San Juan Islands

[Ye-Ye Girl]

The Dude and I are headed up to the San Juans next week for a little getaway - 2 or 3 days. We'll probably stay on Orcas, where we'll be doing some hiking, but are also planning a visit to San Juan Island for some cycling. And of course - we'll need good food to fuel all that activity. Any recommendations for lunch or dinner on either island would be appreciated!

[theakston]

Duck Soup Inn on San Juan was the best meal I had in that area.

Good beer at the Front Street Ale House. Get off the bikes for a bit and do some kayaking too!

[tsquare]

On Orcas, the best place to stock up on picnic supplies and treats - Rose's Bakery and Specialties. Owners are involved in Slow Food, make artisan type breads and pastries, have an amazing wine and cheese selection, etc. Worth looking for! They've been at it for maybe 10 years?

Near Moran State park, not Cafe Olga - the old hippie place in the art gallery, but a little closer to the water, in the old post office (or was it a store?) is Olga Cafe (?) - the people who used to run the beautiful restaurant in Seattle where El Nino is now (help me, I've lost my memory!) May only be open for breakfast (brunch?) and lunch. Good luck - I was only there once, last July.

[tsquare]

(help me, I've lost my memory!)

Oh yeah, Raison d'Etre.

[TerrelK]

The Sunflower Cafe in Eastsound is Usually great. (But, there are good days and not as good days.) Rosario Resort may/may not be open, but it has a great chef (unless he's disappeared, and excellent bar food). (On Orcas things seem to be in flux frequently). Christine's an "upstairs" restaurant in Eastsound is also usually excellent and has bar food as well. The Starfish in Deer Harbor is also excellent. All these restaurants have irregular hours at this time of year. Personally I love Orcas Cafe in the late afternoon after a long walk. Despite being hippie it has terrific cooks. Hope for the modified Moroccan chicken potpie thing. Would vote for Orcas Cafe over Orcas Store -- too too special.

[Sweet Willie]

Had a nice dinner at Rosario Resort http://rosario.rockresorts.com/

And Christina’s http://www.christinas.net/ , both on Orcas Island.

[GC++]

We just came back from a great week-end at San-Juan Island.

Had good diner at the Friday-Harbor house (same place as the Friday Harbor inn).

Very good local oysters and clams.

The chefs is a CIA graduate and you can sense it - not your regular island restaurant.

[TerrelK]

Just back from Orcas Island and have to let those on the way know that The Inn at Shipyard Bay restaurant is now fantastic. The chef from Rosario Resort, Geddus Martin, has leased the restaurant and is now free of the constraints of working for a hotel chain organization. The dining room is beautiful as well and now the outdoor porch and lawn area are being used. Had nothing but great meals there (four of us). Seafood is prime -- seafood stew, salmon, scallops, halibut. Everything cooked perfectly. And I usually find halibut and salmon pretty pedestrian. Desserts are delicious as well -- one memorable blueberry ice cream that must have been made on the premises. There are other excellent restaurants on Orcas -- Christina's, Sunflower, but we returned to the Inn at Shipyard Bay many times. (Christina's deck on the Eastsound Bay with a moon shining on the water makes an evening special too.)

[reesek]

reviving this thread since i just spent the weekend on orcas.

* since it's not about food i won't comment specifically on the resort, rosario - but if any one is thinking of going there - feel free to PM me and i'll give you my impression.

FOOD!

*christina's bar - her brand of syrah is very nice - we ate in the bar and had the portobello sandwich and the tapas platter. everything was ok - but not bursting with flavor - except for the homemade catsup - that was amazing. i think it was molassas, tomato paste, allspice and cloves...not overly sweet - not very tomatoey, but very good with frites! dessert was apple fritters with buttermilk ice cream. bf loved those. they gave us dessert wine samples because we looked at the menu. excellent service. though nothing (except dessert) was that great - we'd definitely go back - the place left us with a good impression and it felt good in there.

*sunflower cafe - great mimosas, the worst service i've ever had - we should have walked out - but it was valentine's day (lunch) and our waitress looked like she was about to burst into tears (for 2 hours). mediocre crab cakes & fish taco - excellent homemade (though too cool) soup. not recommended by us though the reputation is very good.

*inn at ship bay - fixed price valentine's dinner - $45 for 4 courses, very affordable wine list. amuse of mild goat/cream cheese with sundried tomatoes & herbs.

-1st course choice of judd cove oysters - on the half shell or broiled with pancetta or a lentil and mushroom soup. we had fresh oysters with citrus (definitely meyer lemon) mignionette - divine and the soup. the soup was just ok - a little muddy - like it needed a jolt of lemon and salt or a bitter green or bacon. i think it was the vegan choice.

-second course - mixed greens with walnuts and bleu, smoked scallops with citrus or a warm parsnip & pear with laura chenel and mixed greens. we had the scallops (fresh, cold and wonderfully smoky - flavors played well with the citrus. also had the warm salad. by far the most decadent salad ever - tender sweet roasted parsnips - the pears we think were vanilla poached and the laura chenel oozing slightly. we thought it could have used a bit more green (with a bit more tartness) to offset the richness - but damn - that was wonderful.

-main selections included hangar steak, pork something...i think loin chop, pumpkin ravioli, salmon and a potato & mushroom stack they called a lasagne.

we had the salmon (with a meyer lemon polenta and lovely veg - bok choy, a baby carrot and a wedge of beet that looked like albacore) with mustard sauce we also had the lasagne which was potato layered with wild mushrooms and spinach and finished with oregon truffles. i found the oregon truffles to be as fragrant but not as flavorful as italian and french truffles - nice though. that dish for some reason tasted to me like pecan rolls - cinnamony...sweet but not unpleasant. the salmon was extraordinarily good - well prepared, exceptionally fresh and was served with some bitter mustard greens which played with the sweet salmon and the pungent sauce beautifully.

-dessert was a choice of creme brulee, homemade sorbet or what we had - a chocolate pate with strawberry and kiwi salad and a pear tart with cinnamon ice cream and caramel. we love chocolate and it was excellent, but the pear tart was amazing. those were two of the best desserts we've ever had.

and with a split of bollinger and a rare syrah from yakima - we were still under $200 before service...the wine list there was amazingly reasonable.

the nicest thing was that the owner/hostess took the metal cap from the top of our champagne bottle and hot glued a magnet to it and gave it to us as a keepsake. i was touched. also our waiter saved our skin by advising us to get to the ferry 3 hours in advance...

*orcas hotel (at the ferry dock) thanks to the waiter the night before, we arrived at the ferry dock at 11:30 - and just made the cutoff for the 2:45 ferry! fortunately the orcas hotel cafe was open and ready for us. we had a nice black bean burger served with waffle fries (very popular on orcas...) 2 slices of thick cheddar, lettuce and pickle slices. we also had a dungeness crab wrap that was just ridiculously good. creamy, tangy - it had avocado, black beans, cheese (which was odd), crab, lettuce and tomatoes. huge. that place rocked. then we fell into a coma.

[kiliki]

Someone suggested the Front Street Ale House on San Juan for beer-that is fine, but don't eat there. The food is abysmal.