Good eats needed for Oregon coast and Hood River

[jgilfoil]

My wife and I are touring the Oregon coast, something I've wanted to do ever since I first saw it while on a road trip with college buddies many years ago. We'll be staying in Yachats, Port Orford , and the Gold Beach area. What do you fellow chowhounds recommend? How is the Tu Tu Tun Lodge for food? Too, we will drive up the Columbia to Hood River? What do you recommend in that area? I've seen some great post for Portland, so I think we're set there.

[carrieb]

I can really only speak for the Columbia/Hood River part, but you have some good options. I'd suggest you check out Nora's Table, Brian's Pourhouse and Celilo. Also recommend crossing the river over to White Salmon. Everybody's Brewing has good food and beer and a nice patio with views of Mt. Hood. Henni's is a newer spot on the other side of the street... great little space with excellent food.

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Brian's Pourhouse
606 Oak St, Hood River, OR 97031

Celilo Restaurant and Bar
16 Oak St, Hood River, OR 97031

Nora's Table
110 5th St, Hood River, OR 97031

[syrahgirl]

We had a nice meal at Full Sail Brewing a few weeks ago. There is an outdoor patio there with pretty views of the water, you can watch the wind surfers. It's a casual venue with great sandwiches, salads, burgers, etc. It is in Hood River. :)

[urban agrarian]

I, too, had an excellent meal at Full Sail's pub. Stunning views of the Columbia River Gorge. Good food, great beer. I had the Halibut [fried] Fish Sandwich, which came with spicy slaw and french fries, and a pint of the Pale Ale.

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Full Sail Tasting Room & Pub
506 Columbia St, Hood River, OR 97031

[tracylee]

After breakfast this morning, I would not recommend Bay Street Grille in Florence (near Yachats), at least for Sunday breakfast. Food was good, but service was painfully slow.

[julies1949]

Waterfron Depot in Florence. They have a website.
Go early or make reservations as htey are very busy. Delicious food at more than reasonable prices.

[jgilfoil]

Kudos to you for that recommendation. We ate at Waterfront last night. Loved the restaurant. We had great drinks, and those desserts were outrageous. We bought an extra piece of cake for the road.

[julies1949]

Unfortunately our return visit last week wasn't up to my own recommendation. Food was great- sevice was terrible.
See my post-Disappointing Return Visit.

[Littleman]

I second Celilo. I love Tu Tu Tun Lodge. Spend the night there if you can. It's in a gorgeous place and the food is outstanding. You don't get a lot of choices though. I second Celilo. I also like Brian's Pourhouse. I like the 6th Street Bistro for lunch or dinner and Three Rivers Grill for dining outside also for lunch or dinner.

Brian's Pourhouse @ 606 Oak Street, Hood River, OR 541 - 387 - 4344.
http://www.brianspourhouse.com/
Celilo Restaurant and Bar @ 16 Oak Street, Hood River, OR 541 - 386 - 5710.
http://www.celilorestaurant.com/
The 6th St. Bistro and Loft @ 509 Cascade Avenue, Hood River, OR 541 - 386 - 5737.
http://www.sixthstreetbistro.com/
Three Rivers Grill 2 601 Oak Street, Hood River, OR 541 - 386 - 8883.
http://www.3riversgrill.com/

[oregoncook]

If it isn't too late....
Just got back from the southern Oregon coast.

Port Orford: Paula's Bistro was out of this world. Duck Confit Cassoulet was totally delicious. Partner's Halibut was the best he's ever had.
Redfish sounds promising after they work out just-opened kinks.

Gold Beach: Good lunch at Barnacle Bistro. Rollin' 'n Dough is supposed to be good.

Brookings: If you get this far south, Cafe Kitanishi was very good.

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Paula's Bistro
236 Sixth St, Port Orford, OR 97465

[kayssurf]

I don't know why the name doesn't appear in this version. It is down some stairs, not very fancy looking. The service was superb, the decor a little over the top, but really comfortable, considering you are going down a basement on a side street. I had Italian sausge with a cream sauce. Spicy, almost a soup with great bread to soak up the sauce. The sauce made it. The waitperson got me the ingredients, but of course not the recipe. I will fool around with it and see if I can replicate it. Definitely go downtown, that is where the action is. And try the Sausage with Cream sauce at North Oak Brazier.

[Grape Nut]

We recently spent 3 nights in Hood River, giving us a chance to explore several restaurants.
We enjoyed dinner at Celilo very much. The menu and wine list were interesting, the food and service were excellent and the decor is very well done. http://www.celilorestaurant.com/
The next night, we ate at 3 Rivers Grill and were quite disappointed. We were rushed through our meal, with salads/apps served immediately after we ordered (well before our wine) and entrees served before we finished the first course. Some of the food was quite disappointing. They do have one of the best views in town. http://www.celilorestaurant.com/
On a whim, we decided to try Sophie's instead of returning to Celilo and we were so glad that we did. Sophie's was absolutely terrific and in our opinion, served one of the best meals we've had in quite some time. We loved everything about it. http://www.sophieshoodriver.com/
We had great New Haven style pizza for lunch at Double Mountain Brewery http://doublemountainbrewery.com/ and really enjoyed the lattes and mochas at Doppio http://doppiocoffeelounge.com/

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Celilo Restaurant and Bar
16 Oak St, Hood River, OR 97031

[foodtrip]

Recently my husband and I spent a week on the southern Oregon Coast and we found some pretty good food – not stellar, but pretty good.

Depoe Bay, Oregon
On our first day we drove from Portland down to Depoe Bay to the Whale Cove Inn, just south of the town of Depoe Bay. There are hardly enough superlatives to describe this place. Less than 3 years old, the Inn is totally contemporary in design and features ocean views from every room that are stunning. When we entered our room and took it all in, I said to my husband, “Wow, this is one of the few places that exceeds my expectations!” A very large, totally private terrace with soaking tub overlooks the cove where dozens of sea otters were bobbing in the surf. On the first floor is Restaurant Beck, opened in June 2009 by Chef Justin Wills. The restaurant enjoys the same ocean views as the rooms above and dining at sunset is a magical experience. This restaurant is trying hard to be a fine dining experience, in an Oregon style. We found the service to be friendly and competent, and quite laid back. Some of the food was quite good, some just ok. A butternut squash soup was excellent, a lamb entrée was very dry and stringy. I cannot provide more details as I did not take notes and the menu is not posted online. One thing that really surprised us was that the menu contained very few items that are actually from Oregon. The only seafood option was Maine scallops. No salmon, no other seafood from the West Coast. There were some items from a nearby farm (Barking Dog), but they were a relatively small portion of the menu. The cost of the meal was considerably less than we would have paid in DC for a similar meal without the view, so we forgave the less than perfect details. And you can’t beat the commute: 2 flights up in the elevator!
Restaurant Beck
2345 S Hwy 101
Depoe Bay, OR 97341
[phone]

Reedsport, Oregon
The following day we drove 4 hours south on the 101 Highway along the coast. Midway through this drive we found ourselves in Reedsport and looking for lunch. Well, folks, there ain’t much here! By chance we happened to spy a Natural Foods Store and decided to check it out. What a good find. A food store with fairly minimal offerings and a café with about 5 or 6 tables. They offer all kinds of coffee drinks, baked goods and some freshly-made foods. I ordered a fresh juice drink that was prepared before my eyes with produce procured from the stores’ bins: carrots, beets, celery, garlic, cabbage, not sure what else. It was delicious! Also had a house-made roasted pepper soup that was really good. Husband had a Panini which he also said was delicious. Our server/cook was a young man who had recently earned his M.S. from the U of O marine biology program and is looking for a job. He was a delightful conversationalist. It was great fun to observe people come in and out of the store – this place is obviously beloved by the locals. Before departing, we bought some organic chocolate bars and a bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir which turned out to be delicious. If you ever find yourself in Reedsport in need of some sustenance, I recommend:
Reedsport Natural Foods
1891 Winchester Ave
Reedsport, OR 97467
[phone]

Gold Beach, Oregon
We spent 5 nights of our vacation at a Lodge on the Rogue River a few miles upriver from Gold Beach (Tu Tu Tun Lodge). The food at the lodge was great, but after a few days we wanted to explore lunch choices and we found some good options: There is not much going on in Gold Beach, but they have an amazing bookstore, considering the size of the town. The bookstore has a wi-fi coffee shop, but it does not offer more than coffee drinks and pastries. They recommended the Barnacle Bistro a couple of blocks down the street, so we tried it out. Frankly, the name was a bit of a turn-off. Barnacle Bistro? Those two words don’t seem to go together. Well, we are so glad we tried this place as our lunch was really good. We both had sandwiches which were served with a side of ginger slaw which was tasty and so much more welcome than fries or potato salad. Husband had something called ‘Horseradish Heaven’ which was beef and horseradish sauce on a bun. I had a special of the day which was Blue Cheese, Caramelized Onions, Cranberries, on toasted multi-grain bread. Oh my God, that was so good. The bread clearly had a sourdough base. The bread was fantastic – very reminiscent of European bread. I asked the owner where the bread came from and he said it’s made especially for them in Coos Bay. Wow, it wouldn’t have surprised me if he said it was from Germany – it was THAT good. I also had a microbrew which was similar to a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale—very good. They have several microbrews on tap. This is a funky, down-home kind of place with friendly, casual service. If we’re ever there in the future, we’d be happy to return.
Barnacle Bistro
29805 Ellensburg Ave (Hwy 101)
Gold Beach, OR 97444
[phone]

Port Orford, Oregon
Redfish had been recommended to us by staff at the Lodge. One day we had completed a strenuous hike just a few miles south of Port Orford, so we decided to try Redfish for a late lunch. What a delightful spot! This restaurant is relatively new – only open a few months – and has a location that many would kill for – beautiful ocean views. The interior is like an art gallery—slate floors, chairs custom-designed, artwork on the walls. Very contemporary, very sleek. Fortunately, the food we had for lunch matched the décor – very good. For lunch they offer soup, salad, sandwiches and hot entrees. We both had the soup of the day: tomato bisque: it was topped with a slice of emmentaler and microgreens, it looked like a piece of art, it was hard to start eating it because it was so lovely. Husband had a pulled pork sandwich on excellent bread (made specially for them in Coos Bay) and I had an arugula salad which was extremely fresh. We would love to come back here for dinner.
Redfish
517 Jefferson Street
Port Orford, OR 97465
[phone]

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Restaurant Beck
2345 S HWY 101, Depoe Bay, OR 97341