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COLUMN: GETTING OUT
Fire up the buggy and make a day trip to the ocean this
weekend. The sea is close at hand and full of good things to eat. Once there,
you get the sound of waves breaking, the smell of salt water, the cry of
seagulls, bobbing boats, and an onshore breeze will stir a deep hunger for
seafood.
Here are three easy day trips to different parts of the
picturesque coast, all on Highway 1. Each will satisfy that hunger.
Even though it's a holiday weekend, most of the venues listed here
will be open, many of them on Christmas Day. Call ahead to be certain and
to make reservations for sit-down meals.
Trip One: Northern Marin and Southern Sonoma coasts
Head over to Marshall in northern Marin County to the Hog Island Oyster Co., but
first phone ahead and make a reservation. The place gets crowded on weekends.
With a reservation, you're guaranteed a spot at one of their picnic tables and
the entrance fee is $8 per person, compared to $10 if you just show up.
For your fee, you get supplied with an oyster knife, a firepit for barbecuing
oysters, a shucking glove, a short demo of how to shuck an oyster, lemons, hot
sauce and dips. Small Pacific oysters, Kumamotos, and Atlantic oysters are $12 a
dozen, $40 for 50, or $74 for 100.
``We grow the Atlantic species of oyster here,'' said John Finger, a partner in
the company with Michael Watchorn. ``They're great in summer because they don't
go through the summer spawning phase like our western variety.'' Western oysters
develop a reproductive sac in summer that some people find unpleasant. ``We also
grow Manila clams and we're working on mussels.''
Bring your own wine. Sauvignon blanc and sparkling wines are considered perfect
oyster wines.
Crab season is in high gear, and ``one person, one crab'' is a fine motto for
lunch. Highway 1 north brings you to Bodega Bay and the Lucas Wharf Deli, where
a large crab costs less than half the price at a sit-down restaurant. The deli
also sells pints of hot cioppino, fish and chips, and the like.
Bodega Bay offers several choices for seafood dinners. It's not necessary to
book a room at the Bodega Bay Lodge and Spa in order to eat at The Duck Club,
its deluxe restaurant where chef Jeffrey Reilly offers a seafood sampler, but
you will need a reservation. The sampler includes crab cakes, cured salmon,
cornmeal encrusted oyster, and day boat scallops.
At the north end of Bodega Bay, at the top of the road that leads down to the
fishing docks, is The Seaweed Cafe. The European-Asian fusion cuisine is
sophisticated and exotic, the locally caught fish often paired with sea
vegetables. If you're in Bodega Bay Saturday or Sunday morning, brunch at the
Seaweed features an oyster and mushroom omelet. Reservations are encouraged.
Trip Two: Jenner to Gualala.
If you drive out to Jenner on a leisurely weekend morning and head north, you'll
see the River's End restaurant on the bluff above town.
Lunch begins at noon. The menu is seafood-oriented, and chef David Dahlquist's
crunchy Coco Shrimp has been a menu favorite for several years.
If you drive the precarious roller coaster that is Highway 1 north of Jenner for
29 miles, you come to the Sea Ranch Lodge and Restaurant.
Chef Jeffrey Longenecker specializes in seafood for lunch and dinner -- salmon,
halibut, sea bass, ono, crab cakes, bouillabaisse and more. A Sunday brunch
includes smoked salmon, shrimp, and Dungeness crab on toast points.
Seafood gets ultimate at the deluxe St. Orres Restaurant in Gualala, where chef
Rosemary Campiformio presents nightly specials of whatever is flapping fresh. It
might be wild salmon with zucchini cakes, grilled green onions, and a wasabi-lime-ginger
sauce. Or swordfish with coconut rice and mango salsa. Diners can reserve a room
for an overnight stay at St. Orres, which is known for its unusual and elaborate
Russian-influenced architecture.
Pangaea restaurant moved south to Gualala from Point Arena about a year ago,
according to chef Rob Hunter. ``Most of my customers come from Sea Ranch,'' he
said, which is about a 20-mile drive south of Point Arena.
``For many, it was too far to come on a regular basis, and they'd be nervous
about driving after a dinner with wine.'' So he moved to Gualala, less than 10
miles north of Sea Ranch, and bills his fare as ``lusty, zaftig, soulfood
food.'' Zaftig means ``full-bosomed and shapely,'' so it may apply more to the
diners than the food.
During the late summer and fall salmon season, that fish is always on the menu.
``When the season ends, I keep at least one fish dish on the menu -- blue nose
bass, grouper, or others. Right now, crab and mushrooms are beginning, so I'm
working with those,'' Hunter said. Pangaea's organic vegetables and apples come
from Oz Farm in Point Arena.
Trip Three: Mendocino Coast
Picnic lunch baskets are available at the MacCallum House in the town of
Mendocino, but you need to call ahead to reserve one. A perennial favorite Mendo
lunch is a bowl of New England-style clam chowder at the garden room of the
Mendocino Hotel. Ocean views are free through the windows, and the town is lined
with interesting shops. After Thanksgiving each year, chef Shana Everhart puts
cioppino on the hotel's menu.
Picture windows frame striking views of Albion Cove and the ocean to the west at
the Albion River Inn in Albion, about eight miles south of Mendocino on Highway
1. Dinner starts at 5 p.m. on weekends. One of chef Stephen Smith's most popular
dishes is his lime and ginger prawns.
His idea for this dish was a re-make of a spicy southwestern prawn appetizer.
``We did the southwestern prawns when I was working in Sacramento in the
mid-1980s,'' Smith said. ``When I came here, I changed it to a more tropical
approach. For the entree, I grill six large Mexican white shrimp and baste them
with a lime-ginger-soy-garlic sauce, then melt cilantro-lime butter over them on
the plate.'' It's served with coconut steamed jasmine rice and caramelized
beets. He also makes a Dungeness crab strudel. The crabmeat is spiraled with
rock shrimp and basil in a flaky phyllo dough.
The 955 Ukiah St. Restaurant (at that address in Mendocino) focuses on seafood.
The regular menu includes dishes like cherrystone clams cooked with white wine,
cream, garlic, bay leaf, and thyme on a bed of angel hair pasta. Pacific red
snapper is usually on the menu, as is a Seafood Menagerie of prawns, snapper,
salmon, clams, mussels, calamari, and an oyster, all poached in tomatoes, wine,
and dill. In addition, there are several seafood specials each night when dinner
starts at 6 p.m. Fridays through Sundays.
Recent specials included tuna wrapped in toasted nori, almond-crusted petrale
sole, and lightly smoked salmon, prawns, mahi mahi, and ling cod cheeks with
tomatoes, roasted garlic, and basil over fettucini.
That should satisfy most anyone's seafood jones. Davy Jones, that is.
Free-lancer Jeff Cox is The Press Democrat's restaurant critic. You can reach
him at jeffcox@sonic.net.
Photo: 1 by Crista Jeremiason / The Press Democrat
1: Diners at the River's End in Jenner get to enjoy the beautiful Pacific Ocean
sunset from the deck of the restaurant.
2: Patrons can buy fresh seafood at Lucas Deli in Bodega Bay. The deli also
sells pints of hot cioppino .
Infobox:
DAY TRIPS
NORTHERN MARIN AND SOUTHERN SONOMA
Noteworthy places to eat:
Hog Island Oyster Co., 20215 Highway 1, Marshall,(415) 663-9218
Lucas Wharf Deli Inc., 595 S. Highway 1, Bodega Bay, 875-3562
The Duck Club, at the Bodega Bay Lodge and Spa, 103 Highway 1, Bodega Bay,
875-3525
Seaweed Cafe, 1580 Eastshore Road, Bodega Bay, 875-2700. They will be closed
over the Christmas weekend.
JENNER TO GUALALA
Notable restaurants on the northern Sonoma coast:
River's End, 11048 Highway 1, Jenner, 865-2484
Sea Ranch Restaurant, Sea Walk Drive and Highway 1, 2.5 miles north of Stewart's
Point, 785-2371
St. Orres Restaurant, 36601 Highway 1, Gualala, 884-3335
Pangaea, 39165 S. Highway 1, Gualala, 884-9669. Open today; closed this weekend.
MENDOCINO COAST
There are many fine restaurants that serve seafood in the Mendocino-Fort Bragg
area, but these have a long-running popularity.
Albion River Inn, 3790 N. Highway 1, Albion, 937-1919
Mendocino Hotel, 45080 Main St., Mendocino, 937-0511
955 Ukiah St. Restaurant, 955 Ukiah St., Mendocino, 937-1955
MacCallum House, 45020 Albion St., Mendocino, 937-0289 Patrons can buy fresh
seafood at Lucas Deli in Bodega Bay. The deli also sells pints of hot cioppino .
Keywords: RESTAURANT FOOD LIST HOLIDAY