Location: 1254 NW Galveston Ave., Bend

Hours: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday

Price Range: $1.50 to $7.95

Alcoholic Beverages: Beer and limited wine selection

Kids’ Menu: Yes

Reservations: Not accepted

Credit Cards: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover

Contact: 383-2449

First things first: Yes, Longboard Louie’s owner Jeff Parshall does indeed surf.

Originally from Eugene, the restaurateur started off as a windsurfer who took to surfing.

Yet he wasn’t the one who drummed up Longboard Louie’s theme. He and his wife, Kathi, purchased the Mexican-flavored west-side eatery in December 2000 from the original operators, who opened it in 1996.

”I skied, I surfed – that’s why I kept the theme,” Parshall says. ”I’d been coming here since Bachelor had two chairlifts.”

Surfing, snowboarding and kayaking videos play on a TV above the small dining room, while surf posters adorn the walls. The decor reflects the lifestyles of some patrons, many of whom are just as likely to stop in for a breakfast burrito on their way to the mountain as they are to take advantage of the happy hour featuring $1.50 bottled beers with the purchase of food from 2 p.m. on.

One of the first things Parshall did upon taking over Louie’s was expand the seafood items.

”I love fish, and if my restaurant was any bigger I’d have a larger variety of fish tacos than I already have.”

Until he finds room for more fish, Parshall’s restaurant offers ”La Paz”-style deep-fried cod, fresh salmon and halibut, Parshall says.

They are served a la carte or as combos with beans and chips. There are also shrimp tacos, using wild shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico, to ”separate” the restaurant from competitors who use farm-raised shrimp.

Parshall says one of the more popular dishes of late is the cajun crawfish enchilada. Buffalo meat is also a new menu option.

Longboard Louie’s uses only canola and olive oils for frying. The beans are vegetarian and fat free, Parshall says.

Several other establishments within a taquito’s throw of Longboard Louie’s also work from a Mexican template, but Parshall isn’t sweating it.

”I wish there was a little more variety, but I look at competition as a good thing, because it makes me work harder to make what we serve here better.”

Patrons vie for space in what Parshall refers to as the ”cozy” dining room.

Seating opens up considerably come spring. With the onset of warm weather, diners take advantage of the colorful picnic tables on the patio skirting Longboard Louie’s west and south sides beneath awnings fashioned from skis.

Not that cold weather really stops the hardier folk.

”Our outdoor seating is open and available all year round. And people eat out here year round,” Parshall says.