Restaurants in North Coast
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Rendezvous Inn
The North Coast's top restaurant (really), blends rustic charm with big-city cooking in a converted redwood-paneled Craftsman-style house. Protégé of Michelin-three-star-rated, celebrity French chef Georges Blanc, chef-owner Kim Badenhop showcases seasonal, regional ingredients like lavender, wild boar, blackberries and venison, in his down-to-earth, French-provincial menu; the wintertime crab tasting menu is worth the drive from San Francisco.
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Tranquilitea
Sunny and mellow Tranquilitea is part tea house-cafe, and part wellness center - so Arcata! On the menu, organic-vegetarian salads, smoothies, grilled-panini sandwiches and excellent teas. The atmosphere is mellow and girly, good for a Tarot reading. Nice garden patio. In back there's massage and bodywork; call ahead.
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Restaurant 301
Eureka's top table, romantic, sophisticated 301 serves a contemporary California menu, using produce from its organic gardens (tours available). Mains are pricey, but the five-course prix-fixe menu (around US$45) is a good deal. This is the place on date night. The encyclopedic wine list is stunning.
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Sawshop Bistro
You'd be hard-pressed to find better in Lake County. In addition to the regular California-cuisine menu of wild salmon and rack of lamb, there's a small-plates menu of sushi, lobster tacos, Kobe-beef burgers, fish and chips, and flatbread pizzas, all available at the small wine bar.
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Jambalaya
In a cavernous space, Jambalaya serves a mishmash of Caribbean-influenced dishes - at lunch Cuban sandwiches, at dinner wild salmon and (of course) jambalaya. Good midrange option with lots of local wines and beers. Hosts live music after 22:00 Fridays and Saturdays.
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Chapter & Moon
The top spot at Noyo Harbor serves down-home American-style cooking (think meatloaf and chicken with dumplings) overlooking the water in a whitewashed room with pinewood tables and ladder-back chairs. Mains are cheap; starters aren't. Good breakfasts.
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Folie Douce
Arcata's best, Folie Douce presents a short but inventive menu of seasonally inspired bistro cooking, from Asian to Mediterranean, with an emphasis on local organics. Wood-fired pizzas are a specialty. Sunday brunch too. Reservations essential.
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Nit's
Mains are pricey, but plates are huge, beautifully presented and dynamically spiced at this tiny French-Thai storefront café run by a Thai-born chef-owner. After the Rendezvous Inn, Nit's serves the town's best food. Cash only.
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Bistro Gardens
The food here is better than you typically find in Crescent City. They actually use sauces! The fish-heavy menu features seafood stew, grilled oysters and filet mignon. The ocean views are stellar. Come before sunset.
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Mendo Bistro
Choose a meat, a preparation, and an accompanying sauce from Mendo Bistro's crowd-pleasing, mix-and-match menu. The loud, bustling room is big enough that kids can run around and nobody will notice. Good crab cakes.
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Renata's Crèperie and Espresso
We love Renata. She formerly served crepes out of a truck, but finally has permanent digs, and her café is the new hot spot, with organic sweet and savory crepes, salads and coffee. All the cool cats hang here.
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Waterfront Cafe Oyster Bar & Grill
The Waterfront overlooks the bay from its casual vintage-Victorian dining room and serves steamed clams, fish and chips, oysters and chowder. Top spot for Sunday brunch, with jazz and Ramos fizzes.
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O.H.'s Townhouse
Pick your own meat from the display case at Eureka's best steakhouse, which hasn't changed a whit since 1978 (think wood-veneer paneling). The mushy veggies are awful, but the steaks are delish.
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Daybreak Cafe
The veggie-heavy breakfasts are tasty, with omelets and burritos, but the blueberry cornmeal pancakes take the prize. At lunch there's turkey in some dishes, but the place is mostly vegetarian.
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Hurricane Kate's
The favorite spot of local bon vivants, Kate's open kitchen pumps out pretty-good, eclectic, tapas-style dishes and roast meats, but the wood-fired pizzas are the standout. Full bar.
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Wildflower Cafe & Bakery
- Arcata, USA
- Restaurants › Café
The place for vegetarians, Wildflower serves fab frittatas and pancakes, and big crunchy salads. At dinner there's mushroom stroganoff, veggie lasagna and other substantial dishes.
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Cafe Marina & Woodley's Bar
For an atmospheric sunny-day lunch, watch the bobbing sailboat masts in the small-craft harbor from the deck of Cafe Marina, which makes great bloodies and pretty good American food.
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Golden Harvest Cafe
Tops for breakfast with a hangover (it's windowless), Golden Harvest serves classic benedicts, four-egg omelets, and pancakes with real maple syrup. Alas, the coffee sucks.
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Kyoto
The chef-owner lovingly crafts every plate at this tiny Japanese joint, where the waiter tells bad jokes while serving good sushi and sake-marinated deep-sea cod. Make reservations.
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Park Place
Everything is made in-house at this cheerful café, where the consistently good cooking includes lunchtime soups and sandwiches, and pastas, steak, duck and seafood at dinner.
reviewed
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Good Harvest Cafe
The hands-down-best place to eat in Crescent City serves big salads, homemade soups, smoothies, sandwiches, omelets, beer and lots for vegetarians. Too bad it's closed at dinner.
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Arcata Co-op
Arcata Co-op is a member-owned cooperative that carries natural foods (using organic ingredients where possible) and has a good butcher with grass-fed beef, a bakery and a deli.
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Arcarta Plaza Farmers Markets
These markets are fantastic. For near on 30 years they have been selling fresh Humboldt County produce (including fruit and veggies, meats and shellfish, herbs and honey).
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Japhy's Soup & Noodles
The budgeteers first choice serves big salads, tasty coconut curry, cold noodle salads and great homemade soups. Best of all, you can fill up for next to nothing. Score!
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Cap'n Flint's
For fried fish, coleslaw and fries, skip the pricy Wharf restaurant and head next door to Cap'n Flint's where you will get (nearly) the same food for half the price.
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