Okay. Wine surfing rules. Gourmet au Bay has a fabulous location right on the bay and was a lovely start to the evening.
Owners Bob and Sissy are great, the shop is great, the location is great, and we really need one of these in Portland. They've got six wines on their wine menu each day and you can pick three to taste for 9 dollars. Yesterday there were three whites and three reds so ordered a flight of each, along with a very nice cheese and cracker plate to go with it. There wasn't a wine we tasted that we didn't like.
They've got a wine club that seems like a fantastic idea…several levels of # of bottles per month/quarter/custom, and they'll happily cater it to what kinds of wines you prefer. Shipping is free, and it's all wine that they curate according to their requirements for the shop, as I posted yesterday (under 1000 cases produced, over 90 points, and gold medal winners). Mostly California wines, but such a great way to get good variety and try things you wouldn't normally know about. Check it out here.
Next we headed over for our dinner reservations at Terrapin Creek Cafe.
As reported, everything was wonderful. We ordered two starters: (1) grilled Monterey sardines with breakfast radishes and cabbage, avocadoes, topped with a curry and lime vinaigrette, and (2) pan seared Maine scallops with a parsnip purée, shaved apples and fennel, with a bacon vinaigrette (both amazing!). Our main courses were (1) local wild king salmon with roasted sunchokes and nebrodini mushrooms, baby bok choy, in a dashi and soy broth, and (2) a Creekstone Farms angus beef rib eye with whipped potatoes, sautéed broccolini and mushrooms and soy onion jus. Again, both amazing. The dishes were expertly prepared…the flavors were so interesting and delicious and we will definitely come back here.
Everything sounded amazing,but you didnt say what you didnt like and the hint was there
Ursula: Hmmmm I don’t know what that hint could have been. The only thing I can think of is that when we left, after having cheese and crackers at the wine shop, a starter and an entree at the restaurant, and a few bites of a dessert I shared with Kevin at Terrapin Creek…that I was TOO full of yummy food. 🙂
You have great taste! 😉
I live in Bodega Bay part time, and in my opinion Gourmet au Bay is the BEST place to have a glass of wine, and (Michelin star, yay!) Terrapin Creek happens to be our favorite restaurant. I think both of these places really give you a “Sonoma County” coast/wine country experience, rather than simply a generic beach experience.
@kterrid: Thanks! 🙂 We enjoyed both very much and plan to go back!