Bridgewater Bistro
20 Basin Street
Astoria, Oregon
503-325-6777

So, jwa and I headed out to Astoria this weekend (such a pretty drive along highway 30 with the leaves and the sun and all) to have dinner at Bridgewater Bistro. It’s the new restaurant by Ann and Tony Kischner of the Shoalwater Restaurant in Seaview, WA. Not to put any pressure on the meal or anything, but they are catering our wedding at the Hotel Elliott in May and we wanted to go there and eat as many things on our menu as we could. Oh and we did.

First off, the space at Bridgewater is Beautiful. It’s a big, red barn-like building right on the waterfront. There’s a downstairs seating room, an upstairs mezzanine, tons of windows and multiple fireplaces. So warm and inviting. And one thing that I really like is that the space is not over-crowded with too many tables crammed into the space. There’s a nice amount of space between each table.

To start the meal we had a little complimentary glass of crisp fries and ketchup. I would have taken a pictures of these but we ate them too quickly.

One of the appetizers on our menu is halibut cakes with green apple and avocado salsa. While this was not on the current bridgewater menu, they did have fish cakes (halibut, salmon & cod) with a mango-ginger sauce. We tried the two-cake version of this as an appetizer to our meal. Really good — lots of fish. As the bride, I will be demanding extra halibut cakes and green salsa at the wedding. So you know, you’ve been warned. I can come by and steal your halibut cake. Back off — I’m the bride.

Next, jwa did the salad with salalberry vinaigrette and I did the French mushroom soup. Excellent all around. I loved the salad and the soup was really mushroom-y and good. We were trying to decide between a tomato soup and a mushroom soup as the second course and I think we’ll be going with the mushroom. And the salad (the fourth course) will be a great transition between the entree and the wedding cake.

Now, for our main meals — jwa had the salmon (served here with a cranberry-mustard sauce, a side of rice pilaf and sautéed swiss chard) and I had the Moroccan chicken. The salmon on our menu will be grilled (we love grill marks) and finished in the oven with a dill sauce and a side asparagus. That said, the salmon at this meal was very good. And jwa especially loved the rice.

My Moroccan chicken was the surprise hit of the meal. Not that I didn’t think it wouldn’t be good, just that I had already decided that I would get the salmon at the wedding. And we were kind of going back and forth between the Moroccan chicken and coq au vin. Not anymore. Moroccan chicken all the way, baby. So tasty. If I get this at the wedding, I will have to fashion some sort of bridal bib as the sauce is very red and my dress is very ivory and that sort of set up pretty much has disaster written all over it.

Desserts were a pear-fig-honey cobbler with vanilla ice cream and a bourbon-chocolate-pecan tart with vanilla ice cream. They were both delicious.

Price-wise jwa and I were trying to guess (before the check came) if this meal would be over or under what we just spent at Iorio for the Harvest Dinner we attended. And…Bridgewater was about $20 cheaper. We were both kind of surprised as we got a soup, a salad, three entrees (the fish cakes were an entree, not an appetizer) a bottle of wine and two desserts at Bridgewater.

Also, while we were at the restaurant, they were having a wedding reception in the upstairs private dining room! That makes me super happy too — that they can handle a full house of regular diners and also be catering a wedding at the same time. Awesome.

I’m just so happy we chose to go with them for our wedding catering. On top of the food, they’re just so nice to work with while planning a reception meal culinary extranvganza — friendly, calm, knowledgeable and skilled with northwest ingredients. The whole wedding planning can all be so stressful it’s a huge relief to have faith that the meal will be delicious and go smoothly. Hooray for Bridgewater Bistro!

Over Labor Day Weekend, jwa and I headed to the coast to celebrate his birthday. We had a really nice time and a dinner that was so good I’m pretty positive that I’ll be making it again soon. It’s always a little challenging working in an unfamiliar kitchen but this worked out pretty well.

I put the marinade together at home and brought it to the beach in a cooler and we picked up some halibut in Cannon Beach at the Ecola Fish Market. The original recipe was for tuna (on epicurious.com) but it was great with the halibut. Plus my new favorite thing to do is toss avocado with fish (salmon, tuna, halibut, etc…) and this fit that bill perfectly.

Marinade:
3 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tbsp finely grated peeled fresh ginger
2 tbsp peanut oil
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 serrano chile, seeded, minced (or a pinch red pepper flakes or a few dashes chili oil)

Along with…
halibut (about a pound for two)
Pasta (linguine, fettucine, etc…)
1 avocado
1 lime
sesame seeds
more cilantro
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium carrots
1 medium zucchini
red pepper flakes
salt

Mix the marinade ingredients together and marinate the halibut for about an hour. Meanwhile, clean the carrots and use a vegetable peeler to make very thin strips.

Do the same with the zucchini. Add a little olive oil to a pan and saute the vegetables with a little salt until tender and starting to get a little color.

When the fish is ready, heat a little olive oil in a pan and grill on the stove top for a few minutes on each side until done to your liking. You can bring the marinade to a boil and then simmer for a few minutes to mix in with the pasta and serve with the fish. You can also double the marinade recipe and use half for the fish and half for the pasta/serving.

Dice the avocado and toss with the juice of a lime, chili flakes, salt, sesame seeds and extra cilantro.

To serve, pile the pasta in a big bowl and top with the halibut and avocado.

The Lighthhouse
Manzanita, OR

As if the meal wasn’t enough, we also found a pretty nice place to stay in Manzanita. It’s a 1/4 of a block off the ocean and has a balcony with a great view. It’s also cheaper than Coast Cabins, has a nice kitchen and (imho) is in a better location.

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View of the couch, kitchen and dining area

Sleeping alcove

“living room” area and balcony

View from the balcony

Pros: nice atmosphere/interior, great location, full kitchen (microwave, stove/oven, fridge, sink), balcony with ocean view, cozy, good comparative price

Cons: couch smelled a little like dog (pets are allowed), have to light burners with a match, uh, that’s all I can think of!

For Easter this year, instead of making a brunch at home, jwa and I headed off to Heceta Head Lighthouse, on the coast between Yachats and Florence. Okay, we actually headed there Saturday as it’s a 3+ hour drive and that’s pretty far to drive all in one day — even for a seven-course brunch.

I’m not saying we wouldn’t do that, just that it would be far.

We stayed at the Ocean Cove Inn in Yachats that first night (Perpetua Room, no two night minimum, good price and it was sufficiently cute) and went to the Drift Inn for a huuuuge dinner of nachos, fish, key lime pie and beer. The nachos, beer and key lime pie were all awesome, the fish, sadly, was not. *sigh* Lying people on tripadvisor.com! You bastards! It did, however, remind both jwa and I of Flagstaff. Must have been the hippie waitress. Not to be confused with the more-prevalent-in-Portland, hip, indie waitress.

Anyway, the real reason for this post — The Lighthouse and the Never-Ending Brunch of Easter Awesomeness.

Coming up the trail from the beach…the house.

So, so good. Two hours of good. Geez. Where to start? Fruit. Salmon. Blueberry frappe. Strata-frittata thing. Chicken apple sausage. Apple strudel. Cheese and fruit. A bathroom full of ladybugs.

Oregon Pinot Gris Cocktail
Fresh strawberries, honeydew, Asian pear and watermelon infused with an Oregon Pinot Gris syrup, topped with marscapone cheese and candied roasted hazelnuts. This was served with some Heceta Bright Bread– zucchinis, cranberries, apricots and candied ginger baked together in a firm yet cheerfully crumbly treat.

Oregon Lox & Bagels
with shaved onion. English cucumber, daikon and baby dill.

Oregon Blueberry Citrus and White Chocolate Frappe — A very nice palate cleanser after the fish.

Heceta Head Strata
Garnet yams, caramelized onion, fresh garden sage and Juniper Grove Thor smoked chevre. Served with Taylor’s Chicken Apple & Cherry sausage.

The sausages were so good, I had to take a picture of them too!

Grandma Marie’s Apple Strudel
Served warm with fresh whipped cream. Unfortunately, I could not finish my strudel. It was very good, though. jwa finished his without hesitation.

And last, we have: Melon & Apple Jazz
Lavender Farmers cheese from Juniper Grove Farm. Yeah. I made a little room for the cheese!

After brunch, we hiked up the trail to the lighthouse and took a tour. It’s a very cute and squat lighthouse, with less than 108 stairs.

Looking up into the lighthouse light.

Looking at the ocean from the lighthouse bluff.

Highway 101 bridge as seen from the beach.

After brunch and the lighthouse exploring, we made our way up the coast and back home, choosing to cut over at Tillamook. It was rainy most of the way back but still a very pleasant drive. Oh and the lighthouse is one of the places we are considering for Wedding 08. The food would be amazing, that’s for sure…

Strangely, the bathroom upstairs had about 10 ladybugs on the ceiling. Just hanging out. Wandering about. Being ladybugs and such. Not at all icky, though. I like ladybugs. They’re cute!

This was an experiment that was based on a lunch that I recently had in Cannon Beach. It was at the Lazy Susan Cafe (not bad — definitely overpriced, though), but it was basically just a quick meal to tide us over until dinner that night — Cilantro-Chicken Pizza at Pacific Way Cafe!

But anyway, I was intrigued by this tuna-curry-hazelnut salad that was on the menu. I ordered it and was presented with a big pile of romaine, flaked tuna, hazelnuts and apple cubes, all with a curry dressing. It was not pretty to look at but it had a really great, interesting taste. So much so that I couldn’t help but wonder how those flavors would be if presented a little nicer, using tuna steaks (instead of canned tuna) and generally just fancifying it up a little. Here’s the answer that I came up with — Albacore Tuna with Apples, Hazelnuts, Curry Dressing and Red-Leaf Lettuce.

Tuna Marinade
1 tbsp curry powder
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp mango juice (had some leftover from the other night’s halibut)
1 clove garlic, peeled and mashed
1 tsp white wine vinegar
3/4 - 1 lb albacore tuna steaks, cut into 1-inch cubes (I’ve found that Trader Joe’s frozen albacore steaks work great for this)
Juice of half a lemon

Combine the first five ingredients in a bowl or sealable plastic bag. Add the tuna cubes and let marinade in the refrigerator for about 2 hours. Make sure you smoosh it around a little to get all the tuna coated before you put it in the fridge.

When ready, heat a grill pan, sprinkle the tuna cubes with a little salt and cook the tuna, getting nice grill marks on all the sides — probably 4-5 minutes total. Take it out of the pan a bit before you think it’s completely done. It’ll finish cooking through off the heat. Pile it in a bowl, squeeze half a lemon over it, and cover it with foil until you’re ready for it.

Dressing
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper

Whisk all ingredients and set aside until needed, which will be in a couple of minutes.

The Rest
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped
1 green apple, cubed
Red leaf, romaine or other lettuce
Toasted flat bread or naan

In a bowl, combine the torn lettuce leaves, hazelnuts and apple. Toss with the dressing. Serve with the bread and tuna cubes. You can make a sandwich by putting some salad on the bread and topping with tuna (what I did) or have a pile of salad, a pile of tuna and a piece of bread and eat in that fashion (what jwa did). No matter which you choose, it’s so, so good.

Wow, I just realized we’ve had a lot of fish lately. Awesome.

Pacific Way Cafe & Bakery
601 Pacific Way
Gearhart, OR 97138
503-738-0245

We went to the coast on Sunday, which was nice, if not a little chillier than we had expected (and a little less sunny). The drive itself was actually sun-filled and warm until about 10 miles from the coast — then everything got overcast. Oh well, it was still relaxing and worth the trip.

And here is where I will give the following disclaimer: I have a cold. I am taking sinus-stuffy-head-runny-nose-may-cause-drowsiness medicine and am currently in a fuzzy/spacey haze and buffered from the bright and harsh world. That being the case, it’s quite possible that this post will make even less sense than the coffee monkey one. So, you know, you’ve been warned. Continuing bravely on…

I really like going to Gearhart. I enjoy the rocky beaches of Northern California, but can also appreciate the nice, sandy, flat beach at Gearhart. Great for walking, collecting sand dollars and hanging out with a good book and good company. On Sunday, we brought a big beach blanket and read — myself, The Geographer’s Library, while jwa plugged away on Book Three of The Baroque Cycle.

After a suitable amount of time was spent lazing and reading on the gray, cloudy beach — it was time for lunch (and the real topic of this post).

The Pacific Way Cafe is probably in my top five favorite restaurants in all of Oregon. I don’t think we’ve ever had a bad meal here. Not even a meh meal. Always with the good meals. In fact, whenever we stay on the coast for a couple of days — we’re conveniently across the street here, at the Gearhart Ocean Inn.

Lunch: Bring on the Creamy Gorgonzola Dressing!

Since we mosied into the place around 3:00 pm, there was no waiting. Nice. It seems this place has gotten more and more popular every year. We got a big table in the back, a room decorated (like the whole restaurant) with comfortable pine tables and old, black and white photographs on the walls — and a quirky fetish for Scottish Terriers.

The lunch menu has tasty sandwiches, salads, and a few heavier entrees. Previously, I’ve had the Turkey Sandwich (with provolone and a horseradish / cranberry relish) and the Grilled Ham Sandwich, with cream cheese and a pineapple salsa and probably a few other things I can’t remember right now. But this day, I tried the Barbequed Chicken Sandwich, with provolone, tomatoes and red onions on homemade focaccia and a side salad with the creamy gorgonzola dressing. They have really amazing homemade bread, so sandwiches are a great choice for lunch. There really aren’t enough words to describe the creamy gorgonzola dressing, so I won’t even try, because I’d have to invent new words and with the fuzzy/spacey thing I’ve got going on here, I’m not sure that’d be a good idea. Suffice to say that it is delectably delicious.

jwa got a hamburger with cheese and bacon — the waitress asked if he wanted cheese or bacon and his eyes lit up as he, without much hesitation and rather enthusiastically, replied, “both!” Upon getting his burger, he actually lost the power of speech briefly after taking the first bite. I would have photographed his burger, but it was gone moments after the plate was set down on the table.

We both finished practically everything edible on our respective plates and rolled away from the table quite happy — a table where, two years before, we ate an entire Cilantro-Chicken Pizza, drank amber ale and listened to NPR. It’s a good table.

My only related complaint is that when we went to the bakery next door to buy some bread and other assorted tasty things to bring home — they were out of everything. How does that happen? Especially when you are open until 9:00 pm and it’s only 4:14 pm. Hey, Pacific Way Cafe & Bakery — make more bread and almond croissants, damn it!! The next time (for my part), I will come earlier but you bake enough to supply your demand, okay? Great. See you then.

To Recap:

Atmosphere: A very pleasant and homey interior. Sturdy pine tables throughout with three different “dining rooms”. A plethora of old photographs line the walls. Apropos of nothing, the women’s restroom has a bathtub filled with plastic alligators and beach rocks.

Service: Always friendly and nice, even when they are busy. There’s one waitress that has been there every time we have gone. She’s good humored and just a bit sassy — we like her!

Food: Mmmmm! Excellent. Dinners feature seafood, chicken, beef, pork & vegetarian choices. Nice wine list. Great specials and appetizers. jwa still raves about some beef tenderloin dish with a cherry sauce he got a few years ago and I have greatly enjoyed every meal I’ve ever tried.

Overall: We are quite fond of this place and I imagine we will continue to eat here for practically every meal when we stay in Gearhart — because we are kind of predictable like that but also, because the restaurant is very good.

Four Pepper Grinders (Out of a possible four). Woo!