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A few restaurants with national reputations, plus several more of regional note, entice palates on the North Coast. Even the smallest cafés take advantage of the abundant fresh seafood and locally grown vegetables and herbs. Attire is usually informal, though at pricier establishments dressy casual is the norm. Most kitchens close at 8 or 8:30 and few places serve past 9:30. Many restaurants close for a winter break in January or early February.
Ask Bodega Bay residents where they go for superfresh, reasonably priced seafood in a casual setting, and many will suggest this unassuming order-at-the-counter shack. Boston clam chowder, seafood tacos and sandwiches, and fish (or calamari, crab cakes, or prawns) and chips are the hands-down favorites, along with raw or cooked oysters.
The eye-level bay perspective steals the show at this low-slung self-described barbecue and Italian restaurant whose outdoor seating areas fill up quickly in good weather. For breakfast the kitchen turns out oh-so-moist caramel-bacon monkey bread and burritos with scrambled eggs and brisket; lunchtime brings Italian-style scallop-and-clam chowder, fish tacos, pulled-pork sandwiches, and, in season, Dungeness crab sandwiches awash in molten Havarti cheese.
Intricate but not fussy cuisine based on locally farmed ingredients and fruits de mer has made this casual yet sophisticated restaurant with an open kitchen a West County darling. Start with raw oysters, rich potato-leek soup, or (in season) Dungeness crab before moving on to halibut or other fish pan-roasted to perfection.
Conversation softens around sunset at this ocean-view restaurant whose chefs pride themselves on preparing meals from mostly local ingredients, as diners' eyes drift westward to often spectacular light shows. With such fresh source materials—seafood from the day's Bodega Bay catch, cheeses crafted as near as 5 miles east, and some vegetables grown even closer—the house culinary philosophy mirrors that of many a Sonoma Coast winery: minimal but wise intervention to bring out the best in them.
Brave the lines at this seafood shack that doubles as a bait-and-tackle store to feast on crab sandwiches on sourdough, catch-of-the-day fish tacos, and fresh Tomales Bay oysters raw or barbecued (the latter with sauces that include piquant chorizo butter). The family owners place a premium on quality and sustainably produced ingredients.
Crab sandwiches, New England or Manhattan clam chowder, and homemade crab cakes with roasted red-pepper sauce star on this food stand's brief menu. Place your order and enjoy your meal to go or, when possible, at one of the marina-view picnic tables outside.
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