It started 14 years ago, by Jen Takaki’s telling.

“I’ve had a boat here for 20-plus years, back when this used to be the Portside Deli,” Takaki recalled of her restaurant’s former owner.

“Bryan (Douglas) mentioned they were closing their cafe after 20-some years and I said, ‘how unfortunate.’ He said, ‘do you want the lease?’ And I said, “huh (long pause). Okay,’ I walked to the moorage office, signed the lease and began moving here.”

It was as simple and as quick at that. Takaki left her restaurant business in Phoenix in the rearview for a needed change of pace.

“I was looking for a little bit of a break and sure enough, after six months I found out that I was pregnant,” she smiled as she thought of her 13-year-old son and occasional assistant, Henry.

Takaki said she considers the Marina Cafe at Boat Haven her retirement, not at all like the restaurants she’d helmed in Arizona.

“The others were what you’d expect, menus, bars, lots of staff.

“This is, I’m just gonna bake and work with people who I’m just honored that they come in here every day. There’s no menu, there’s no cash register, there’s no telephone and it’s all about community – a place for the workers to feel good and relax and meet each other.”

She said she felt an affinity for her predecessor’s work, calling it “a heartbeat” for the boating community.

“We are the same thing, a safe place for everyone to come. The community down here at Boat Haven, they have been extraordinarily wonderful to me and I hope that I can return the favor.”

Her pastries are famous to the people along the wharf. They piqued the interest of one certain customer who came back for more.

“Muffins are my super power,” Takaki admitted.

“That’s how we met,” her partner, Shawn Meyer, jumped in as if on cue.

“I came here in 2017 to go to the Wooden Boat School. I moored my boat on Z dock and came in for a muffin. That first time I came in I was like, ‘what was that?’ And I pretty much came in every day after. About a year and a half ago we started dating and I started cooking at the beginning of dungeness crab season last year,” Meyer recalled.

The pandemic presented its challenges which, according to Takaki, were met head-on by her friends and patrons.

“That was a nightmare. We closed in March, 2020 – I have Henry and my dad, Wally, lives with me, so we closed and I have to say the community down here stepped in. The Port stepped in too and took care of paying the rent. It was quite heartening, everybody pitched in and it was really wonderful so I could stay calm and stay closed, and be with my family,” she recalled.

When her father’s health failed, the community stepped in once again.

“And lo and behold, my dad has lived through hospice,” Takaki said.

“He’s a fixture in the cafe,” Meyer added.

“He comes down every Thursday, Friday and Saturday and watches Shawn cook. It’s amazing what can happen if you just put a little effort into it,” Takaki said of her father.