Point Reyes Dining

[Gail]

Sorry if this has been covered as I no longer see a "search" feature here.
Just need suggestions for restaurants in the area.
Thanks

[Sarah Rolph]

For breakfast, the Pine Cone Diner. Not exactly a diner, but good fresh home-style cooking.

For lunch, the Pine Cone, or Cafe Reyes. Cafe Reyes has a nice wood-burning oven in which they make terrific pizzas. They also have nice salads and a few other things. Not a huge menu, but everything is good. House wines are good. Cafe Reyes is the best value in town. They also serve dinner (same menu) and have a large outdoor garden eating area. Gets pretty busy at peak dinner hour.

The Station House cafe is very uneven. Nice atmosphere, sometimes good service, sometimes great food, sometimes not very good. I had a great breakfast there and a poor dinner. Look at the menu and maybe ask someone in town how it has been lately if you are interested.

The Palace Market has a great deli section, lots of nice cheeses, good selection of wines, and a reasonable produce section, so it is a great place to pick up a picnic. Unless it is raining, you probably want to be lunching outside amidst all the beauty!

For a fancy dinner, if you want to spend a lot of money and like nuanced, somewhat unusual Italian food, you might try Osteria Stellina. I didn't think it was a great value, but the atmosphere and service are lovely and they always get good reviews.

All these places are right in Point Reyes Station. There is also an excellent bakery there, Bovine Bakery, which is only open in the morning, I think (right across from the Palace Market).

There is another fancy place for dinner, Nick's Cove, about 11 miles north of Point Reyes Station on route 1. I haven't eaten there but it too gets good reviews. Stopped in once and the room is gorgeous. Near the town of Marshall (which is not much of a town).

The famous oyster place Hog Island Oyster is there near Nick's Cove in Marshall.

The oysters are better at Drakes Bay Oyster, over on Point Reyes itself, in the National Seashore. Look for a sign on the left, as you drive out toward the lighthouse. After the turnoff to Pierce Point but before all the beaches, right at the top of Drakes Bay. You can buy oysters to eat there or to take away, either shucked or in the shell, and you can usually get a tour. Very state-of-the-art (yes, they look like shacks, but these are some of the most advanced oyster-growing facilities in the country).

There is a small cafe at Drakes Beach with a very limited but good menu. The hours are odd, though, it is smart to call ahead if you plan to eat there. (Drakes Beach is almost an hour from town, so you do not want to be stuck out there, hungry!) I think the cafe is usually open in the summer especially on weekends.

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Pine Cone Diner
60 4th St, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956

Nick's Cove
23240 Hwy 1, Marshall, CA 95450

Cafe Reyes
Point Reyes Station CA, Point Reyes Station, CA

Palace Market
11300 Shoreline Hwy, Point Reyes Station, CA

Bovine Bakery
11315 Shoreline Hwy, Point Reyes Station, CA

Pine Cone
162 N Main St, Sebastopol, CA 95472

Osteria Stellina
11285 Highway 1, Point Reyes Station, CA

Station House Cafe
11180 State Route 1 N, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956

[OldTimer]

Do any local markets carry shucked, jarred, PtReyes oysters?

[SteveG]

Local to where? The Drakes Bay oysters are available in jar. I've seen them at the meat counter at Bryan's in Laurel Village in San Francisco. I've also bought unprocessed fresh shucked oysters in plastic tubs from Coos Bay at Falletti.

[OldTimer]

OK...you are right. I am vague. Can I get jarred PtReyes oysters in Marin County? Where? Are they always fresh or do I have to take a chance?

[Melanie Wong]

Maybe you could check with the branch of Bryan's in Corte Madera.

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Bryan's Foods
341 Corte Madera Town Ctr, Corte Madera, CA

[boris_qd]

I bought a jar of Drakes bay oysters at the biggish supermarket in the town of Pt. Reyes. If you do make it that close to Drakes bay though I recommend just going to pick up the oysters at the actual farm.

[balabanian]

I also like the Marshall Store for oysters, particularly the oysters rockefeller served with brickmaiden bread garlic toast. Very casual (you order at the counter) but delicious and great setting.

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Marshall Store
19225 Hwy 1, Marshall, CA 94940

[annabana]

The Marshall Store has the best bar b qued (a local treat) and raw oysters anywhere and my husband loves the clam chowder. The oysters are far superior to those at Nick's Cove which has been disappointing the two times we've been. Plus the view over Tomales Bay from the deck of the Marshall Store is sublime. Super casual setting but a real destination IMHO.

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Marshall Store
19225 Hwy 1, Marshall, CA 94940

Nick's Cove
23240 Hwy 1, Marshall, CA 95450

[Gail]

Sarah, thank you so much for taking the time to type all this out. I have just printed it off to take with us. Such great info!! We've been curious about Nick's Cove, so will check it out too. Looked into staying at Nick's, but he thinks too much of his accommodations. Great to know you can get shucked oysters. We will have a kitchen, but don't want to get into shucking oysters.

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Nick's Cove
23240 Hwy 1, Marshall, CA 95450

[atjsfo]

I've been to Nick's cove three times and it's been disappointing each time. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't particularly good, and it wasn't worth the money - it's fairly pricey.

Last time was with a group of four people, one of whom is vegetarian. There were no vegetarian entrees on the menu, which is surprising for bay area restaurant. There was a pasta dish on the menu which they said they could make without the fish - and they did, but they still charged $19 for it, which seemed quite high for a small portion of pasta.

I really *want* to like this place, it's such a great concept but it keeps disappointing me.

I have heard fantastic things about the italian restaurant in Point Reyes Station.

I have always had good to very good experiences at the Station House Cafe. Admittedly I have eaten there only once in the past five years - was about four months ago - but I liked it then and I always liked it in the 90's when I went there about once a year.

I think there is a bakery in either the town of Tomales or Marshall, and I seem to remember liking it, but that was about 5 years ago.

Good luck! It is such a beautiful area over in west Marin.

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Station House Cafe
11180 State Route 1 N, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956

[Gail]

atjsfo, sorry to hear your take on Nick's. We'll try it for lunch I think. Nothing like having your dining companions unhappy. Kind of sours the whole experience. No salads or veggies, sounds strange.
We're native Californians who have never been in this area. Two oyster lovers who will be in oyster heaven. Sure want to go to Drakes to see the real happenings.
Thanks for posting...

[bbulkow]

Also, Inverness is 11 minutes north of Pt Reyes Station by car and has a reasonable little pizzeria and a strange czech/russian restaurant. I haven't eaten there in years, perhaps someone more local can comment on Inverness.

[wolfe]

Way up at the top of the page on the right.

[Gail]

Tanks, wolfe!!

[wolfe]

Although I must admit on my computer it doesn't work At first I get a listing of Point Reyes entries then it suddenly flips nothing found and the search area changes from SFBA to United States. I hope you have better luck.
Tried it on IE and the URL worked and the site stayed. Tried it again on Mozilla and it flipped.
http://www.chow.com/search?query=poin...

[Gail]

Worked fine for me, but most of the info is old.

[wolfe]

Hit the newest first. I know there have been current threads within the last month or so.
Example:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/714223?tag=search_results;results_list
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7230...