I began my week with halibut and cod, but now I am on a salmon run.
Salmon for dinner three nights in a row is reason enough to travel to the Northwest.
My first salmon meal was a filet pan fried, fresh and juicy with veggies and rice, and a glass of local pinot gris, at the Hood River Hotel in the city of Hood River, Ore., about an hour east of Portland. (About $20 plus wine.)
The second salmon, also pan fried but with even more flavor, was the highlight of the week -- perfectly cooked, sitting on a bed of grilled asparagus and sweet yellow and red bell peppers sauteed with onions, garlic, olive oil, sherry vinegar and seasoned with smokey paprika. The fish was garnished with deep fried fennel frites -– with a glass of pinot gris (about $21 plus wine).
The second preparation, at Nora’s Table in Hood River, was called springer salmon, said owner and chef Kathy Watson. The fish is in the early spring run of salmon on the Columbia River. “This fish is caught on lower Columbia, near the mouth, just as the fish enter the river system. It’s really luscious, fatty and red because the fish have been out feeding in the ocean,” she said.
My third dinner was salmon belly lollipops on a stick ($16), in Moclips, Wash., at the Ocean Crest Resort. The fish was tender and juicy, mixed with soy and ginger, accompanied by a caesar salad ($8).
Room or table with a view?
Given a choice between a fancy hotel room and a fine dinner, I’ll take the dinner, especially if it includes a great view. I’m sleeping in the room, not looking out the window.
At Moclips, Washington, smack on the Pacific Ocean, the cheap room ($57 plus tax in the spring) was small and drab at Ocean Crest Resort, with a window onto the parking lot. The motel ice machine was out of order.
Dinner, on the other hand, was at a picture window that stretched across the restaurant. I looked out at the Pacific Ocean rolling toward the beach at Moclips with gusto, trees swaying in the high winds of a May storm.
Thanks to some pinot gris with my salmon lollipops and caesar salad, I managed to spend more than half the cost of the room, to which I didn’t hurry back.
