River's End (Inn and restaurant)
11048 Highway 1, Jenner, CA
http://ilovesunsets.com/restaurant.html 
Review date: August 2012

It's taken us forever to get to this restaurant, too, for which we must apologize to our good friend Ilkay. Our only excuse is that Sonoma County is really, really big, and there hasn't been enough time on our previous trips to work our way through the coastal restaurants.

Some time ago Ilkay ate here with some friends, and really enjoyed this restaurant. She was kind enough to give us a gift certificate, so when one of my travel newsletters highlighted a 50% off a one-night stay at the Timber Cove Inn, we took the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. We could try this well-known inn and get in two meals in Jenner.

One of those meals was a dinner at Timber Cove Inn's restaurant, Alexander's. It's much-lauded, but as our separate review shows, we didn't think highly of our meal there under its new chef Ben St. Clair. The Inn is a decent place to stay in a very 1960's retro architecture, but we were glad to skip breakfast at Alexander's (why risk another disappointment?) and drive down that serpentine road known as Hwy 1 towards River's End, which is just within the northern edge of the town of Jenner.

River's End history dates back far earlier than Timber Cove. It originally opened in 1927 as an inn and tavern for loggers. In its current incarnation of restaurant and beach cabins, it has been owned by the Rangel family since 1998. Bert Rangel is the owner/maitre d'hotel, and service is as good as you would expect. 

According to River's End's Facebook page, the current chef is Martin Recoder. If he isn't a partner, they should make him one, because they need to make sure this guy stays around. He's an amazing chef, and the meal here was everything Alexander's and Central Market were not.

Reservations are essential here, because it's the best way to get a window table. The further in advance you book, the better your chances are. It's always 50-50 as to whether you'll be socked in with fog, but we were fortunate this time. The fog was lifting, so the view over the sand spur and ocean got progressively more gorgeous as the sun started to peek out.

At lunchtime this is a seafood-heavy menu unless you want a burger. I started with the trio of baked oysters and Carlos (naturally!) picked the ceviche. The baked oysters from Tomales Bay Oyster were matched with three different sauces: one a garlic-dill butter, one a basil pesto, and one with BBQ sauce. Carlos' ceviche had Alaskan cod, gulf shrimp, bell peppers, cucumber, cilantro and red onions in a citrus vinaigrette.

The oysters were terrific, baked on a bed of rock salt. I'm not a tomato-based BBQ sauce fan but this one was lovely, with a medium-heat kick and the sweetness kept well within bounds. Normally I ignore the bread basket, but mopping up the leftover sauce from the shells was absolutely mandatory, in this case.

The ceviche was superb. The cod and shrimp were perfectly cooked by the citrus juices, still firm (the longer they sit, the mushier the seafood will become), and all the additional ingredients were finely chopped; present but remaining in the background, letting the seafood star. 

Next, Carlos got a cup of clam chowder, and I picked the heirloom tomato salad. What he received was a very tiny cup of very thick chowder, heavily flavored with dill. The clams were mild and very tender. He liked this; I didn't care for it, being a passionate "do not dare thicken my chowder" fan.

The heirloom tomato salad was a showstopper. It was so spectacular, the diners at the table next to us turned around and exclaimed over how beautiful it was. Two thick slices of different heirlooms were quickly sauteed, just enough to heat them, then stacked atop a base of mixed lettuces, with quite a lot of spicy radish greens mixed into them. 

The first tomato slice was not only thick but some 4" across – I've had smaller hamburger patties! Next came a well-browned patty of fresh mozzarella, then strips of roasted peeled red bells. Atop that first layer went a second tomato slice (a different heirloom variety), with another browned mozzarella patty and more bell strips. Two well-cleaned strips of roasted portabella mushroom were criss-crossed over the top and held in place with a skewer.

Not only was it beautiful, it was massive. Really enough for two people, so I convinced Carlos he had to help me with this one! He loved it as much as I did. Panfrying the mozzarella toughens it up a bit, making it as hearty as any slice of meat would be. It was a brilliant creative touch to a ubiquitous pairing. So much effort is put into presentation nowadays that often a dish looks better than it tastes. But this salad tasted better than it looked.

What impressed us the most was the skillful balancing of two different dressings on the plate. The greens were tossed with a spicy whole-grain mustard dressing. This kind of dressing is almost always overwhelming, but here it was kept precisely within bounds. On the tomatoes/cheese/red bells, there was a very light drizzle of balsamic and EVOO. 

Very few cooks could balance two strong dressings on the same plate and not have either of them overwhelm the ingredients. But Recoder accomplished it, making it seem easy. It isn't, and we're impressed.

Next I had the sea bass, which was the "real thing" and so perfectly cooked, it made the dried-out halibut at Alexander's fade into a distant memory. The only flaw in the dish was for me, a personal one – the fruit-sweet, whole-grain mustard sauce was well executed, but I never care for overly sweet sauces with my entrees. The plate was nicely conceived, with a small bed of Swiss chard underneath that perfect filet, which was surrounded by Israeli (pearl) couscous and braised baby Brussel sprout leaves, just barely cooked.

Carlos continued his winning streak with seafood pasta. River's End offered tiger prawns in a cream sauce over housemade eggless tagliatelle. Also in the sauce were oven roasted tomatoes, and finely chopped portobella mushrooms with shallots and a small amount of green onions. He cleaned his plate and said he had to rate this as equal with Le Bistro's excellent shrimp in vodka cream sauce over pasta, which he'd enjoyed two days prior in Santa Rosa.

We like to read the dessert menu even if we don't order anything. I was surprised to learn that Carlos was tempted by the same dessert I was – the peach trifle. I like peaches and cream; he likes whipped cream and liqueur. This recipe had all of the above, served in a wineglass in the form of thin layers of peach liqueur-soaked sponge cake, layered with a peach bavarian cream, and topped with whipped cream and roasted sliced almonds. We shared, and it was perfect with coffee, a wonderful end to a great lunch. The coffee was good but not remarkable, a little weak for our taste.

River's End is a terrific restaurant, due to that amazing chef. This is, despite its Facebook claim of dressy attire, a modest-appearing restaurant, especially at lunchtime when, in our case, a horde of bicyclists crowded inside in all their Spandex glory. 

It isn't cheap – good seafood never is, in California. But River's End is one of the better seafood restaurants we've found, and we will definitely be back. The food rocks, with creativity, quality and execution in perfect harmony. Although the atmosphere and menu are different, River's End reminds us of our Carmel favorite, Andre's Bouchee. Both are intensely personal restaurants, with a kitchen well-grounded in technique. They don't try to offer everything, or offer the latest fad, preferring instead to execute well.

Two people, lunch: Four starters, two entrees, one dessert, three beverages with tip was $153 before the gift certificate I brought with us. Definitely worth every pfennig!