The Herbfarm
A forager’s food fantasy or Disneyesque dinner theater? Step right up, folks, to this fabled country cottage in wine-centric Woodinville, where the evening’s entertainment is orchestrated and narrated by owners Carrie Van Dyck and Ron Zimmerman and produced by chef Jerry Traunfeld and a chorus of culinarians. Their tour begins with a gambol through the herb garden, moves into the doily-dappled dining room, and finishes with nine courses of edible extravagance—with five matched wines plus a vintage sweetie (perhaps a century-old Madeira from a cellar that’s 24,000 bottles strong). Each course is a chapter in a seasonally themed book, built with a bonanza of intensely flavored ingredients: basilwood-smoked mussels, goat-cheese-stuffed morels, Douglas fir sorbet, leek-wrapped Columbia River sturgeon. 14590 N.E. 145th St., Woodinville, WA (425-485-5300)
Higgins Restaurant & Bar
The Northwest is known for salmon, and Higgins definitely has fantastic fish. But this is a place where the porcine overrules the piscine, as is conspicuously evidenced by the house-cured prosciutto that sometimes hangs above the cooks’ heads in the open kitchen. It’s silky and sweet—as complex as anything in Higgins’s vast repertoire of charcuterie, all of it made from locally raised pigs. The porky pleasure reaches its height in February, during choucroute garnie season, when you can get dishes of knockout sauerkraut heaped with a battery of sausages and a smoked pork loin so good it’ll make your head swim. 1239 S.W. Broadway, Portland, OR (503-222-9070)
The Inn at Little Washington
For almost 30 years, The Inn at Little Washington has attracted the best ingredients to its back door: Through the years, The Inn has inspired a web of nearby cottage industries, whose riches chef Patrick O’Connell transforms into creative dishes with traditional American flavors. His lobster with grapefruit, pizza with morels and country ham, and pecan-crusted soft-shelled crabs have become Virginia classics. And the service—there are more employees than guests—is legendary. Middle and Main Sts., Washington, VA (540-675-3800)
Lucia’s Restaurant and Wine Bar
When Lucia’s began promoting local and organic fare 22 years ago, Minnesotans thought it was bold, innovative—and a bit strange. These days, chef-owner Lucia Watson is considered a pioneer, and her empire includes a wine bar and a take-out spot. The menu, which changes weekly, showcases superior ingredients prepared with midwestern restraint. The bison pot roast with spring-garlic mashed potatoes may be the best comfort food in town, and nowhere in the Twin Cities can you get a better a fruit crisp or pie. 1432 W. 31st St., Minneapolis (612-825-1572)
Merriman’s
Twenty years ago, tourists went to Hawaii, loved the beaches, and lamented the food. Peter Merriman was one of the pioneers who changed that. Back then, his restaurant was an oasis of simplicity and sanity on the Big Island. It still is, helmed by a recent transplant from New York City, Neil Murphy. He turns whole lambs from a local rancher into chops and roasts and simply grills fresh Hawaiian fish. Vegetables don’t take a backseat, either—you’ll find ruby-red beets with goat cheese, fresh sautéed spinach, and corn so sweet it’s sometimes served raw. 65-1227 ’Opelo Rd., Waimea, Big Island (808-885-6822)
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