The intervals between winter storms can be the best time of the year to visit the Northern California coast, and you are within striking distance of the angling opportunities on the Navarro, Gualala, and Garcia Rivers. A recent visit found the hills turning green from the first rains and led to the discovery of two dining establishments.
At Noyo Harbor, on North Harbor Drive in Fort Bragg, if you persevere past some very average seafood palaces, there is a new restaurant called Django’s Rough Bar and Café. It was closed last January, but has reopened after a makeover. The funky outdoor deck and small restaurant building have been cleaned up and pleasantly decorated with nautical artifacts. Sunlight, screeching gulls, fishing boats, and a waterfront view invite the traveler. It’s nice that colorful places like this still exist along the coast.
My wife and I wanted something light after an invigorating hike at MacKerricher State Park. Crab cakes, perhaps the last ones made with fresh crab this season because of the toxic algae bloom, and a bowl of New England clam chowder filled the bill. I was impressed with both. The cakes were light, delicate, and slightly crunchy, and the chowder was flavorful, loaded with clams, and not overly creamy. We split a glass of crisp, citrusy white wine at $6. It turned out that the owner’s wife was the chef. After a chat, I asked for the chowder recipe, but was told apologetically that she had won several awards and wouldn’t part with it. Live music is available on the deck on some weekends. I thought that it would be a great place for some craft beer, fish and chips, and entertainment if the rivers are blown out.
The second new find, which came highly recommended, was Wild Fish in the town of Little River, just above Van Damme State Park, a few miles south of Mendocino. We made reservations three weeks in advance for a 7:00 p.m. table in this small restaurant on a Friday night. It was the start of the Wild Mushroom Festival in Mendocino, and a special appetizer on the menu board was a plate of three different fungi: a medley of lobster and cauliflower mushrooms and golden chanterelles. They were sautéed in a light, buttery olive oil and finished with unsalted butter and a dash of white wine. I paired this with 12-hour-out-of-the-sea lingcod that came with chard, small red potatoes, more wild mushrooms, and bits of pancetta. I hadn’t tasted fresh lingcod like this since I fished the coast in my own boat. My angling friends and I had a rule: no fish were given away unless we knew that they would be cooked and eaten within 24 hours. The chef at Wild Fish was clearly skilled and did not disappoint. A generous fillet was seared, oven-baked, and finished under the salamander. It had a lightly caramelized, flavorful crust with a perfectly cooked and moist interior. Karen chose another of our favorite fish, a fresh petrale sole fillet cooked en papillote in a parchment bag, as they do at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. Again the chef was masterful and flavored the fish only with a little butter, small amounts of salt and pepper, and sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme. Delicate, fresh, white-fleshed fish needs very little else, or its flavors will be overpowered. Our meal started with house-made focaccia bread and ended with a farm-fresh late-season peach tart topped with a dollop of homemade ice cream. An Anderson Valley chardonnay complemented the fish without being to oaky and was worth the price. My friends in the culinary world don’t mind paying for a great meal if it rises to another level, as was the case that evening. Once again, Mendocino didn’t disappoint.
Django’s Rough Bar & Café, 32100 North Harbor Drive, Fort Bragg; (707) 962010 0 ; https://www.facebook.com/DjangosRoughBarGrill-809698805805849/.
Wild Fish, 7750 Highway 1, Little River; (707) 937-3055, www.Wild-fish.com.
