Restaurant 301
We began our quest for dining excellence when we first started over 27 years ago by planting an edible flower and vegetable garden for culinary purposes. For our families, we were always taught the importance of raising your own fresh produce and bringing it to life in the kitchen. What we don't raise ourselves, we're always searching for among the best of our local purveyors (which we are lucky to have so many of in Humboldt County). This garden to table philosophy is a constant source of inspiration for our culinary team.
We have long been supporters of our local farmer's markets, and individual farms, who provide us with the most wonderful fresh cheeses, meats, seafood, vegetables and local wine. We pay hommage to those who do that for us. We have created a strong network with other restaurants on the West Coast that have always believed in the same philosophy including Sinclair and Frederika Philip at the Sooke Harbor House on Vancouver Island; Ron Zimmerman and Carrie Van Zant at The Herbfarm in Seattle; and Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Naturally, we are strong proponents of the Slow Food movement, since that is all we have ever done.
We take our wine as seriously as our food. We have been proud recipients of the Wine Spectator Grand Award for the last ten years. This prestigious honor is only bestowed upon 77 other restaurants in the world. We have over 3800 wines on our list, which receives the Grand Award for not only its depth, but also for its quality. We offer a a wine and food pairing each evening, or you can allow our talented staff to help you select the perfect bottle to go with your meal.
In fact, we really do take our wine seriously -- we have been making our own since 1998, the first year we were honored with the Grand Award. Carter Cellars' cabernet sauvignon and merlot has been noticed by Wine and Spirit magazine, Wine Spectator magazine, Wine Enthusiast, and Robert Parker receiving scores as high as 96 points from these industry leaders. Carter Cellars is now made at our beautiful winery Envy Wines in Napa Valley (Calistoga) California, a joint venture between wine legend Nils Venge and Mark Carter. Stop in and taste the Envy line up in addition to Carter Cellars on your way from the Bay Area to the Redwood Coast. Mark makes the trip once a week, you could see him in either place.