Project

Moved to Eureka, CA, 14-months ago, and am still figuring my way around town. Overall, I have found the restaurants to be wanting, either in the food itself, the atmosphere, and/or the service. Now I consider myself a decent home-cook...I can make fresh pasta and sauce and very good baked goods, so if I am going to go out I either want something better than I would make, something so complicated that I would not bother to make it (or want to clean up after it), or, something just tasty and cheap for a day that I don't feel like cooking.

Those are the three criteria by which I judge whether a local restaurant is worth going back to:

1)  better than my cooking
2)  more complicated/messier and not worth making at home
3)  tasty, cheap and convenient

With that in mind I have decided to do a serious review of local eateries.  Using tripadvisor.com as a guide, I have identified some of the highest rated establishments, edited out the ones already tried, moving some up based on friend's strong suggestions, and have come up with a list of 12 that I will try out between now and the end of the year.  In random order, they are:

• Looking Glass House (Eureka, Dinner, moderate price)
• Sea Grill (Eureka, #1 rated for Eureka, Dinner, high-end)
• Oberon (Eureka, Lunch/Dinner)
• Brick & Fire (Eureka, probably Lunch, moderate)
• Restaurant 301 (Eureka, dinner, most high-end here)
• Avalon (Eureka, dinner, moderate/high-end)
• Co-Op cooking classes (signed up for a localvore session, moderate)
• Kebob Cafe (Arcata, #1 rating, Lunch, cheap)
• Renata's Creperie (Arcata, Breakfast, cheap/moderate)
• Folie Douce (Arcata, Dinner, moderate/high-end)
• VI (Ferndale, Dinner, moderate/high-end)
• Curly's Grill (Fortuna, lunch/dinner, cheap/moderate)

As I go to each I will post a review to tripadvisor, and copy here. If anyone wants to post a suggestion I will seriously consider adding it to the list...either for this year if I can, or for next year's project. I am also happy to discuss places I have already visted, and which are my current favorites (Los Bagels!) as well as which ones I would say to avoid (Chapala Cafe).