Foodie Vaca 2011: Astoria, OR

We woke on Monday to sunny Oregon day and a wonderful smell coming from the ground level of the hotel. I was confused, because I knew that our hotel didn't have a restaurant, so we had to investigate where this wonderful smell was coming from. Little did we know, the hotel was connected to to a cafe that had a doorway into the lobby of the hotel. The breakfast menu was small, but delish! The place was called Street 14 Coffee House and their signature breakfast sandwhich was the Street 14, with grilled ham and Swiss cheese, finished off with a fried egg on top and a drizzle of maple syrup. YUM! I decided to try a breakfast panini, which was good too. It also had ham, with cheese, tomato, egg and basil. Their chai latte was wonderful and David enjoyed a cup of strong coffee while we planned out the rest of our day.

We visited Ft. Clatsop (Lewis and Clark's winter fort once they reached the Pacific), and made it to the coast. We decided that seafood was a must for lunch and Nora's in Seaside was perfect. I got clam chowder, even though it couldn't compare with Pike Place Chowder and a bacon cheeseburger. But wait! You said you wanted seafood for lunch on the coast??? Well, a burger sounded good and it had Tillamook Cheddar (made about 50 miles south of Seaside on the coast) and applewood smoked bacon on it. I'm claiming the clam chowder as my seafood. If I were to do it again, I would have gone with David's choice of salmon fish and chips. Never had battered and fried salmon before, but it was very good.

After wandering down to Cannon Beach, we headed back to Astoria and climbed the Astoria Column for wonderful, sunset vistas of the coast and mountains. Dinner was at Baked Alaska on the water front in Astoria. Less than thrilled overall with this choice, but not all bad. We tried some tempura prawns for a starter that were good (just not enough)! I got BBQ salmon with potatoes and brussel sprouts. Not impressed by the salmon, but that was righted later on in the trip. David loved his Chanterelle pasta alfredo and we both enjoyed that marionberry cobbler for dessert.