Christina Orchid’s pop-up crab shack, Oct. 4–7

If you ever had a-hankerin’ for a squid po’ boy, Christina Orchid will serve one for you at her pop-up crab shack.

The restaurant will be open during the Orcas Island Film Festival because Orchid said the event “needed some fast food.”

Orchid, who owned “Christina’s” in Eastsound for 30 years, has been catering various events of the film festival for the last couple years, and she’s excited to have the opportunity to just sell “really good food, fairly fast.”

“I had a very spiffy restaurant where everything had to be perfect and excellent all the time, and it was really stressful after several years. People’s expectations were really high and I fantasized about having a hamburger stand, a crab shack,” Orchid said. “So, I’m getting my crab shack for three days. It’s the perfect thing. All your fantasies about having a restaurant, you can just do it and be done with it.”

The pop-up crab shack will be open in Random Howse for the run of the film festival – opening at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 4, and closing following the last movie of the festival on Oct. 8. Random Howse is serving as the “hub” of the festival. The Barnacle will offer a selection of scratch cocktails, local beers and Doe Bay Wine Company wines.

Orchid’s restaurant will feature the aforementioned squid po’boy, oyster po’boys, burgers made by Red Rabbit Farm – which Orchid owns with her husband Bruce – beef, vegan fish and chips, and more – all of which is a divergence from the gourmet cuisine she’s known for which.

“This year will mark 50 years at the stove for me, so I’m ready to do something different,” Orchid said. “I just keep doing these things for the fundraisers for the community and essentially this is a fundraiser for the film festival. I’ve been one of their major donors for a long time, and they need some food for moviegoers, so I’d like to do it. I just want to see what it’s like to do it.”