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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.
In a weather-beaten shack that doesn't look like much but whose outdoor tables perch over the Russian River Estuary near the Pacific, this order-at-the-counter health-oriented café attracts meandering tourists, serious cyclists tackling curvy Highway 1, and West County residents soaking up the views and countercultural vibe. Sandwiches and salads, many incorporating locally caught fish and seafood, are the lunch mainstays, with avocado toast, eggs cooked various ways, and yogurt-granola parfait among the breakfast selections.
An oasis of low-key sophistication in downtown Ukiah, Cultivo is known for inventive wood-fired pizzas (try the braised-pork or wild-boar-sausage pie, or go meatless with one starring trumpet mushrooms) but also plates up oysters on the half shell, fish tacos, a gem salad with bacon and buttermilk–blue cheese dressing, and entrées like grilled salmon and a hefty porterhouse. Meals are served on thick wooden tables in the downstairs bar area and mezzanine; there's also sidewalk dining out front.
Set in a two-story house on a quiet country road north of town, this casually sophisticated restaurant—one of the North Coast's best places to eat—is often packed with people enjoying mesquite-grilled fresh seafood, beef brisket, St. Louis–style ribs, and vegetarian dishes. The garden setting and candlelight stir thoughts of romance.
Straightforward seafood preparations and seasonal cocktails best sipped from the ocean-view Whale Watch Bar rank high among the pleasures of a visit to the Little River Inn resort, opened in 1939 and still run by members of the same family. Start with clam chowder, flash-fried calamari, or Dungeness crab cakes before settling into cioppino, the day's catch, or a steak.
This stylishly funky restaurant's chef, Perry Hoffman, got his start (at age five) working in the kitchen of Napa Valley's The French Laundry, which his grandmother founded and later sold to Thomas Keller. As an adult, Hoffman made a name for himself at three highly praised Napa and Sonoma spots before returning to Boonville in 2019 to prepare prix-fixe, California farm-to-table cuisine (including a few original French Laundry dishes) at his extended family's hotel.
The hot tip at this low-slung cliff's-edge restaurant is to come early or reserve a window table, where the Russian River and Pacific Ocean views alone, particularly at sunset, might make your day (even more so if you're a birder). Seafood is the specialty—during the summer the chef showcases local king salmon—but filet mignon, duck, elk, a vegetarian napoleon, and pasta with prawns are often on the dinner menu.
A garden of heirloom and exotic plantings surrounds this popular restaurant inside a yellow Victorian cottage. Local ingredients find their way into dishes that might include Oaxacan-style ceviche, smash burgers, pizzas from a wood-fired brick oven, fish and prawn tacos, beef bourguignon, and oven-roasted cauliflower with house-made mole verde.
On a sunny afternoon or at sunset, glistening ocean views from the Coast Kitchen's outdoor patio and indoor dining space elevate dishes emphasizing seafood and local produce both farmed and foraged. Starters like a baby gem lettuce Caesar and grilled salmon wings precede entrées that may include seared scallops and aged rib eye.
Candy-cap mushroom (tastes like maple syrup) and black raspberry chocolate chunk are among this fun ice-cream shop's top-selling flavors. Chocolate, mocha almond fudge, and ginger appear year-round, supplemented by blackberry-cheesecake, pumpkin, eggnog, and other seasonal offerings.
You'll often see cyclists sitting on benches outside Elk's general store, wolfing down well-made salads and deli sandwiches after scaling the coastal highway's hills. The staffers at this modest pit stop for all travelers are consistently welcoming, and the ocean views is a bonus.
Grass-fed-beef burgers, pulled-pork and pork-schnitzel sandwiches, and cod ceviche are among the popular items this hip-casual restaurant serves all day, with heritage pork chop, rotisserie chicken, and similar plates appearing for dinner. Well-selected breads and buns, crispy fries with the burgers, perfect pickles with the sandwiches, and slivers of fresh ginger in the ceviche elevate the farm-to-table comfort fare, much of it showcasing ingredients from local purveyors.
A plaque out front hints at the layers of history that have unfolded in this hangout's redbrick 1880s structure. The mood's invariably upbeat in the bar, even more so in the courtyard beer garden, where patrons chow down on burgers, sandwiches, chicken wings, and other pub grub.
Boonville locals and frequent visitors love Lauren's for its down-home vibe and well-sourced comfort food—vegetarian and ground-beef burgers, hand-cut fries, chicken tostadas, fish-and-chips, and Thai-curry bowls. Chocolate brownies and (seasonally) apple tarts and honey-baked pears are among the desserts worth a trip on their own.
Pastries for breakfast; wraps, salads, hot soup, and sandwiches for lunch; and espresso drinks all day make this sweet café in downtown Boonville a fine stop for a quick bite. Order at the counter and enjoy your meal—the oven-roasted turkey and chicken mango wraps and Reuben and albacore tuna sandwiches are among the lunchtime choices—at tables inside or out front.
Eat like a mill worker at this family-style former logging cafeteria's long, communal tables. You're here more for the blast from the past than the cuisine (think biscuits and gravy for breakfast, sandwiches and pot roast for lunch and dinner).
The term "light rustic" applies equally well to this comely café's decor—plank flooring, wood-top tables, gas fireplace with a brick hearth—and its cuisine, which emphasizes local produce and seafood. The menu changes seasonally, with the grilled flatbread, albacore appetizer, Point Reyes blue cheese salad, and grilled organic pork chop among the year-round crowd-pleasers.
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