On the pier itself is 64 On The Pier bar and restaurant, a spinoff of Fredonia’s 64 On The Rocks. Within sight of the pier on Lake Shore Drive, a bar called Captain Ale opened in the space formerly occupied by Rookies. A food stand next door has reopened as an ice cream spot after recent stints as a barbecue joint, a hot dog stand and a Puerto Rican restaurant. A&R Ice Cream also offers hamburgers, hot dogs and French fries.

On Central Avenue, near the intersection with Lake Shore Drive, the popular Mexican restaurant Taqueria Mexicana has moved in, with an expanded menu and plans for a bar space. Next door is Julie’s Fish Market, the first seafood purveyor in the area since the venerable Helwig’s closed years ago.

Julie Hughes, owner of Julie’s Fish Market, offered a tour of her six-week-old business last week.

The Sheridan resident and her partner opened the shop up out of a hankering for seafood. “We like seafood. … We eat fish, we like to play horseshoes and have clams on the grill. Besides Tops or driving out to Westfield, there was nothing to do. It was like, ‘Here we are. This is what going to do,'” she said. “We found a niche, we made some phone calls, and here we are.”

Jessenia Gerena, a Julie’s Fish Market employee, demonstrates how to hook a whitefish for smoking.

Fish are smoked on site and are available for sale, along with about a dozen varieties of fresh seafood. The most popular sellers are the smoked whitefish, smoked salmon and smoked shrimp, she said.

Hughes said the market has expanded its offerings at the request of its customers. It hopes to add a kitchen and serve fish fries in about a month or so.

“When we call our suppliers, we have to get 10 or 20 pounds and the people only want to get two pounds. So then it goes into our fresh case, and after a day or two, depending on what the fish, it goes straight into the brine and gets smoked,” she said. “So we’re smoking things that no one ever thought of smoking before, because we don’t have our kitchen. If we had our kitchen, we’d use it in salads and chowder.

“There’s a gentleman who comes in once a month and buys a case of frog legs. That’s good, when they buy the whole case, it’s like OK, it’s worth ordering,” she added.

Hughes said her customers are extremely knowledgeable and informative about seafood. “We are learning as we go about fish,” she said.

OBSERVER Photos by M.J. Stafford A bar patron is seen in silhouette at 64 On The Pier in Dunkirk.

Dunkirk Mayor Willie Rosas, in a statement emailed Friday, said collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce has been key in assisting the start of new businesses like Julie’s Fish Market. But he also pointed to the work of the city’s economic development team.

“They are doing an excellent job and deserve to be acknowledged. They continue to work successfully on our goals in spite of the pandemic,” he said.

Jill Meaux, Dunkirk’s director of planning and development, expressed pride in the new business developments near the pier.

“It’s kind of a bustling area of activity that we’ve really worked hard on developing,” she said. “If you just walk around the pier and the boardwalk, the energy is awesome.”

Though the pier area is the center of the new hospitality businesses, the rest of the waterfront is seeing additions as well. The Beach House Grill at Wright Park just had a ribbon-cutting Wednesday to premiere a renovated space that can now sell alcoholic drinks.

Over at Point Gratiot, an old bath house near the main entrance is getting renovated into SunDaze, which will rent out watercraft for personal use and sell concessions. Meaux said she was told that will be open in a couple of weeks.

“We’re excited about all the new development and activity,” Meaux said. “We support everything that’s happening.”