Bayou.
“People have good memories because I remember the day before Sally looking across at San Rock Cay and none of the boats were gone,” Kichler said. “Last time, during Sally, there were bunches of boats and they all ended up there on Cotton Bayou and 161.”
Both are also preparing for the aftermath should Isaias’ visit turn surly and leave the island without power and possibly underwater for days.
“We can put the food up high, but without electricity … and we have a lot of refrigerated products,” Kean said.
Then, Kean says, it’ll be time to throw a party.
“What we’ll end up having to do is probably have a block party and invite people over and cook it for ‘em,” Kean said. “Cook it all up. We're not going to let it go to waste.”
With Sally, a lot of Oso’s food went to Bear Point neighbors who showed up to help clean up their local hangout.
“When Sally went down, we bought a smoker and grill and just sat outside and grilled all our shrimp and smoked our chicken wings and just served it just like that,” Kean said. “We cooked for the people who came and helped us. You know, a lot of people picked up shovels and came over and helped us clean up. We definitely fed them. It was definitely a community effort to clean up around here.
“It was a mess.”
Kichler said Tacky Jack’s other two locations, on the Intracoastal Waterway in Gulf Shores and at Fort Morgan Marina, suffered no significant damage in Sally.
