Listed below are links to reviews of the Seaweed and some reviews in their entirety.

•As seen in Jane and Jane May/June 2007
http://www.janeandjane.net/

Chefs Extraordinaires The couple behind Bodega Bay's Seaweed Café Melinda Montanye and Jackie Marine's first date was 13 years ago, and over a trip to a museum and a cup of tea, the two forged a bond that became both personal and professional. "It was an everlasting tea." Montanye laughs. "We went to a museum, and she invited me back to tea, and I haven't left." "I brew a very good cup of tea," Martine adds." The couple eventually parlayed that cup of tea into what is now the Zagat-acclaimed slow-dining experience, the Seaweed Café, in Bodega Bay, situated on the Northern California coast. Their restaurant--with French-inspired sunny yellow walls to reflect the warm atmosphere creators strive for--primarily focuses on sustainable products, creating higher quality food, says Martine, who is the restaurant's chef. "We do seasonal, local, organic food," she says in a thick French accent. "Our style of cooking is really influenced by French cooking, Japanese cooking...But [it's] an interpretation of different styles of cooking, driven by ingredients." The feature that sets the Seaweed Café apart from the rest of the local-organic-restaurant-craze that has boomed in California, according to Montanye, is the fact that she and Martine really stand behind their products, ensuring that their food is a reflection of its origins. "We actually believe in that kind of thing," she says. "We go out and make sure the people producing and growing and making the wines are actually adhering to things to the best of their abilities. We don't want to just put a label on it and tell people it's organic."

Montanye and Martine play an integral role in choosing their ingredients, making sure they're not only top-notch quality, but also locally grown and manufactured. "We actually look, smell, and feel the integrity of our products to match what we want to serve and bring to the public." According to Martine, the restaurant doesn't serve any type of food that needs to be transported from other regions--whether that is foie gras or lobster. The Seaweed Café didn't start out as the restaurant it has become. Montanye and Martine originally began the cafe with a breakfast focus, on July 4, 2003, in a tiny nine-table space leased from a friend Montanye had known and worked with while living in San Francisco. "I was more interested in doing a breakfast bakery, and had another partner who was a baker," Montanye recalls." After the partner decided to pursue a different venture, Montanye and Martine relied on their broader knowledge of food to expand the restaurant, which included the addition of a dining room in 2005. "It came from what we liked to cook from home, from our experiences and our excitement about food," Montanye says. "We kind of created more of a dynamic menu, including Japanese, Spanish flavors, and French flair, and got away from the bakery aspect, so it kind of turned into a destination for dinner." The two partners continue to work at expanding the restaurant, while simultaneously getting to the point where they can pursue their own interests outside of work, such as Montanye's photography and Martine's writing. While the two acknowledge the challenges of spending so much time together, both say that their relationship has only been strengthened through the experience. "Working together and living together...has redefined commitment ultimately," Montanye says. Although the two are eager to have more time to themselves, the restaurant is still going forward and has developed into what both women had dreamed it could be when it started. "One of our goals was to create a wonderful experience for people to discover," Martine says. Montanye agrees that the restaurant's atmosphere--along with its food--is what's responsible for its success, describing the environment as warm, accepting and familial. "It's something to experience, not just read about," Montanye says. "We think of most people who come in here as family, especially the gay and lesbian population. It's indescribable; it's such a warm and amazing atmosphere and I'd love to have more people experience that."

•As seen in Diet & Nutrition May/June 2007
http://www.todaysdietandnutrition.com/

Seaweed in Sonoma County Jackie Martine, a native of Brittany, France, and chef at the Seaweed Café in Bodega Bay--on the edge of Sonoma County, just south of Mendocino, California--has sampled a variety of seaweed dishes during her international travels. In keeping with her restaurant's moniker, she uses many sea vegetables in her creative dishes. "Being on the coast, the sea vegetables are a must, and a great source of inspiration. They're our signature," she says in her thick French accent. "I like to use lots of kombu. We use it to cook with beans, to soften them and add flavor. And, it helps prevent the formation of gas," she says with a smile." "We also use a lot of sea lettuce--it's a beautifully garnish for salad." Although Martine is blessed to work in an area that provides fresh sea vegetables, she's quick to defend the use of dried varieties: "A lot of seaweeds are more palatable once they've been dried. It's as though the flavor is intensified by the dehydration. So, in stocks and soups, like dashi, dried sea vegetables give you a lot more flavor." One of the Seaweed Café's most popular dishes is Baked Butter Beans With Kombu, Duck Sausage, and Clams. "The inspiration for this dish comes from my many travels in Spain, where it's traditional to mix beans, seafood, and meat," says Martine.

Baked Butter Beans with Kombu, Duck Sausage and Clams. By Chef Jackie Martine at the Seaweed Café Preparation: Soak beans overnight. 1 1/8 pounds butter beans 1/4 t peppercorns, freshly cracked 1/4 t coriander seeds, freshly cracked 1/4 t ajwain 1 1/2 T olive oil 1 cup onion, diced medium 3 garlic cloves 1 pinch saffron threads 1 bouquet garni 1 T fresh savory 1/4 T harissa 1/2 T anchovy paste 1 1/2 T tomato paste 1 ham hock 1 cup canned tomato, diced medium 2 pieces kombu, 5" long 2 quarts mushroom stock 6 duck sausage 2 T fleur de sel 1 cup white wine 60 Manilla clams 3 T fine herbs 1 T lemon olive oil Drain beans and rinse in running water. In a large pot, cover beans with water. Bring to a boil. Lower hear and blanch beans for fifteen minutes. During the time, thoroughly skim any foam that forms on water. Drain and rinse beans. Discard water. Reserve beans. In a large-heavy copper sauteuse or enameled pot over medium heat, sprinkle freshly cracked peppercorns, coriander, and ajwain, and let them exhale their aroma. Drizzle the spices with olive oil, and when they're warm, sauté the onion in the oil and spice mixture until translucent. Add garlic, saffron, bouquet garni, savory, harissa, anchovy paste, tomato paste, and ham hock. Stir and cook for five minutes for all flavors to blend and expand. Add beans and diced tomato. Stir and cook again for five minutes. Add kombu and mushroom stock. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and cover. Transferred the heavy copper pot into a 375 degree Fahrenheit oven and cook slowly for 3 hours or until beans are soft. Thirty minutes before the beans are done, add duck sausages and fleur de sel. When beans are done, remove the ham hock, and discard bone, fat and skin. Shred remaining meat into fine pieces and add to the beans, mixing well. Discard bouquet garni. Cool and reserve baked butter beans. Like many slow cooking dishes, the beans will acquire superior complexities if flavors are left to settle, blend and mature overnight in the refrigerator.

• John Vlahides - TV Channel 4 and reviewer for the Lonely Planet guide.
http://www.71miles.com/destinations/bodega-bay

also check this vidio clip out (from KRON morning show): http://www.71miles.com/press

Bodega Bay Restaurants The best reason—by far—to visit Bodega Bay is to eat at Seaweed Café , hangout of local bohos, art freaks, and food fetishists. French-born chef Jackie Martine is obsessive about the seasonal-regional credo of the Slow Food movement, and she exclusively uses organic ingredients sourced from farms within a 30-mile radius of the restaurant. Even the wines originate from west of Hwy 101. The Euro-Cal menu features unusual cuts of local meat—quail, squab, lamb, and wild salmon—all perfectly prepared using only a handful of ultra-fresh ingredients so the food’s natural flavors shine through. Ask about art-centric events, including readings by local writers. Open Thursday to Monday, dinner only. Weekend brunch. Reservations essential.

•Slow Food in Italy October, 2006: read about it here: events.html#terraMadre
more about slow food: San Francisco Cronicle

•As seen in the September issue of Sunset Magazine

Seaweed Café What fun! You never know who you're going to meet or what they will be up to! One day at the Seaweed Café some of the local folks were enjoying the great food and the gracious hospitality of Jackie and Melinda when the Sunset Magazine reporter and photographer appeared! Check it out in the September 2006 issue of Sunset Magazine.

•From Town and Country Magazine - Spring 2006

"My hard-to-please Sonoma friends, Charles and Lindsey Shere (she formerly the pastry chef at Chez Panisse; he is the most opinionated man in northern California) say that the Seaweed Café is the best restaurant they know outside of said alma mater. The food is not unlike that at Chez Panisse: subtle, deceptively simple, light and scrumptious. But, it's quite a bit less expensive. They actually do put seaweed in a lot of it (sweetwater oysters, Japanese steamers, abalone sashimi, ali pristine), and the owners are major connoisseurs of tea. Dinner Thursday and Friday, brunch and dinner Saturday and Sunday. 1580 Eastshore Rd. 707-875-2700

•From Saveur's Connoisseur's Guide to Wine Travel - Fall/Winter 2005-2006

Seaweed Café Jackie Martine's highly personalized food combines daring with comfort and a dollop of culinary artistry. A signature dish: white king salmon in a cedar box with an infusion of oolong tea. Jackie's staff collects its own seaweed for Asian-inspired dishes like burdock sashimi.

•From the Shere blog
http://www.shere.org/index.html

•From the City Guide to Entertainment
http://sanfrancisco.citysearch.com/saved/userprofile/jml800            

We had dinner with friends at the Seaweed Café in Bodega Bay over the weekend. It was our second dinner there in two months and confirmed our belief that the Seaweed is the best place to eat in Bodega and perhaps on the Sonoma Coast. The chef's background is French but shows a Japanese technique and influence on a number of dishes. She uses only fresh local ingredients, and the dishes are imaginative, flavorful and beautifully presented. One of our friends, who has traveled and eaten extensively in France, thought it comparable to a very good Michelin one-star in the French countryside. It also is very wine-friendly, and features Sonoma Coast wines. I would be interested in the reactions of others who have eaten at the Seaweed, as well as other suggestions along the Sonoma Coast.

•From Bill Wilka on Robert Parker.com
http://fora.erobertparker.com

•Press Democrat Review
Jeff Cox
May 2, 2004

The Seaweed Café in Bodega Bay has oodles of charm. It's a small restaurant, with three tables outside on a back deck (brrrr) and nine tables inside. The dining experience is refined, but the place isn't snooty. Nice touches become apparent as you look around.
First of all, someone has an eye for good artwork. Reproductions of small, pretty collages done by co-owner Jackie Martine hang on a wall lined with comfy banquettes strewn with pillows. Check out the tasty little painting of a waitress hanging by the coffee maker.
Martine wears the toque in this establishment, while the other owner, Melinda Montanye, runs the room and keeps an eye on the details. While I was perusing the artwork, I came across a small, framed award of merit given to the restaurant by the Sonoma County Board of Health for its exemplary cleanliness, which is reassuring.

A cold case holds cheeses and desserts, while above it a chalkboard lists the day's wines by the glass. Soft music plays -- laid back jazz, followed by music from Mali, and then a smoky-voiced Brazilian woman singing in Portuguese. While Martine works out of sight in a small room, an open portion of the kitchen reveals the evening chef, Andre Fecteau, cooking at a stove behind the cheese case and counter. Between the two domains, a young man did the dishes by hand -- something I don't think I've ever seen in a restaurant before, and which could only happen in a place this small.

Little blue spherical lights descend on stiff wires from a free-form lighting track above the counter. They made a nice color complement to the dark red tiles on the floor. White linens cover the tables and places are set with cloth napkins. The utensils are ebony and silver -- in color if not in fact. Each table had a small vase with a freshly cut sprig of jasmine, in bloom now and offering its sweet perfume if you bring the vase to your nose. A large vase of camellia twigs with leaves and bright red flowers made a cheery note near the entrance.
Bread and butter come to the table shortly after you sit down, and the bread is from the Della Fattoria bakery in Petaluma, which I honestly think is some of the best bread in the world. Each week there's a different prix fixe menu along with an a la carte menu that changes seasonally. A recent prix fixe dinner consisted of scallops carpaccio with mustard sauce; duck and nettle cannelloni; roast leg of lamb with mashed potatoes, roasted garlic, and broccoli rabe, and a tarte Tatin with creme fraiche -- four courses for $48.

The wine list is short but interesting -- and glory be, you are given large and proper wine glasses, which are essential for enjoying wine fully. All the selections are from Sonoma County wineries west of Highway 101 and are listed by their appellation -- Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast, or Dry Creek Valley -- and include nine whites, 15 reds, two bubblies, and a dessert wine. So among the whites we find a 2003 Rochioli Sauvignon Blanc for $40 and a 2001 Eric Ross Viognier for $37. The reds include 2001 Unti Syrah for $30, 2000 Marimar Torres Pinot Noir for $38, and 1999 Davis Bynum Merlot for $47. The bubbly of choice here is 1997 Iron Horse Classic Brut.

The Seaweed is classy but comfortable, stylish but casual. And very French in some ways -- especially in the caring and passion invested in the food. The cooking isn't classic French, but up-to-the-minute California organic with French and Asian influences. The owners go out of their way to find and support local organic farmers, dairies, cheesemakers, meat ranchers and winemakers. They go to the wharf right down the street to buy ocean fish and crustaceans fresh off the boats, following the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch guidelines to avoid any overfished, endangered, or toxic-laden varieties.

In a statement of purpose, the owners say, "It's our belief that this intimate knowledge of the source of our food translates into a style of cooking that captures the flavors of the West Sonoma coastal terroir."

Well, the food is definitely unique. The Seaweed isn't afraid to try something new, such as oysters in green jackets ($10.80; 3 stars). Four oysters are shucked and wrapped in chard leaf, then set back in their halfshells and baked. After cooking, they are given a spoonful of beurre blanc, topped with a bit of tobiko (flying fish roe) and placed on a bed of chunky sea salt. The oyster gives this dish a meaty, salty ocean flavor that's enveloped in the tanginess of chard and beurre blanc. The tobiko adds a little crunch and orange color.

A Dungeness crab salad ($10; 4 stars) was simply loaded with crabmeat -- big chunks of claw and leg meat among julienned apples, celery root, and celery, and dressed with a soy-ginger mixture. This all sits on a bed of red lettuce and basil. The top is garnished with a sprig of tarragon. This salad was a perfect light dinner in itself.

The restaurant cures wild salmon filets in vodka and sugar to make its gravlax in a brioche stick ($10; 3 stars). The brioche -- a stick about six or seven inches long and an inch and a half in thickness -- is sliced lengthwise and spread inside with mayonnaise and capers. The gravlax is laid on and the top of the stick replaced. You eat it like a small sub, and it's delicious. It's served with dill fronds, tulbaghia flowers and frilly lettuces. When steelhead is available, they make the gravlax from that fish.

The monkfish liver with Champagne aspic ($11; 3 stars) put me in a quandary. A reference work on food tells me that "the only edible portion of this extremely ugly fish is its tail." I can believe that, as the liver has a melting texture but tastes like cod liver oil. That's right, I found the liver disgusting. But maybe there is a world of folks out there who might say, "Oh, monkfish liver. You lucky guy. That's such a delicacy!" It wouldn't be fair to mark down a dish because of my personal food biases. So, because the liver tasted pure and fresh, and the aspic was made with champagne and gelatin and was quite a treat, I'll say the monkfish liver is "very good," even though I wouldn't eat it again if you paid me.

Hijiki, burdock, and salmon sashimi ($12; 3 stars) is very Japanese in character. It supports the restaurant's name because hijiki is a black, mineral-rich seaweed that comes in fine strands and has a salty flavor with overtones of anise. The waitress said that the burdock root (Japanese: gobo) is "for good luck." Rock guitarist Elvin Bishop, an avid organic gardener, once showed me how he grows his gobo by poking a metal bar deep into the soil, filling the hole with compost and planting the gobo on top. The root then grows long, slender and straight. Very tender purple, green, and white seaweeds, along with four pieces of salmon sashimi, accompanied the hijiki. I appreciated the chopstick rest -- a little ceramic device for resting your chopsticks so the business ends don't touch the table -- which I find even good Japanese restaurants often fail to provide.

Entrees started with a perfectly cooked piece of flappin' fresh sea bass ($25; 3 1/2 stars), all bone white and flaky and sauced with a sea urchin puree, and dotted with pieces of parti-colored rainbow chard stems. The fish sat atop three braised baby leeks, which in turn topped a mound of lemon-flavored quinoa (a fine-textured grain something like cous-cous). A little hijiki accompanied the sea bass.

When people love a dish, they'll say it's "to die for," but I'll go a giant step beyond that and describe the stir-fried crab with green curry in a clay pot ($19; 4 stars) as a dish to live for -- as in, live another day so you can come back for more. Again, loads of crab, some in the shell, some out. My wife said, "How do I clean my hands if I have to crack this crab?" The answer soon appeared: a finger bowl of lemon juice and water and a napkin. The green curry contained jalapeno that gave it a pleasant piquancy and rice that soaked up most of the liquid. Also in the clay pot with a top: fresh English peas and tender shiitake caps. Altogether an outstanding dish.

Baked butterbeans, duck sausage, and clams ($18.9; 3 stars) sounds like something you'd find at a bistro in Toulouse and it tastes like it, too. The manila clams are in their popped-open shells. Chopped chives and tomato chunks garnish the food in the smoking hot bean pot. The liquid in the pot is a heavenly mix of clam juice with smoky sausage flavor and vegetable juices. One ding: the butterbeans weren't quite done.

I tried two desserts. both unique. The first was a lump of incomparable Bodega goat cheese ($8; 3 stars) -- always the standard by which to measure the purity of other goat cheeses -- surrounded with strawberries and mint and given a ginger-lemon crema. The second was called "floating island with pistachio creme anglaise" ($9; 3 1/2 stars). It consisted of two clouds of meringue, one with a piece of candied angelica fixed to it, the other with a piece of candied lemon peel. Tiny curls of chocolate shavings sprinkled the tops, and they sat propped up against one another in a pool of the creme anglaise. The clouds were surrounded by a sprinkling of shell pink and white rose petals. Verrrry romantic.
To sum up, if you're strictly a meatloaf and potatoes person, The Seaweed Café may not be for you. But for an interesting and adventuresome dinner you're not likely to find anywhere else, this is the place.

Jeff Cox writes a weekly restaurant review column for Q. You can reach him at jeffcox@sonic.net.

•Press Democrat
Michele Anna Jordan
December 5, 2004

Seaweed Café has been a long time coming, and not just because it was 18 months between the first whispers that more good food was on its way to Bodega Bay and the inaugural nibbles that confirmed the claim. For years the big question in town has been, "Why aren°t there more good places to eat?"

From the minute the diminutive Café, with its richly painted walls hung with beautiful artwork, opened its doors, Seaweed Café has been embraced by travelers and locals alike. It°s classy but comfortable, stylish but casual, and it's changed everything with its Sonoma Coast cuisine.

To truly honor the Café's commitment to local terroir, chef Jackie Martine and her partner, Melinda Montayne, comb the fields, farms and vineyards west of Highway 101 in search of ingredients. For seafood, they buy directly from the bay's fishermen.

The redheaded Jackie, often dressed in a dramatic lime green chef's coat with matching beaded earrings and black brocade pants, creates seacoast pairings with a flourish. She pairs sea urchin fritters with J. Rochioli Sauvignon Blanc, serves crab pot pie with Radio-Coteau Zinfandel and, with Merry Edwards Estate Pinot Noir (the vineyard is about 7 miles from the Café) she presents local squab salad. She is one of those chefs with perfect pitch; her style is delicate yet intense, her presentations exquisite but not overwrought.

In winter months, after tourists have gone home and when the coastal chill makes it hard to leave a home fire, Seaweed Café entices locals by offering salon nights, when poets, writers and storytellers who live nearby share their work over wine, beer, coffee, tea, tapas and desserts.

•San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Travel Section
Yvonne Michie Horn

"Also new in Bodega Bay is the Seaweed Café, a tiny place squeezed between a bait shop and an art gallery in the blue Whale Shopping Center. Jackie Martine -- she of the red hair, dangling earrings and booming French-accented voice -- crates stylish cuisine based on western Sonoma County's agricultural bounty, with a special bow to that coming from the sea. Even the wine list carries only bottles produced west of Highway 101."

•Seaweed Café Review in Veg Out Guide
First Edition - July 2004

Seaweed Café offers some of the best food available on the Sonoma Coast, and though it is not vegetarian, Chef Jackie Martine works magic with vegetables, including sea vegetables. Salads sparkle like the night sky with an almost heart-breaking freshness, a cheese plate features the best of local artisan producers, and an earthy smoked pepper is scrumptious. Not for the vegan, but adventurous vegetarians will find much to enjoy here.

*Listed as one of the top ten restaurants in the bay area for atmosphere

•Seaweed Café Review in Press Democrat
TOP OFF A BRISK COAST WALK WITH PUEHR TEA
Published on July 15, 2004
© 2004- The Press Democrat
Michele Anna Jordan

Mouthful

After lingering for nearly three hours at Seaweed Café in Bodega Bay last weekend, we brought lunch to a conclusion with puehr tea ($6.50). If you have not yet discovered this extraordinary beverage, you now have an opportunity to have someone make a pot for you so that you will have a frame of reference once you buy your own. And if you do know puehr teas, you'll want to take note that Seaweed has a very fine one; it has been fermented in caves for 40 years. It is lighter than some we've had but is round, full, smooth and with a taste and aroma of warm damp earth. In a good way. It is a classic puehr and absolutely gorgeous.

This adorable little Café just gets better and better. Its tea menu, with selections that include white, green, black and scented teas, along with herbal infusions including wild chrysanthemum, is a joy to read. Seaweed brews the tea properly and a pot is ideal for sharing. And good tea is just the thing after a walk at Bodega Head or a run along Doran Beach. And as far as chef Jackie Martine's food goes, we loved absolutely everything; highlights include cod rillette, butter beans with duck sausage and clams, and freshly made macaroons, which are perfect with a pot of puehr.

If you needed an excuse for an excursion to Bodega Bay, you've got it.

•Seaweed Café featured in the Press Democrat "Q"
click here for most recent Jeff Cox Reviews
May 2, 2004

The Seaweed Café in Bodega Bay has oodles of charm. It's a small restaurant, with three tables outside on a back deck (brrrr) and nine tables inside. The dining experience is refined, but the place isn't snooty. Nice touches become apparent as you look around.

First of all, someone has an eye for good artwork. Reproductions of small, pretty collages done by co-owner Jackie Martine hang on a wall lined with comfy banquettes strewn with pillows. Check out the tasty little painting of a waitress hanging by the coffee maker.
Martine wears the toque in this establishment, while the other owner, Melinda Montanye, runs the room and keeps an eye on the details. While I was perusing the artwork, I came across a small, framed award of merit given to the restaurant by the Sonoma County Board of Health for its exemplary cleanliness, which is reassuring.

A cold case holds cheeses and desserts, while above it a chalkboard lists the day's wines by the glass. Soft music plays -- laid back jazz, followed by music from Mali, and then a smoky-voiced Brazilian woman singing in Portuguese. While Martine works out of sight in a small room, an open portion of the kitchen reveals the evening chef, Andre Fecteau, cooking at a stove behind the cheese case and counter. Between the two domains, a young man did the dishes by hand -- something I don't think I've ever seen in a restaurant before, and which could only happen in a place this small.

Little blue spherical lights descend on stiff wires from a free-form lighting track above the counter. They made a nice color complement to the dark red tiles on the floor. White linens cover the tables and places are set with cloth napkins. The utensils are ebony and silver -- in color if not in fact. Each table had a small vase with a freshly cut sprig of jasmine, in bloom now and offering its sweet perfume if you bring the vase to your nose. A large vase of camellia twigs with leaves and bright red flowers made a cheery note near the entrance.
Bread and butter come to the table shortly after you sit down, and the bread is from the Della Fattoria bakery in Petaluma, which I honestly think is some of the best bread in the world. Each week there's a different prix fixe menu along with an a la carte menu that changes seasonally. A recent prix fixe dinner consisted of scallops carpaccio with mustard sauce; duck and nettle cannelloni; roast leg of lamb with mashed potatoes, roasted garlic, and broccoli rabe, and a tarte Tatin with creme fraiche -- four courses for $48.

The wine list is short but interesting -- and glory be, you are given large and proper wine glasses, which are essential for enjoying wine fully. All the selections are from Sonoma County wineries west of Highway 101 and are listed by their appellation -- Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast, or Dry Creek Valley -- and include nine whites, 15 reds, two bubblies, and a dessert wine. So among the whites we find a 2003 Rochioli Sauvignon Blanc for $40 and a 2001 Eric Ross Viognier for $37. The reds include 2001 Unti Syrah for $30, 2000 Marimar Torres Pinot Noir for $38, and 1999 Davis Bynum Merlot for $47. The bubbly of choice here is 1997 Iron Horse Classic Brut.

The Seaweed is classy but comfortable, stylish but casual. And very French in some ways -- especially in the caring and passion invested in the food. The cooking isn't classic French, but up-to-the-minute California organic with French and Asian influences. The owners go out of their way to find and support local organic farmers, dairies, cheesemakers, meat ranchers and winemakers. They go to the wharf right down the street to buy ocean fish and crustaceans fresh off the boats, following the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch guidelines to avoid any overfished, endangered, or toxic-laden varieties.
In a statement of purpose, the owners say, "It's our belief that this intimate knowledge of the source of our food translates into a style of cooking that captures the flavors of the West Sonoma coastal terroir."

Well, the food is definitely unique. The Seaweed isn't afraid to try something new, such as oysters in green jackets ($10.80; 3 stars). Four oysters are shucked and wrapped in chard leaf, then set back in their halfshells and baked. After cooking, they are given a spoonful of beurre blanc, topped with a bit of tobiko (flying fish roe) and placed on a bed of chunky sea salt. The oyster gives this dish a meaty, salty ocean flavor that's enveloped in the tanginess of chard and beurre blanc. The tobiko adds a little crunch and orange color.
A Dungeness crab salad ($10; 4 stars) was simply loaded with crabmeat -- big chunks of claw and leg meat among julienned apples, celery root, and celery, and dressed with a soy-ginger mixture. This all sits on a bed of red lettuce and basil. The top is garnished with a sprig of tarragon. This salad was a perfect light dinner in itself.

The restaurant cures wild salmon filets in vodka and sugar to make its gravlax in a brioche stick ($10; 3 stars). The brioche -- a stick about six or seven inches long and an inch and a half in thickness -- is sliced lengthwise and spread inside with mayonnaise and capers. The gravlax is laid on and the top of the stick replaced. You eat it like a small sub, and it's delicious. It's served with dill fronds, tulbaghia flowers and frilly lettuces. When steelhead is available, they make the gravlax from that fish.

The monkfish liver with Champagne aspic ($11; 3 stars) put me in a quandary. A reference work on food tells me that "the only edible portion of this extremely ugly fish is its tail." I can believe that, as the liver has a melting texture but tastes like cod liver oil. That's right, I found the liver disgusting. But maybe there is a world of folks out there who might say, "Oh, monkfish liver. You lucky guy. That's such a delicacy!" It wouldn't be fair to mark down a dish because of my personal food biases. So, because the liver tasted pure and fresh, and the aspic was made with champagne and gelatin and was quite a treat, I'll say the monkfish liver is "very good," even though I wouldn't eat it again if you paid me.

Hijiki, burdock, and salmon sashimi ($12; 3 stars) is very Japanese in character. It supports the restaurant's name because hijiki is a black, mineral-rich seaweed that comes in fine strands and has a salty flavor with overtones of anise. The waitress said that the burdock root (Japanese: gobo) is "for good luck." Rock guitarist Elvin Bishop, an avid organic gardener, once showed me how he grows his gobo by poking a metal bar deep into the soil, filling the hole with compost and planting the gobo on top. The root then grows long, slender and straight. Very tender purple, green, and white seaweeds, along with four pieces of salmon sashimi, accompanied the hijiki. I appreciated the chopstick rest -- a little ceramic device for resting your chopsticks so the business ends don't touch the table -- which I find even good Japanese restaurants often fail to provide.

Entrees started with a perfectly cooked piece of flappin' fresh sea bass ($25; 3 1/2 stars), all bone white and flaky and sauced with a sea urchin puree, and dotted with pieces of parti-colored rainbow chard stems. The fish sat atop three braised baby leeks, which in turn topped a mound of lemon-flavored quinoa (a fine-textured grain something like cous-cous). A little hijiki accompanied the sea bass.

When people love a dish, they'll say it's "to die for," but I'll go a giant step beyond that and describe the stir-fried crab with green curry in a clay pot ($19; 4 stars) as a dish to live for -- as in, live another day so you can come back for more. Again, loads of crab, some in the shell, some out. My wife said, "How do I clean my hands if I have to crack this crab?" The answer soon appeared: a finger bowl of lemon juice and water and a napkin. The green curry contained jalapeno that gave it a pleasant piquancy and rice that soaked up most of the liquid. Also in the clay pot with a top: fresh English peas and tender shiitake caps. Altogether an outstanding dish.

Baked butterbeans, duck sausage, and clams ($18.9; 3 stars) sounds like something you'd find at a bistro in Toulouse and it tastes like it, too. The manila clams are in their popped-open shells. Chopped chives and tomato chunks garnish the food in the smoking hot bean pot. The liquid in the pot is a heavenly mix of clam juice with smoky sausage flavor and vegetable juices. One ding: the butterbeans weren't quite done.

I tried two desserts. both unique. The first was a lump of incomparable Bodega goat cheese ($8; 3 stars) -- always the standard by which to measure the purity of other goat cheeses -- surrounded with strawberries and mint and given a ginger-lemon crema. The second was called "floating island with pistachio creme anglaise" ($9; 3 1/2 stars). It consisted of two clouds of meringue, one with a piece of candied angelica fixed to it, the other with a piece of candied lemon peel. Tiny curls of chocolate shavings sprinkled the tops, and they sat propped up against one another in a pool of the creme anglaise. The clouds were surrounded by a sprinkling of shell pink and white rose petals. Verrrry romantic.
To sum up, if you're strictly a meatloaf and potatoes person, The Seaweed Café may not be for you. But for an interesting and adventuresome dinner you're not likely to find anywhere else, this is the place.

Jeff Cox writes a weekly restaurant review column for Q. You can reach him at jeffcox@sonic.net .

•Bodega's Seaweed Café in San Francisco Magazine
May 2004
San Francisco 1-Day Escapes
Day Trip No. 16

"When you're ready to move on, head toward the coast along Bodega Highway, winding through rolling farmland to Highway 1 and into Bodega Bay, taking a left on Eastshore Road. If it's the weekend, stop in at the Seaweed Café for a meal that's a big step up from the usual coastal chowder joint. Here we're talking fresh fish from the bay and local organic vegetables."

•Creative Cuisine Makes Splash at Bodega's Seaweed Café
The San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, September 5, 2003
- Michele Anna Jordan

For nearly a year-and-a-half, there have been rumors of a new restaurant coming to Bodega Bay. Yet for months, it's been hurry up and wait. As recently as early June, the local visitor's center knew nothing about it.

Finally, on July 4, Seaweed Café opened for breakfast and lunch. In early August, the little place began offering dinner on Friday and Saturday nights.

Between the initial announcement and the long-awaited opening, owners Melinda Montanye and Jackie Martine, who is Seaweed's chef, catered events for nearby galleries.

So, has it been worth the wait? You bet. Seaweed Café features an appealing mix of American and French fare that is just a bit unusual and edgy. Montanye and Martine call it the "cuisine of the Sonoma Coast," a tradition they are creating, not following. Ingredients from local farms and producers are familiar, but preparations bear the signature of the café's chef.

Consider, for example, a popular breakfast selection, red flannel corned beef hash with poached eggs ($9.95), which has little in common with traditional hash. Potatoes, carrots, onions and beets cut into perfect dice are tossed with chunks of corned beef as tender as whipped cream. True poached eggs are cooked to a turn, the yolks both hot and liquid. Sourdough toast slathered with butter is excellent dipped in these rich juices.

Excellent sourdough pancakes ($8.75), with a substantial texture and just enough sour flavor, are topped with fruit. Omelets feature fillings such as bacon-and-oysters ($9.20), goat cheese ($9) and chorizo-and-roasted pepper ($9. 95).

It is the ingredients themselves and the little flourishes here and there that set Seaweed Café breakfasts apart. Chef Martine's creativity is more fully realized at both lunch and dinner.

Black cod rillette with olives and local cheeses ($9.50) is extraordinary. It arrives in stages. First comes a little plate with the rillette, a briny puree of cooked cod in a creamy dressing wrapped in a roasted Anaheim chile infused with smoke; wedges of lime alongside punctuate the rich fish and earthy smoked pepper, so don't forget to squeeze a bit on, as I did with my first two bites. Next comes a bowl of tiny purple olives, thick slices of bread and a plate of cheeses from nearby producers, including an exquisite wedge from Bodega Bay Goat Cheese.

Chicken bistro salad ($8.25) combines sliced chicken breast with julienne apples and pecans in a slightly tangy, creamy dressing and served tumbling off leaves of red butter lettuce. It is the absolute freshness of the ingredients and the care with which they are assembled that makes this rather simple dish soar.

A humble tuna sandwich is ($9.25) is almost shockingly good, with big chunks of ahi tossed with celery, onion and creamy mayonnaise piled onto toasted Della Fattoria bread. A few leaves of red butter lettuce napped in a delicate vinaigrette puts many so-called "fresh and local" salads to shame; it's as if you are sitting in the garden, picking as you eat.

With entrees, the chef takes another creative leap with combinations such as baked butter beans, sausage and clams ($16.95). Mildly gamey sausage and sweet clams are good companions, and the addition of rich butter beans in a juicy concentrated tomato broth make this an excellent bone-warming choice on a foggy afternoon in Bodega Bay.

Poached oysters and tender soba noodles ($13.95) in a dark broth scented with seaweed and mushrooms - a bounty of sliced shiitakes and whole oyster mushrooms is interestingly complex and flavorful, although the large oysters will challenge anyone who prefers the smaller shellfish more common these days. Dinners, when there are two prix fixe menus ($32; $40) as well as a la carte selections, are every bit as polished as lunches, with several lunch entrees showing up on the menu.

Service is a bit rough, though, as the wait staff still seems to be getting its sea legs. The decor of Seaweed Café deserves special mention. There are adorable touches everywhere pretty little dishes that evoke an underwater jungle of sea anemones, two rows of retail items that line a low wall that separates the small cooking line from the entry area, and a tiny deck lined with tables for two. The bathroom, painted celery green and cherry red, is gorgeous, with a fresh bouquet set in an empty wooden frame.

Martine provides a bit of color herself, with her carrot-red hair, celery- green chef's coat with matching beaded earrings, and pants of black-and-red brocade. She frequently interacts with customers, often cooing, in her husky French accent, how happy she is that you are pleased with your meal.

Seaweed Café is just the sort of place many people in western Sonoma County have been hoping would appear, and just the sort of place many old- timers might once have rejected. But tables are full at breakfast, and at lunch there is a steady flow of regular and new customers.

Montanye and Martine have set the bar high, especially with set seating times at dinner and a wine list featuring only western Sonoma County selections. Theirs is an idea whose time has come.

•From Metro Active by Davina Baum - November 13-19, 2003
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/11.13.03/dining-0346.html

•From The Sea Ranch Soundings
Winter 2003
- Lita J. Gitt

Having worked up an appetite with all this hooky playing, I looked forward to the Seaweed Café. It is located in the Blue Whale Building on Eastshore Road just off Highway One on the north end of town. In quirky small-town fashion, it is tucked between a bait shop (complete with billboard for "pile worms:) and an art gallery. An artistically hand-painted sign hangs in front, along with a stylized fish scale. Outdoor tables and chairs line the sidewalk.

Walking through the front door, diners are greeted with a homey, woodsy, yet classy interior. rich ochre and terra-cotta colored walls set off exquisite black and white photos, works done by Melinda Montanye, one of the owners and chefs. A cushioned bench stretches along one wall of the dining area along with neat butcher-block tables. The kitchen is mostly out in the open with grill, stove, sinks, dishwashers and beverage-dispensing area in full view. It's a little like being in a friend's cozy home, watching them cook.

Melinda and Jackie Martine, business partner and celebrated chef, opened in July of 2003. Jackie, French-trained from Paris and Melinda, American-born and trained, run this smart little café serving locally raised food at its best of simplicity and freshness. open Thursday through Monday, they use their days off to seek out the best that ranches, organic farms and fisheries have to offer. Their wine list features only wines from west of Highway 101, and are served by the bottle or glass in the $6.00 range, with a selection of Anderson Valley and North Coast brews. They do not serve farm-raised fish, wanting to make use of what is fresh and locally caught, and therefore the lunch a la carte menu changes often. While they have an extensive list of wines, I settled for an iced black tea with mango. The lunch menu presents a generous variety. There is a daily soup offering, innovative-sounding salads, fresh seafood sandwiches, halibut with potato cakes, gravlax salmon, roast duck and a glittering display case of tempting desserts that bewitched everyone who walked past.

Soon after I ordered a bowl of pureed delicata squash soup was brought to my table. Thick and savory, it was at once very flavorful but light. Served with French bread from Della Victoria bakery in Petaluma, and a huge patty of European style butter, it could have been a meal in itself. My entree was a composed salad of lentils, fennel and beets. It was stylishly presented on grape leaves and perfectly prepared. The lentils were not mushy but not too firm and lightly dressed in an olive oil/lemon/garlic dressing, with some other intriguing seasonings of which I can only guess. The beets were firm and tasty' the fennel sliced paper thin and dressed in a lemon vinaigrette, pairing perfectly with its subtle licorice flavor.

A look around at other diner's tables confirmed that I couldn't have gone too wrong with any of the offerings. In fact, breakfast was also still being served and those platters too looked abundant and delicious. Service was "unhurried". Melinda waited on all the tables gracefully but she had a full house.

I was content to linger (knowing what waited at home!) and enjoyed watching the kitchen/dining room action, but it was a little slow. Breakfast items include scones, cereals, omelets, French toast and other egg dishes. They range from $4.25 to $9.95. Lunch entrees range from $5.75 to $15.95. I did peek at and was tempted by the desserts---fresh fruit tarte with crushed cashews, scones, cookies, and brownies to name a few. They change daily according to the seasonality of fruits and other ingredients, and are prepared by chef Melinda on the premises.

Dinner menus change weekly with two prix fixe offerings. A sample three course dinner from a menu dated a few weeks earlier featured rabbit terrine, mussels marinieres, and for dessert a tarte tatin and was price at $36.00. A four-course dinner at $48.00 offered corn and clam chowder, a choice of braised albacore with celery root or quails Andre Pic, or stuffed delicata-squash blossoms; third course was Cowgirl Dairy fromage blanc, garden salad, and pumpkin tarte for dessert. A small but growing selection of a la carte items are also being added.

We do not accept reservations by email. Please, phone 707-875-2700.