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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.
Nearly every seat in this urbane bistro has a view of its most important feature—a wood-fired brick oven used to prepare everything from local Kumamoto oysters and creatively topped pizzas to wild-mushroom cobbler. Soups, several well-constructed salads, grilled meats, and seafood round out the menu.
The chef at this colorfully lighted, contemporary, Old Town restaurant applies Western European techniques to mostly locally sourced ingredients in dishes that might include a wood-fired steak slathered in sauce au poivre, fish with saffron rice, or a mushroom-laden meatless cassoulet. Many patrons start with a classic or specialty cocktail or one of the clever mocktails.
At the Sacred Rock Inn's fine-dining restaurant, meals are served in intimate room with an open-truss ceiling, hardwood floors, and tables inlaid with abalone-shell fragments. The chef prepares seasonal California coastal cuisine based on garden-grown and foraged produce sourced from impeccable purveyors, and the menu usually includes duck, fish, beef, and vegetarian dishes.
The chef at this ocean-bluff inn's redwood-paneled dining room describes the Mendocino Coast's most intricate meal—an 8- to 12-course, prix-fixe extravaganza—as "hyperlocal" seasonal cuisine revolving around seafood and vegetables (many of the latter grown on-site). The artistry displayed in every dish lives up to the raves the restaurant has received from local and national food writers.
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.
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.
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.
Gourmet wood-fired pizzas, many with ingredients grown a mile away at Campovida winery, are the main attraction at this country-casual restaurant and bar. Menu staples include burgers; grilled vegetables; pasta dishes; and seasonal soups, stews, and salads.
A wood-fired oven anchors the small kitchen of this contempo-rustic restaurant, whose chef references the Iberian peninsula in entrées that might include seafood cataplana (a fisherman's stew in the cioppino vein) or port-braised short ribs. Small offerings like marinated olives, house-baked focaccia, mushroom (cultivated and foraged) bisque, and imported tinned seafood served with hot sauce whet the appetite for the main event.
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