syrah girl

Last Fri. night we had yet another excellent meal at Campagnia. Bruschetta for an appetizer which was wonderful, my entree was the Salmon served with a couple of really great tasting little potato cakes. We brought in a bottle of Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir. The salad we chose were the Butter Lettuces with fresh nectarines and strawberries, feta cheese and yummy dressing. Dessert was complimentary, a nice dish of Spumoni ice cream. Service was fantastic, we dined in the atrium room which is very pretty. If you want to take a 40 minute drive to Shaver Lake through the Sierra foothills, last night we dined at Trapper's at the Point. A lakeview restaurant with very good food. I had the Prawn Scampi with Fettucini which was surprisingly excellent. Lots of garlic, capers, white wine and a fresh garden salad and homemade bread to accompany the entree. A glass of Ventana Chardonnay was nice with dinner. Also in the same center as Campagnia, is La Paella with offers outstanding Spanish food. We like the Seafood Paella with a glass of Chianti. Cheers!

Freemark Abbey in St. Helena has won awards for their Viognier. It is very nice, there is a small area in the back to enjoy your tastings. Cheers!

We had dinner at Blackfish in LC this summer, it was very good. The Salishan Lodge was very nice for lunch, would love to have dinner there sometime, their dining room was gorgeous with pretty views!

Wildwood is another one of our favorites. They have a bar there where you can watch the chefs cook. Great place!

In June, the new owners of Trelio took over, remodeled and opened for business. The new owners are the Shackelford brothers. Chris was the wine Sommelier for Erna's Elderberry House for many years. The new remodel is gorgeous, taupe walls, fine artwork and an elegant yet casual look to the place. We were in for dinner a couple of weeks ago. We started with the Ceviche of Scallops & Market tomatoes, Moroccan Olives, Baby Fennel with Cilantro Cream. This appetizer was great for the warm weather, very refreshing but the most interesting thing about it and not on the menu description is the small littel vile of tomato water that comes with the appetizer. Very unique. Next was the Bloomdale Spinach salad with warm Bacon Vinaigrette, Grilled Apples, Irish Cheddar Cheese and Chicken Livers. Very interesting flavors nad the grilled apples added a nice touch to the salad. My entree was the Wild King Salmon that was excellent, served with a medley of baby summer veggies and a smooth, creamy sauce. My husband had the Free Range chicken with garlic, potato puree, baby summer veggies and Chaterelle Mushroom sauce. He said was also excellent. We shared a glass of Santa Barbara Pinot Noir that Chris picked out for us. For dessert was the Chocolate Lava cake that was rich and decadant. Everything was perfect, this is the best place in Clovis for a fine dining meal. www.treliorestaurant.com Megan, I hope you get to try this place your next visit to the area to see your mom. I think you will be very impressed! We will be trying lunch soon, I will report back with our experience.

clarklewis, Park Kitchen, Carlyle, all excellent choices for PDX. Have a great time!

Hi, I have been to 5 places on your list. I would definitely check out Fenouil in the Portland Pearl. It is a very pretty dining room with excellent food. We had lunch there, I had the butter lettuces salad and the salmon which was excellent. Desserts are also not to miss. Park Kitchen is a great idea. The Heathman Hotel is also very good. We dined there last month and the Baked Black Cod was perfect. I would give the Nehalem River Inn a look. Excellent food and service, one of the Oregon Coast hot spots right now. In Cannon Beach, don't miss Newman's @ 988, a new place owned by the former executive chef, John Newman of the Stephanie Inn in Cannon Beach. Bistro and Gower St. Bistro are also great in CB. Seaside has a new Italian restaurant, Taste of Tuscany that is outstanding if you're going that far north. I have reviews with photos of most of these places on Tripadvisor under the Restaurant Review seciton if you're interested. Lots of great places to dine in the area. Will you be going to the Oregon Wine Country? If you are in Dayton, don't miss the Joel Palmer House.

I would seriously consider Carmel. There are so many excellent choices for lodging and great places to eat. There is also Carmel Valley where you can do some wine tasting. Wickets at the Bernardus Lodge is excellent for lunch. Pacific's Edge at the Highland's Inn is outstanding. You may want to consider a stay at the Tickle Pink Inn, right next door to the Highland's Inn. Very nice!

No Solvang, LOL! You may want to consider Cambria. We like the Blue Whale Inn there, it is a B&B with great breakfasts. The Fireside Inn and the Pelican Cove Inn are also both very nice on Moonstone Drive. I could give you specifics if you're interested in Cambria. The Black Cat, Sow's Ear, Robin's, all excellent places to dine in Cambria. I just researched Carmel for a one night stay, I booked the Colonial Terrace Inn for last night, but we needed to cancel. It was $175/night but only a block from the ocean. There are several nice Inns in Carmel that would be nice. So many great places to dine there. Bouchee, Pacific's Edge, Little Napoli, Portabella and Casanova are a few of our favorites. If you are considering Santa Barbara, I could give you some suggestions on places to dine there also. We stayed at the Harbor View Inn, but it was over $150/night. Have fun!

Make a note that Echo as previously mentioned here is closed, so sad. Also, Citron, another high-end Fresno eatery has closed it's doors this summer. One more place I wanted to mention here is Fugazzi's Bistro in Clovis. Love, love, love this place. Very reasonable prices, innovative menu items and lovely ambiance. The bread and dipping sauce comes complimentary with the meal. We like to share the Pear Walnut salad that is always great, then also do a split plate of the Spinach Fettucine with Blackened Chicken. Dessert was the Cheesecake that is served beautifully with a raspberry drizzle. The Creme Brulee Cheesecake is also not to miss here. One of Clovis' best kept secrets, IMO.

Just stumbled across this thread. Loved the comment about the Domaine Drouhin, Archery Summit, Sokkol Blosser. It is totally true, they are simply the BEST Oregon Pinot in the area. We recently found Domaine Serene on our afternoon in the Oregon wine country a couple of weeks ago. Beautiful grounds and outstanding Pinot Noir. After tasting at Domaine Serene, we also found the Scott Paul tasting room in Carlton. His Audrey scored high points with us. Wish we would have purchased a case instead of a bottle that is already gone. ( We took it to the Nehalem River Inn for dinner.) Went to the Winemaker Studio there in Carlton, but the Pinots we tasted didn't come close to the Domaine Serene or Scott Paul Pinots. We left without purchasing anything at the Studio. Had wonderful meals at Tina's and the Joel Palmer House that day! Cheers!

After several weeks on the Oregon Coast, we came back to a HEAT wave. Here a few of the places we have enjoyed meals in the past few days: La Posada-Clovis, Very good Mexican food. My favorite is the shredded chicken enchilada with the chile relleno. Great guacomole and friendly service. My favorite Mexican restaurant in the area. Toyoko Steakhouse, weekly regulars here. They have added a nice room in the back of the Tappanyaki dining area. We share the Teriyaki boat with California rolls and tempura. Lakeshore Resort @ Huntinton Lake- The best restaurant in the Sierra Nevadas. We went to check our condo rental and had a great meal of Black Angus Prime Rib that is served every Sat. night. Fri. night special this summer is the Australian Lobster Tail. Always crowded in the summer, a great place for a meal in Huntington Lake. This has been our favorite place in the area for quite awhile. Cheers!

Nice report! We toured the Ferry Market Building for the first time in May. Loved it! We also enjoyed a nice lunch at the Ritz and had dinner at Boulevard, both were excellent. Gotta spend more time in the Bay Area!

I had some of the best sea scallops in PDX at clarklewis. We have only been there for lunch, but would love to try dinner sometime, I like the small plate thing they have going on here for dinner.

Terra is very good for a nice meal in St. Helena. In SF, we had an excellent experience with Boulevard. Don't miss Domaine Carneros in Napa for a destination winery experience. Plan on spending a bit of time here, the views are beautiful as is the tasting room, excellent Pinot Noir here.

In Cambria, we love the fish tacos at the Moonstone Beach Bar & Grill. Robin's in Cambria also does some really good ones. My favorite tho is at the California Market at the Highland's Inn in the Carmel Highlands. Gorgeous views and amazing fish tacos, what could be better? Stay cool!

On another board there was a big debate on Burgerville vs. In n Out. Dick's was mentioned and now I must try it, next visit to Seattle.

We had a nice lunch at Fenouil this summer. We also very much enjoyed our dinner and brund at the Heathman Hotel when we stayed there a couple of weeks ago. clarklewis, Paley's, Park Kitchen, Hurley's, Higgins are all very nice places to have great meals in PDX. Cheers!

Wine Cask is excellent. They also have Intermezzo, a more casual bistro fare. Oile e Limone was also very good. We like the Patio at the Four Seasons Biltmore in Montecito for lunch. Out in the wine country, Los Olivos Cafe is very good for dinner, also. Cheers!

How did you like it? We enjoyed our dinner there. Lunch at Fenouil was excellent. I had the butter lettuces and the salmon. Very reasonably priced. Gorgeous dining room. Our desserts were very good. Profiteroles and chocolate souffle. Small portions but only around $4 each. We want to return here for dinner sometime.

I would serously consider Peerless. I have dined there 3 times since my last post, the most recent a couple of weeks ago. It's all good here, don't miss one of the innovative appetizers. I had the crab croquettes that were excellent. I'll try to get a full report out later in the week on this board about Peerless.

We had a very nice lunch at Fenouil in the Pearl several days ago. Very nice ambiance with excellent food and service. Our dinner that evening was on the front porch at Paley's Place. Very good Steamed Black Mussells and Pommes Frites and the Gnocchi was excellent.

We've been to Park Kitchen for dinner, it was very good. I had a great lunch at Carlyle in Feb. We will be trying Fenouil for lunch soon, I'll report back how we like it. Bluehour is very good, but we've only had dinner there. Cheers!

HIggins and Park Kitchen are both very good. Have you considered Wildwood or Paley's? We had an excellent lunch at Carlyle in Feb. I would like to try Fenouil next or possibly Lovely Hula Hands. I also really enjoyed the Bluehour in the Pearl District. Hurley's is also excellent! Wonderful Muscovie Duck Breast there and perfectly prepared creme brulle. Too bad Gotham and clarklewis closed, they were also both very good with innovative menus.

Great photos! We were there on Sat. Loved the Ferry Building, it was our first visit there. Didn't have a chance to sample the oysters as we were saving our appetite for lunch at the Ritz. I'll post about that experience and our meal at Boulevard a bit later.