So.....back to our vacation

I've been side tracked with so many other things. I believe I finished off my vacation posts with leaving Williams CA and eating at the taqueria. After that we headed down I-5 and crossed over towards Highway one through Watsonville and finally ended up in Pacific Grove, just south of Monterey. Pacific Grove is a nice little town that started as a summer retreat for a Methodist church group. It was later the home of Ed Ricketts (Doc from Cannery Row) and to the man who wrote Cannery Row, John Steinbeck, among many other notable writers and artists. We stayed in a nice little place called Lighthouse Lodge, which, it turned out, was a block from the cemetery and chapel where Ed Ricketts' funeral was held in 1948. And just down the road were the very tidepools he collected specimens from. They had a complementary BBQ going at the hotel, which, if we were staying more than a couple of days, I would have just done that. After a long day of traveling it was nice to have that option available. But, we were only going to be there two nights, and I was insistent on eating out. So, after perusing the yellow pages and several restaurant guides that were available in our room we ended up driving north to Monterey and eating in an English Pub called Brittania Arms. It was Tuesday and we ended up walking through Monterey's farmer's market, which was very impressive. Not only was their plenty of fresh vegetables but plenty of ethnic food, from Greek to Indian, to Mediterranean to Arabic being served up. How I wish we could have such a thing in Humboldt County. And it was a dog friendly market. Most vendors had water bowls for your dog. (BTW there is a little Mexican restaurant on the same street that is dog friendly as well. Turtle Bay Taqueria. They will serve dog owners out on their front porch)
But our goal was dinner and we walked into a very noisy pub called Brittannia Arms. Definitely a sports bar, and definitely serving up good pints of beer and traditional British food. John ordered a Cornish Pasty, which he said was just as bland as what her remembers from boarding school in England, so obviously they were right on with their recipe. Our youngest daughter had chicken strips that were incredible. Moist on the inside and the breading on the outside was perfectly crisp. I ordered British style Indian food, Chicken Tandori, spicy, with Major Grey's Chutney. All served up with pompadoms (A crisp cracker type bread), which I never see in a real Indian restaurant, but have had served up by John's British dad. A true treat that I have been wanting since the last time John's dad made them for us. The best of the four meals was ordered by our oldest daughter. Bangers and Mash. The poor girl had all of us digging into her plate. The bangers were so good, and according to John, just like what you get in England, more bread then meat. The mash was creamy and smooth, not a lump in sight and served up with jarred gravy that you can only find in an import shop that sells English foods. A real guilty pleasure. Then, to top it off was Heinz baked beans, a British staple. I had never tasted Heinz baked beans and didn't realize they would be so different from Bush's or any other American baked bean. They are far less sweet and very subtle. I think I prefer our American sweeter version, but John was in heaven swiping them from his daughter's plate.
So, if you find yourself in Monterey hankering for a fisty pint, I highly recommend Britannia Arms. It's loud, so don't go their for a relaxing dinner. It's a fun pace, the waitresses are great, their service bubbly and prompt, the clientele is loud, raucous and fun and the food homey, traditionally British and good. Not in the least bit greasy. So if you like good beer and good beer food, you'll like this place. And if you go early enough, they are very kid friendly.

Lunch Break Williams CA and Roberta's Taqueria

Tuesday John, the girls and I headed out for Monterey from Chico at around 11 am with no breakfast. So by the time we got to Williams about an hour later we were pretty hungry. We stopped, got gas, and John found this little taqueria a block away. Roberta's Taqueria. If you ever find yourself in Williams on your way somewhere, because I seriously doubt you're planning a vacation there (unless it's your hometown and/or you have family there) and you need some fast food, skip McDonalds, Taco Bell and Burger King. Go to Roberta's.

Roberta's is located on 530 E St in Williams. It's not far from the freeway. The day we were there it was packed and it was bloody hot outside (around 110). It's outdoor seating, drive up order. If you like good traditional taqueria food you'll like it here. They have lengua (beef tongue) and cabeza (head meat) and Mexican Coca Cola on the menu, to me that's always a sign of a good taqueria. (The ice cold Coke brought back memories of hot summer days washing cars on the front lawn, the coldest and best thing I've had to drink in years) I ordered the lengua burrito. The lengua wasn't as spicy as the place up here I like to order it, but it was well cooked, extremely tender, almost like butter. A good burrito all in all but too big for me. I should have had the lengua taco instead. John had the tostados de ceviche and 2 taco's al pastor, which looked like something I wanted to grab out of his hands and run away eating. As John said, it was "kind of yummy, not an everyday affair, just a few times a week" taco. It had bacon in it, how can you go wrong. I've never seen taco's al pastor with bacon in it. I'd like to tell you how good it was, but I think I would have lost a few digits getting near it as John inhaled it. He didn't comment on the ceviche, but he must have enjoyed it as it went down quickly with plenty of mmmmmm's. The girls had quesadilla's that looked like that were made with homemade flour tortilla's and real mexican queso. They tasted good, and the girls ate as much as they could in suffocating heat. The quesadilla's were huge, so there was no way for them to finish them. The food was good enough to save and have for breakfast the next day. The girls and John ate up the rest of one quesadilla and I happily finished the last 3rd of my burrito for breakfast. CB our dog was lucky enough to get a few sneak bites of the remaining quesadilla. He gave his paws up as well.

So thanks to Roberta's for serving up some good road trip food that did not give me heartburn, and I didn't have that icky fast food feeling I get from the above mentioned places. In fact I had a thoroughly satisfying meal that carried me on to my next destination. When I make my next trip through this way, I will definitely be back to Roberta's for my road trip meal.

On to Monterey......to be continued.......

Back from vacation

Ten days later and we're back home in Humboldt. We enjoyed our trip a great deal. The first 5 days were spent mostly with family swimming and relaxing in Chico. We did enjoy some tasty meals. When we arrived John's sister had grilled shrimp cooked and ready for us to snack on. What a welcome snack after 4 and a half hours on one of the windiest roads in California. Especially with a cold glass of Chardonnay. That evening John's sister fixed a simple and enjoyable stewed chicken dish. A perfect family meal that our girls very much enjoyed. For the Fourth my brother in law roasted a pork loin on the BBQ. I'm not sure what the rub was, but it was damn good. I spent the rest of the weekend finding excuses to eat the leftovers. It didn't matter if it was breakfast, lunch or snack, I was into that baggy of leftovers and into the leftover cole slaw. Yum. The next night we had a Hawaiian fish chowder prepared by John's sister. Again another hit, and a good meal with the temperatures getting hotter and hotter. Sunday John's sister and husband headed home in the wee hours and we had John's parents to ourselves. We gave them a break and took off for a bit of shopping then back to the house for dinner and a heat wave (thank God they have a pool). Sunday evening we had the pleasure of sharing ling cod that John had caught in Trinidad recently, fresh lettuce from our garden for salad and our delicious artichokes. Man! Am I proud of our artichokes. I've never had such a meaty choke. John's mom boiled them in water, vinegar, peppercorns and a bay leaf. They were wonderful. I didn't even need to dip mine in anything.

On Monday we headed north to Redding to check out Turtle Bay for the day. Great place, but don't hit up the gardens when it's over 110 degrees outside. I ended up with heat stroke. Also, if you go to their cafe and order a sandwich, be prepared to get a sandwich big enough for 3. They weren't spectacular, but they were pretty good. Fresh ingredients, not a lot of spice, and just way too much food. Next time I'll order one sandwich for me and the girls. That evening John's mom needed a break and threw in a frozen lasagna for dinner, which was very good, and I made another salad from our home grown lettuce. Perfect end to the day, well, no the swim in the pool in the over 95 degree evening was the perfect end.

Tuesday it was on to Monterey and more adventures, eating and non eating. First stop, Williams California.....

To be continued

Anthony Bourdain raps "Lisa"

A video put to Tony's rap tribute to female chefs.

Places to eat in Mendocino

I finally have some time to write a bit today. I've been wanting to list some of the great places my husband and I ate at a couple of weekends ago in Mendocino County.
Obviously from my last post you can see we had dinner at the Ledford House and found it to be a great place to eat. If I get the chance, I will definitely eat there again. The next morning we found a little restaurant in the town of Mendocino called Bayview Cafe'. It was upstairs on Main Street and has a great view of the bay, just as the name implies. The menu wasn't fancy, but the eggs florentine I had was excellent. John had eggs benedict and really enjoyed them. I never got a chance to get a bite of his food, so I'll have to take his word for it. Mendocino, being a tourist town, provided some great people watching while we ate, when it was possible to take your eyes off of the view outside. It's such a pretty little town. (if you go to Bayview Cafe' be aware that they do not take credit or debit cards. Cash or check only)

After lunch we went out to Point Cabrillo Light house and walked breakfast off. We enjoyed checking out the historical light keepers house and were surprised to see that it was possible to stay in one of the restored houses. They are in the process of restoring a third building which will probably be available for lodging in the future. After that we headed north to Fort Bragg to explore. On our way we ran on to the little town of Casper celebrating their Abalone Festival. The urge to stop dissipated as we drove through and saw the lack of parking and the masses of people. We also knew that only "judges" were allowed to eat the abalone. I really didn't feel like going to an abalone festival where I can't eat abalone. So we continued on to Fort Bragg.

John drove around scoping out all of the taqueria's in town so he'll be able to try them out next time he's in town for work. Hopefully I'll get to try a few out too. We ended up driving down to Noyo Harbor and checked out the local color. We decided to go to Silvers at the Warf and have a couple of cocktails. We ended up ordering fried calamari and oysters on the half shell. Yum! The calamari was great, but the oysters were amazing. They were so fresh, they tasted like the ocean smells on a clear breezy day on the Pacific Northwest. They didn't need a sauce, but the one provided was delicious. It was sweet, but with a heat that showed up a few seconds after swallowing the oyster. It had an Asian flavor to it, and would be great with shrimp. I definitely want to come back to Silvers for dinner. Oh, and the bartender makes a great bloody mary.

By evening John was feeling bloated and not so hot after so much rich food. We ended up eating at the Mendocino Hotel in Mendocino. We just had soup and starters, but I very much enjoyed my dinner. I had a french onion soup and John had the clam chowder. He enjoyed it, in spite of not feeling all that well. He ordered a ceasar salad, but didn't feel well enough to eat it. Next I had the Napoleon of Ahi Tuna Tartare which was chopped and mixed with a sweet sauce and served on top of crisp won ton's with cucumbers and a siracha emulsion. Nicely presented and very good. I also ordered their California Artisanal Cheese Plate. I wasn't too impressed with this. First of all no one told me what kind of cheese I was being served. I figured out that one was a Chevre, and the other some type of blue cheese. There was a hard cheese with peppercorns in it. I think it was a sheep cheese and it resembled a mild parmesan. These were served in two very large triangles, which seemed odd. There were basic water crackers, chutney, and fruit on the plate as well. I would have preferred crisp baguette with the soft cheeses. I was too full to eat much, and decided it was good enough to take back to our room for a midnight snack. What most impressed me about the Mendocino Hotel was the craftsman style decor. A very pretty place and the food and service is good enough that I would be happy to come back and try a full dinner, but I'll skip the cheese plate next time.

The next morning before heading home, we had to try one more place. We went back to Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg and found a tiny little restaurant, right on the water called Chapter and Moon. We were greeted (if you can call it that) by a grumpy looking old man, who looked like he was tired out from busting knee caps for the mob the night before. He handed us a one page menu with 3 items on it. Egg's cooked any way you like with your choice of meat, which included bacon, sausage and ham. There was also French toast, and Omelet of the day. Uncle Guido informed us that the omelet of the day was, "a sausage omelet with some other stuff in it. You know, like peppers and things." Well all righty then! He did get around to asking us if we would like coffee, which we were pleasantly surprised to be served a very strong, dark and delicious cup of joe. I assume other beverages were available because I saw customers drinking tea, orange juice and other juices. They also appeared to have a bar of some kind. Well, we went for the sausage and stuff omelet and were not disappointed. The eggs were light and fluffy. Cooked perfectly. The sausage tasted like it was home made and I liked that the omelet wasn't loaded down with a ton of cheese. There were no peppers in it, but there were carmelized onions and tomatoes. The hash browns were unusual and very good. They were more like tiny little fries, cooked to a perfect crisp and they were light and crunchy in your mouth. Other than Uncle Guido, who actually added to the charm of the place in his disturbing demeanor, the service was excellent. It turns out that the chef is locally very well known from working in several of the great restaurants in the area and decided to start her own restaurant. She bakes all of her own bread for the meals, and the sourdough toast we had with breakfast was yummy. I would loved to come back to this place and try one of the pulled pork sandwiches I saw on the lunch menu. I highly recommend this place. Especially to people who have a hard time deciding what to have for breakfast. Your options are limited, so it's easy to decide, and you can bet whatever you order is going to be good.

So there you have it. A fun and food filled weekend. And I actually managed to not gain a single pound through it all! Woo Hoo!

Reporting Back

I have to say the Ledford House was definitely no disappointment. Heavenly is what dinner was. We started with two cocktails. I had a vodka martini and John a Tangeray Gin and Tonic. We ordered a bottle of 2004 Navarro Pinot Noir, which turned out to be absolutely "yummy". Our starters were a dozen oysters on the half shell with a wonderful sauce and escargot. My first escargot ever and it was delicious! They also served fresh bread. Half white, the other half a rustic seeded bread that was wonderful. There was extra virgin olive oil to dip it in, plus the basalmic vinegar that the olives were in. Our main courses were, for me, the braised rabbit. Oh My God!!!! YUM! I haven't had rabbit in years. I forgot that it really does not taste like chicken. This dish brought back child hood memories, and then chased past them with the wonderful sauce that was sitting in my bowl mixed with the mashed potatoes. John had the cassoulet. Another big fat YUM! You can look at the menu on my last post to see what was in it. All I got to taste was the duck, and it was wonderful. For desert we had port (complementary because is was our anniversary) and we shared bread pudding. This is one of the best bread puddings of all time. The caramel sauce was still sugary, just like the bottom of your cereal bowl when you were a kid, the part you liked to lick out when your parents weren't looking. The whole dinner was delicious and magical, including the beautiful sunset over the ocean just as we were seated. I highly recommend the Ledford House for your next dining experience in the Fort Bragg area. Tomorrow, or soon after I'll tell you about the other places we ate. Lots of yum coming up.
Check out more about the Ledford House at http://www.Ledfordhouse.com