Stevenswood's restaurant rates high as a local dining destination.
Award-winning
Executive Chef Randy Lewis conjures up culinary treats. At dinner the local steelhead arrives in an aquavit-cured gravlax tart,
nestled on caramelized onion rings alongside wafer-sliced cucumber discs. A
Mozzarella-prosciutto roulade joins heirloom tomatoes in a balsamic reduction
for another taste-tingling first course. Bouillabaisse features a brimming soup
bowl of scallops, shrimp, mussels, clams, and lobster claw in a Pernod-infused
tomato fumй. The osso bucco of lamb order brings a huge crusty shank with
rosemary-scented bread pudding and oven-roasted vegetables."
"The desserts dazzle. Be sure and try Randy's world famous KeyLime
Pie. A martini glass brims with zabaglione and summer berries and a lemon tuille
shatters with each biteful. And if you have a passion for home-made ice cream
and sorbet, out comes a platter-size serving with six scoops of intense
flavors-strawberry, plaintain, black walnut, espresso, fig/blueberry, and mint
granite. California wines by the glass and the bottle compose a fine spectrum.
The award winning wine list offers a perfect pairing to the selection of fine
foods."
lacquered
Alaskan halibut with an Asian noodle cake and a memorable duck prepared two ways
with Black Mission fig glaze. (800) 421-2810.
www.stevenswood.com.
Cafe Beaujolais, Mendocino's most famous restaurant, is closed for a winter break until Feb. 6.
We had dinner at Moosse Café, where a bowl of roasted eggplant soup and a cured pork chop warmed us to the core on a cold night. It's on the ground floor of the Blue Heron Inn in a room of Zen-like simplicity. (707) 937-4323, www.theblueheron.com.
The first floor of MacCallum House houses the well-known Grey Whale Bar & Café, where the ingredient-driven cuisine changes seasonally and is identified by the grower or producer on the menu. The olive oil tasting on the appetizer list will please foodies. (800) 609-0492.
At the Little River Inn, the restaurant offers Dungeness crab in cakes or in sauce over linguine, as well as other perennial favorites, such as Caesar salad and roasted double-cut pork chops. (888) 466-5683.