Restaurants come and go, usually for obvious reasons. It may be a bad location, service or sanitation issues, ingredient quality, attitude, crummy wine, or just less than optimal food preparation. Another issue that we run into, sadly too often, is boring menus that never change. Fortunately, during a recent trip to the Mendocino Coast on fire-ravaged Highway 20, my wife and I visited several tried-and-true eating establishments that were still going strong and discovered two new places that stood out.
On our first sortie, we had to cancel our trip, because Highway 20 to Ukiah past the northern edge of Clear Lake was closed due to the explosive Ranch and Mendocino Complex Fires that burned to the roadside in the Blue Lakes area. Trying again later, an uneventful drive had us in Nice on the water less than three hours into our trip — Nice, California, that is, on the north shore of Clear Lake. The Boathouse Bar and Restaurant in Nice was an obvious choice for lunch. We stop here several times a year, primarily because the simple, reasonably priced food meets our criterion for recommending a restaurant: Would we return? They also have a bar, lawn, and deck that looks south across the lake to Lakeport, and they have docks to tie up to should you need breakfast and coffee, or even a Bloody Mary, after a first-light start with bass poppers at nearby Rodman Slough.
Returning from a spring f ly-rod excursion for crappies, I had enjoyed a beautiful day for burgers on the deck and live music coming from a group that plays there often. This trip, we found their lawn, band area, and over-water deck spruced up and sporting colorful new sun umbrellas. This isn’t a burger and a brew at Jimmy Buffet’s Cheeseburger in Paradise on Florida’s Cabbage Key. It has its own local flavor unique to Lake County, and on a nice day it is mighty fine.
From the dock, your eyes can follow incinerated ridge lines from Lakeport all the way around the southern, western, and north-northeastern edges of the lake. Why am I dwelling on the fire issues? I just wanted to let you know that Clear Lake’s lakeside areas were missed by the fires, businesses are open, and the crappies and bass will be on the grab soon. Avoid weekends and even the days before fish tournaments, when 100 or more 70-mile-per-hour bass boats can be on the water. They blow out stealthy top-water fishing, but if you get caught in a tournament, you can follow the boat concentrations and take GPS points for future reference, because the pros know where to fish.
The drive on Highway 20 from our home near Grass Valley, on the western slope of the Sierra, to Mendocino on the coast takes from five to seven hours, depending on the number of stops, and gives you access to streams such as the Gualala, Garcia, Navarro, and Mattole Rivers a bit to the north. In Ukiah, we checked in at the Agate Cove Inn (another repeat), took a quick nap, and drove into town looking for any restaurant open late on a weekday. Our first try struck pay dirt at the Mendocino Hotel, which has an interesting, changing menu.
Crab cakes, seared ahi fish tacos, and a glass of Navarro Anderson Valley Chardonnay revitalized us. High-quality bar food is found in this neck of the woods. The cabbage-and-daikon-based taco filling was dressed with a light sriracha-flavored crema sauce that opened up your palate without blasting it.
Just above Van Damme State Park and across from the Little River Inn is Wild Fish. In an unimposing building, it features expensive fine dining on the bluff above the town of Little River. Reservations are a must, well in advance if on a weekend. The owners of Wild Fish are opening another restaurant in Pacific Grove, and we hope this isn’t the kiss of death, as it is for many restaurants, but they produce a meal that is superb from beginning to end featuring local fresh, wild fish, as they have done since they opened. Carefully selected local wines pair superbly with the signature fish. The quality of their product is far ahead of most, if not all California fish restaurants. That stands to reason, because the menu is limited to what is locally available daily in a close-by fishing port and taken to another level with the artful use of local produce and stunning plating.
We will definitely visit this restaurant again, but for the next night, our innkeeper had suggested a reservation at the Noyo Harbor Inn Restaurant and Tavern, in Fort Bragg. It too will become a regular stop if the quality of the food and the experience remain as high as they were during our visit.
Noyo’s working harbor is filled with real-deal commercial fishing boats, stacked crab pots, drying nets, and a marine chandlery. In the area around it you’ll find noisy fifties and sixties fish houses, trailer parks, and a garden-art wholesaler featuring every Buddha statue that you could dream of. The town has always had an element of funkiness, and nothing is polished, as it is at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf or Santa Barbara Harbor. As adjacent Fort Bragg has renovated its downtown and added craft breweries, coffeehouses, and a bakery, Noyo has seen more funkiness creep in, as well as restaurant quality improve. We have written of Django’s there on another visit. It and Sea Pal Cove immerse you in salty ambiance. It’s easy to ask for another beer and linger as rays of sunlight break through the creeping fog.
The Noyo Harbor Inn Restaurant and Tavern sits on a north-south ridge next to the road that leads down to water’s edge in the harbor. Immediately you notice finely kept grounds and tasteful, eye-catching architecture that saw many change orders during construction, insisted on by an owner pursuing perfection. We rarely rely on the Internet to decide our choice of a restaurant before planning a visit. On the way through town to fish the surf at MacKerricher State Park, we just parked and walked in past the pleasing landscaping to look at a menu. The building’s interior and tasteful art caught our attention.
Their east deck overlooks the harbor and drew us in to explore further. This is the view and ambiance that raise dining experiences to another level and motivate diners to drive a distance for a special meal. But it was the menu that headed us toward the reception desk to make reservations. That night, executive chef Fabrice Dubuc featured a pan-roasted halibut with Spanish chorizo, local Swiss chard, cannellini beans, bell peppers, and saffron broth that caught our eye, but it was the duck rigatoni with asparagus, peas, and a Parmesan cream sauce that sealed the deal. We returned that evening as harbor lights twinkled against the backdrop of a crimson setting sun that had pierced the ebbing fog bank. A gracious hostess soon seated us. Immediately, I noticed subtly lit still-life oils that gave a special ambiance to an already stunning setting enhanced by custom-made copper light fixtures. I asked our waitress about the art, because it reminded me of European-style painting. It turned out the owner’s daughter is a highly regarded artist who had studied in Europe.
Carefully selected local wines by the glass allowed us to complement a superbly cooked meal. It was dine dining, but the prices were reasonable for the quality and setting. The duck rigatoni came in at $22 and included generous portions of the delicious fowl’s meat in a balanced sauce laced with fresh vegetables. Karen uncharacteristically ordered a beef tenderloin with caramelized shallots that included leek-potato gratin, garden-fresh green beans, and a subtle red wine demiglace whose scintillating plating at another table had caught her eye. Then she got a glimpse of the gratin and ordered immediately.
Later on our trip, we drove farther into the harbor and found Sea Pal Cove, again recommended by our innkeeper at the Agate Cove Inn. Twenty-seven craft brews, most on tap and local, complement same-day Pacific rockfish fish and chips. Fresh local fish filleted daily raises this traditional English pub dish to another level. The clam chowder and beer are excellent, too. Boont Amber and Featherleggy were among those on tap. Orders are taken in a dockside shack and your beer or wine is handed to you for a hundred-foot walk on the pier to their dock. Dockside trawler crew members repaired nets, and a welder made repairs on the gear as seagulls screamed and dove, hoping for a tidbit.
Both innovative fine dining worthy of high star ratings and earthy dockside fish and chips restaurants at bargain prices are alive and well on the Mendocino Coast. On the way you might just stumble onto another find.
If You Go…
The Boat House Bar and Restaurant, 2685 Lakeshore Boulevard, Nice, California 95464. Phone: (707) 2742534. Open late. A Lake County locals’ hangout.
The Mendocino Hotel, 45080 Main Street, Mendocino, California 95460. Phone: (707) 964-1333.
Wild Fish, 7750 North Highway 1, Little River, California 95456. Phone (707) 937-3055. Reservations are a must.
The Noyo Harbor Inn Restaurant and Tavern, 32390 Harbor Drive, Fort Bragg, California 95437. Phone: (707) 961-8000.
Sea Pal Cove, 32390 Harbor Drive, Fort Bragg, California 95437. Phone: (707) 964-1300.
Yuba River Dining Alert
Scallywags Tavern, off Mooney Flat Road on the way to Englebright Reservoir and the Bear Yuba Land Trust’s Black Swan Ponds just closed its doors. Less than two years ago, the owners cleaned up the site of this long-standing unsuccessful restaurant and brought in a new kitchen and menu. The food was excellent, and fellow anglers returning from the river had high hopes, but the restaurant just didn’t have the traffic to sustain it. That’s why we advise a call in all recreation areas before heading out to a restaurant. Days and hours may change, too. Don’t count on the information on websites. This was the first stop above the Highway 20 Parks Bar bridge on the lower Yuba . . . a favorite trout and steelhead stream and launching point for drift boat trips chasing wild rainbows.
— Trent Pridemore
Soups on the Go
Fly fishing in California does not cease with the onset of winter. A number of our finer trout streams are open year round, as are many still waters and, of course, the ocean. A lot of anglers will pack a thermos of hot soup in their vehicles to provide a warming meal or pick-me-up when days are cold. They’ll also, wisely, pack water or other liquid refreshment, because soup, particularly hearty soup, does not necessarily slake thirst.
When fishing, I tend to put quite a distance between myself and where I park my vehicle. Part of this is to get away from other anglers, and part of it is just a desire to explore. This means I try to keep my fishing vest as light as possible, which in turn means that if inclement conditions warrant carrying a thermos of soup, I want it to handle thirst, too, because I don’t want to also bring a bottle of water.
It’s tough, however, finding recipes for thirst-quenching soup. Such soups on the Web are usually cold, like gazpacho, meant for hot climates. I did locate one, though, in a favorite cookbook, The Good Food, by Daniel Halpern and Julie Strand. It relies on cilantro and lemon.
For six servings, 1) roast 1 tablespoon of coriander seeds in a skillet until slightly golden.
- Place these seeds in a saucepan with 6 cups of chicken stock and a chopped-up leek (with two inches of the lower green part) and celery stalk, and 6 sprigs of fresh cilantro.
- Bring to a boil, then cover and lower heat to simmer for half an hour.
- Strain into a saucepan, add 4 tablespoons of minced cilantro, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and salt and white pepper to taste, then simmer for 5 more minutes. (Salt can make you thirstier, so be careful how much you add.)
Pour into a thermos, place in your vest, and dispense when the shivers hit.
— Augie Moos
