SPRING IS IN THE AIR, and all I want on a midday weekend is a drink in my hand and some al fresco brunching. Maybe even a little sun peeking past the edges of an overhead umbrella, glinting off my fork as I savor another bite. Here in Humboldt, two mother-daughter teams, in a sea […]
Casual
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Hand Crafting at Diver Bar & Grill
SQUINT AT SHAWN STOOPS sliding a pizza into the Diver Bar & Grill’s hulking, black, riveted woodfire oven and you could imagine him shoveling coal into a steam engine. “When I built the pizza oven, it’s a boiler … steam donkey inspired,” he says, referring to the machines that once hauled timber from the redwoods […]
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Lessons and Blessings
THE REGGAE PLAYING OUT FRONT is muted back in the kitchen where Jason Mitchell, owner of Jerk Kitchen, holds a yellowtail snapper in one hand, dragging a knife across its iridescent pink skin, the last scales flaking off like sequins. It’s the same kind of fish he grew up making in Clarendon, Jamaica. “I learned […]
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Food Trucks Al Fresco
Little Bits The little truck with the big menu has been a fixture in Garberville for what feels like forever. So when Cole Moody bought the business a year ago, he wasn’t going to fool with what he affectionately calls the “glorified snack shack.” It’s the only truck he ever stopped at, much less loved. […]
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Bandit Savory & Sweet Café
Built in 1872, the Vance Hotel building is the namesake of a lumber and railroad baron, and it has seen Eureka through its days as a bustling port and lumber town stacked with brothels and bootleggers. Now the Italianate-style landmark is home to shops and businesses, its wild days to be imagined as you sit […]
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Counter Culture
On a sunny day, it’s tough to beat lunch at a café table or even taking a sandwich, a drink and some pastry to the boardwalk. A brisk walk from the view of the boats in Eureka is Delish on 5th, where you can outfit a legitimately enviable picnic basket. The far end of the […]
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Souji House in Garberville
For years, Southern Humboldt residents have enjoyed shopping at Chautauqua Natural Foods for organic food and supplements. In June of 2018, the owners of Chautauqua Natural Foods opened Souji House, an “Asian soul food” restaurant offering colorful lunch dishes, organic soft serve, Japanese sweets, beer, wine and sake. Peg Anderson started Chautauqua Natural Foods 35 […]
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Gyppo Ale Mill
For Shelter Cove, a sleepy seaside town populated by fishermen, surfers and backpacking tourists, a local brewery seemed like destiny. While it’s been under a year since the Gyppo Ale Mill opened its doors, regulars are already wondering how they survived without craft brews on tap and gourmet pub fare close by. For those who […]
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Hamburger Heaven
The Burger Joint, one of Arcata’s newest casual eateries, knows exactly what it is. After all, it’s right there in the name. The restaurant’s relatively simple menu is welcome in this culinary era of inventive one-upmanship. Located behind the Arcata Co-op (835 J St.), in the former site of the restaurants Harvest and 3 Foods […]
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Family Business
Clouds of tantalizing smoke wisp gently and permeate the corner of U.S. Highway 101 and R Street in Eureka, where Sammy’s BBQ and Catering (1709 Fifth St.) resides. Here, locals and travelers passing through line up for award-winning barbecue. Out back of the restaurant, the aroma of low-and-slow barbecuing beef, pork and chicken on the […]
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Picnic Indoors
When our coastal weather doesn’t allow for dining al fresco (or when you just don’t feel like cooking) don’t despair. Wildberries Marketplace has a vast array of options from the Wildplatter Cafe and Grill and the Wildgarden Salad Bar. Sip a smoothie from the Wildnectar Juice Bar or try the local It’s Alive Kombucha in […]
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Bagels & Boards
Let’s set aside, for now, the flea market with its displays of quartz crystals and circa-1973 Pepsi glasses, the craft fairs, wrestling matches, roller derbies and cannabis fests. Redwood Acres, that bastion of endless entertainment, is also a hotbed of handcrafted delectables. A few mornings a week, head to the old racetrack these days to […]