Group of men enjoying beer and snacks in a cozy pub setting, creating a warm social atmosphere.

Mendocino Chef

Where We Eat

Where we eat on the Mendocino coast when someone else is doing the cooking: what to order, dogs, kids, and the one thing to know before you go.

Where We Eat is where we go on the Mendocino coast when someone else is doing the cooking: the places we take friends, the dishes we order every time, and the spots we keep going back to.

Think of it as the advice we’d give a friend: what to order, whether the dog can come, whether the kids can, and the one thing worth knowing before you walk in. We pay our own way everywhere in this series, and we only write about places we love.


The entries

Patterson’s Pub, Mendocino — Dog-friendly garden with two of the seven TVs out in it, a specials board worth ordering off blind, and the mussels and clams in pesto cream when they run it. Twenty-one and over, so read before you bring the family.

The Elk Store, Elk — A general store running the middle of its town since 1927, a hundred years old next year. The tuna melt SFGATE put on its best-in-California list, the Grinder, a local wine to go with each, and why it’s worth the wait.

More places coming soon.



Get the next one

New entries in this series, what’s good on the coast this month, and first word when we announce a pop-up — they sell out fast, and the list hears first. No more than once a month.

    Eating well on this coast

    If you’re planning a trip and want to know what’s being landed and harvested while you’re here, start with our October guide, Point Arena to Ten Mile. And on the nights you’d rather stay in, we’ll cook in the house you’ve rented, anywhere on the coast and inland through Anderson Valley.

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