R.J. Marx: Everyday People: McKeown carries on family tradition in Seaside

Feb. 6—SEASIDE — In Seaside, the closest thing to a trip to Italy begins at Nonni's Italian Bistro. Heirloom tomato caprese towers, spaghetti carbonara and the famous house lasagna are prepared nightly by the longtime staff, supervised by manager Morgan McKeown.

McKeown is the daughter of Nancy and Dennis McKeown, longtime Seaside restaurateurs. She started in the restaurant business at 5 years old, rolling silverware at the Shilo Inn Seaside Oceanfront at 10 cents a roll-up.

Morgan McKeown attended Mount Hood Community College before returning to Seaside, where she began waiting tables at the family restaurants. "I always knew this is what I would be doing," she said.

Dennis McKeown's grandmother, Clotilde N. Allamanno, was raised in northern Italy and had a love for cooking. Allamanno, affectionately referred to as "Nonni" by the McKeowns, was born in Crockett, California, but moved back to Italy's northern Piedmont province in the Alps before she was a year old. She returned to the U.S. when she was 20 years old, when she met Dennis's Irish grandfather, James McKeown, the oldest of 11 children that immigrated from Ireland.

Nancy and Dennis McKeown carried on Nonni's love of cooking, first at the Shilo Inn Seaside Oceanfront throughout the 1980s and 1990s, where Dennis McKeown was corporate chef.

The couple opened the Dogwater Cafe in the outlet mall before opening McKeowns at the corner of Broadway and N. Holladay. They later added the Irish Pub, a barbecue restaurant.

Nonni's Italian Bistro opened in 2014.

Dennis and Nancy McKeown developed the menu and concept based on their grandmother's recipes. "This was always their vision and what they wanted, but it took a while to get here," Morgan McKeown said.

Staff comes with long experience from the family's other restaurants. Chefs include Beau Hogge, who has been with Nonni's since 2020, and Josh Parsons, who has been with the McKeowns' restaurants since 2004.

House specialties include the chef's choice risotto, cannelloni and chicken picatta. The cioppino offers signature broth, clams, mussels, crab, salmon, prawns and the catch of the day. Fire-roasted artichoke beef medallions with mushroom marsala are served with linguini alfredo and fresh daily vegetables.

Bottles of Chianti with wicker labels sit on every table, and guests are encouraged to personalize them with markers and carry them out as souvenirs.

Nancy and Dennis McKeown have been "trying to retire a little more," Morgan McKeown said, with a home in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. However, the couple remains active in the administrative side of the business.

Seaside is steadily growing, she said, with bigger businesses coming into the county. "Seaside is very desirable for tourists because it's got the beach, it's small, it's quaint," she said.

A new generation of food lovers is discovering Nonni's and sharing reviews and photos on social media.

"They see something online and they want to come in and compare it with what they get," she said. "That's why we always strive to make sure that everything looks the same and tastes the same every time because we want everyone to have a really good experience every time."