Cannon Beach Restaurants - Part 1

Every summer we venture out for a week to a house near Arch Cape that we've rented for the past 16 or 17 years. There are many wonderful reasons that I look forward to this vacation every year, not the least of which is the food at various restaurants in nearby Cannon Beach. I'm writing this on Wednesday, the half-way point in the week as I look out over a stormy ocean. We've had 3 dinners and 3 lunches so far: some good, some not so good.

Our traditional first night meal for the past several years has been at Mo's, a northwest chain specializing in fried seafood. I first came to truly appreciate Mo's about 14 years ago when Tim was about 7 months old. To say that he was a difficult baby is an understatement. It was rare that we could take him anywhere without him screaming and crying and generally making a scene. We'd pretty much stopped eating out, so it was with some trepidation that we entered Mo's for dinner that night. However, once we were seated, I realized that in addition to the loud TV showing a baseball game, there were at least 2 other babies making their parents lives miserable too. What a relief! We had our clam strips and oysters and clam chowder, and I honestly don't remember if Tim screamed or not - it didn't matter at Mo's. In those days, when we did eat out at all, we'd go early so as to not disturb patrons looking for a more quiet experience later in the evening. We no longer have to do that of course, but our first night at Mo's is still early to avoid the inevitable line (Mo's is quite popular).

Although Mo's has never been top end food, it seemed to have gone downhill this year. The fried food (clams and oysters) were slightly soggy, the mashed potatoes weren't hot enough, and the service was even slower than usual (although our waiter did poke the garnish on Tim's plate with a fork as he was clearing it, and it squeaked).

Lunch on Monday (our first full day) is always at Bill's Tavern. In addition to some of the best Stout on the coast, they make pretty good basic pub food. I had my usual bacon cheeseburger (and 2 pints of Stout), Rachel had a bacon burger (no cheese), Tim had his usual chili dog and Josh had a quesedilla. Just as we were done ordering, Josh added an order of onion rings to start with - very sneaky. The food was good, fully meeting expectations.

For dinner on Monday, we went to Wayfarer. This has always been a family favorite and is consistently better than we expect - until this year. They had just changed their menu and removed our 2 favorite appetizers: mushroom caps with Pinot Noir and bleu cheese, and roasted garlic with baked goat cheese. They also got rid of the giant rib eye steak that Rachel and Tim usually split. Oh well, we thought, we'll just try some of the new items. To start, Tim ordered a spinach salad with roasted corn and bacon, and we shared the crab and artichoke dip and "Wayfarer Wings." Tim let us all try a little of the salad, and it was absolutely delicious. The crab and artichoke dip was good, but nothing to knock your socks off, while the wings got mixed reaction. They were coated in what seemed like the sweet and sour sauce that you might find on fried pork in a cheap Chinese restaurant. Josh really loved them, I didn't care for them, and Rachel and Tim were ambivalent. For the main course, we all ordered hunks o' red meat - Tim and I ordered Fillet Mignon, and Rachel and Josh ordered the 14 oz New York strip with Pinot Noir reduction. These were accompanied by the usual potato-leek cake and an assortment of veggies. Sadly, for the first time at Wayfarer, we were disappointed. All of the meat was slightly overcooked (medium rather than medium rare), and my fillet was fairly tasteless. Rachel said that if that was a Pinot Noir reduction with her steak, then she's an Arab! The usually fabulous potato-leek cakes were thick and soggy rather than thin and crispy. Fortunately, we had a very nice bottle of 2003 Penfolds Shiraz with the meal, and that helped quite a bit. We finished the meal on a high note with the deserts - I had a very well executed creme brulée, while the rest of the family had the traditional fallen chocolate soufflé topped with ice cream.

All in all, we're not quite sure what to think - maybe the chef had the day off, maybe he had a bad day, maybe they got a new chef. I'm sure we'll give them another chance, but it was unfortunate that our usual bastion of reliability let us down.

On our initial drive through town, we noticed that the Gower Street Bistro had been replaced by the Cannon Beach Café, so we decided to give it a try for lunch on Tuesday. The Gower Street Bistro had a few wonderful breakfast items on the menu, and the new café had retained a few of these. Rachel ordered the eggs Benedict, I ordered a Cajun shrimp Po' Boy, and Josh ordered the monster 1/2 lb burger. Just before we'd left the house to head into town for lunch, Tim decided that it was breakfast time and had eaten a huge bowl of Cacklin' Oat Bran. Apparently each of us in turn had told him that it was a silly thing to do right before lunch, and sure enough he wasn't terribly hungry. Nonetheless, he ordered a Caesar salad. In all, the food was OK, but not what it could have been. Rachel's eggs were overdone and the Hollandaise sauce was not lemony enough and my Po' Boy was OK, but really just a bunch of heavily peppered shrimp, chopped onions and bell peppers on a bun. Josh's burger looked good (and was a ton of food), but he said that the bacon was underdone. Tim's "Caesar" salad had bleu cheese dressing. No need to go back again, I think.

So far, it sounds like the food scene was pretty bleak, and it's true that we were getting somewhat discouraged. For dinner, we had decided that we'd just eat at the farmer's market that they've started holding every Tuesday afternoon. Apparently a different local restaurant each week sets up a booth and sells food, and this week it was the Bistro. On our way out of town after some shopping, we stopped by the farmer's market to make sure that having dinner there was a good idea. Unfortunately, all they had were meatball sandwiches at the Bistro booth, so we decided to make other plans. Instead, Rachel made reservations for 2 at Newman's at 988 and the boyz would eat at home (much to their delight). In spite of his parents taking him to nice restaurants and supporting his expensive eating habits (oysters on the half shell, giant steaks, etc.) Josh still makes it very clear that he'd rather not spend time with us, so he's perfectly happy to eat at home.

Newman's was a highlight of last year's trip, and we were prepared for it to suffer from "second time syndrome" this year. Fortunately, it did not. Last year we had the chef's 5 course prix fixe menu with wine pairings and had planned to do so again this year. However, the selected courses tonight weren't our favorites, so we decided to order from the menu instead. I started off with a fantastic pear and foie gras appetizer - both seared and plated with a warm balsamic vinegar reduction. Unbelievably good! Next, I had a grilled romaine salad and Rachel had a crab and roasted tomato salad. Both were wonderful. For the main course, Rachel had duck breast with foie gras (and crispy skin!), and I had a rack of lamb that was probably the best lamb I've ever eaten. It was tender, flavorful, seasoned perfectly (lamb wants more salt than you think). It was so good, that I even picked up the little rib bones and chewed on them to get the last bit of meat off. Both plates were accompanied by a perfectly perpared vegetable medley (one carrot, one green bean, one asparagus, and several fingerling potatoes). The only sad part of ordering from the menu is that we miss out on the different wines with each course. So instead, we ordered a bottle of 2006 Anam Cara Nicholas Estate Pinot Noir. We're quite familiar with this wine, and it was a perfect accompaniment to both the duck and the lamb. For desert, I ordered the creme brulée again, and Rachel ordered a dense chocolate torte. Both were excellent, and after a few bites, we swapped. The chocolate did go better with the glass of vintage porto that I'd ordered. So, another winner from Newman's that didn't suffer from second time letdown. Definitely the highlight so far.

Finally, for today's lunch we hit the Pig 'n Pancake after Rachel and Tim rode the beach bikes. It was breakfast all around, and was quite good - no letdown here either. Tonight Rachel is making her famous fruit salad here at the house, along with a loaf of "Bob's Daily" bread from EVOO.

I'll be back in a few days to report on the second half of our vacation.