Port Hotel restaurant to close temporarily

Moonlight Tavern, the restaurant and bar inside the historic Port Hotel in downtown Port Washington, is about to change hands.

Anders Dowd, who with his wife Ashley Heun has run the Moonlight Tavern since March 2024, said the couple has decided to leave the business as of July 1.

“We made a personal decision to leave the space,” he said. “It was a decision we did not make lightly.”

He declined to comment further on their reasons, but said he and his wife enjoyed their time at the restaurant.

“We built a really incredible staff who is like family and a great group of customers who are like friends,” Dowd said. “We built a really special space for the community.”

Jim Read, who along with Port restaurateur Angel Tello owns the building, said the two of them, along with head chef Mate Gal and his wife Ashley Gal, will take over operations at the restaurant.

“Things will not be that much different,” Read said. “The staff wants to remain. It will just be more of an in-house operation.”

Read said the Gals plan to keep the same menu and atmosphere, at least initially.

“I think he’s excited to do some of his own creative things,” he said. “I think people will be very pleased with what’s coming out of the kitchen.”

Read said he doesn’t know exactly when the restaurant will reopen, adding it will depend in part on how soon the city can transfer the liquor license.

“We’ll probably have a bit of a soft opening,” he said.

Read said he doesn’t know why Dowd and his wife are leaving the restaurant, adding, “I have no complaints with the way they ran the restaurant. They’ve said they were successful at it.

“The restaurant is a big part of the building, and we’ll do everything we can to provide a good experience for our guests.

“We want what’s best for the building and for the restaurant.”

Read and Tello have received city approval for renovations to the Port Hotel building, including the addition of an elevator on the east side of the structure and the addition of a rooftop patio.

“That project is going to happen,” Read said, but it is not yet scheduled.

“We’re continuing to try to improve the building as best we can,” he said. “But it’s not on the close horizon.”

Dowd said that he and his wife are working with the potential new operator on such things as honoring gift cards to the eatery.

Dowd will remain in the restaurant business, adding he will become the general manager of Steny’s North Shore in Mequon in early July.

His wife, he said, is working to transform the downtown Candid Form boutique to Plaid Cardinal Quilts, noting that sewing and quilting is a passion of hers.

The Port Hotel has been a part of the Port Washington landscape for more than a century. 

It was built in 1902 as the Thill Hotel, then owned by the Mayer family until 1960. While the hotel later closed, the building continued to be used as a restaurant and tavern for decades.

The restaurant closed in about 2017 and the inn a short time later. In 2021, Read and Tello purchased the building.