Marinus at Bernardus Lodge, Carmel Valley, CA, USA

Nestled in a secluded valley three hours from San Francisco, the Marinus restaurant, part of the Bernardus Lodge, is definitely a getaway. The Bernardus resort complex includes a vineyard, a five-star hotel known for its attentive service and country estate style, and of course Marinus, a lovely little world where all food is organic and all wine comes from local vinyeards.

We sat down for dinner at 6:30pm, in front of a large fireplace crackling away in a dimly lit, hushed, but comfortable dining room. The staff was attentive, taking care of everything from providing a stool for my dinner companion's handbag, to discreetly adding wood to the fireplace every hour or so. Service is definitely one of the high points - the staff goes out of their way to make the experience enjoyable, for instance bringing out a series of complimentary experimental dishes throughout the meal.

We chose the 3-dish prix fixe for $65; the restaurant also offers a 4-course, 5-course, and chef's tasting menu with many more dishes. Before the first course even arrived, we were treated to some breads, one sourdough-style and the other a soft, delicious brioche, flaky on the top and bottom and warm and moist in the middle. It was the best brioche we've ever had. They also featured an experimental dish, a vegeterian spring roll (like a Vietnamese roll) with cucumber, carrot, avocado and red bell peppers in a light wrapper.

It was amazing, an explosion of flavor from each of the ingredients. You hear about how vegetables are supposed to taste better if you can manage to buy them locally, and if this is the result, I will be buying local as much as I possibly can. (Bernardus prepared the dish from vegetables in its own organic garden.) In the word of my dinner companion, it was enough to make her become a vegetarian.

For the first dish, my companion had a beet salad. It featured a variety of beets, including Chioggia, an Italian variety, again fresh and full of flavor. The waiter stopped by to talk about the chef's "100-mile" rule, whereby he tries to purchase all ingredients locally within 100 miles. From the flavors, it seems like a good idea. The beets were served accompanied by garden greens and feta cheese, and garnished with sliced black olives and mandarin oranges for just a trace of salty and sweet, too.

My first dish was Carmel Bay prawns, served with a Yukon gold potato risotto, chanterelle mushrooms, and parmigiano-reggiano cheese. The prawns were very tender, not stiff the way many restaurants will prepare prawns. They were cooked with a strong blend of oil, herbs and salt. It was a solid dish, but not far better or worse than most similar offerings.

My companion's second dish was a foie gras. Like the brioche bread and the spring roll before it, she said this was the best she's ever had. It was an explosion of deliciousness in your mouth, like pure fat oozing over your tongue with only the tiniest bit of goose liver keeping it together. The two pieces were large, too, making for a truly decadent dish. (And yes, we know what goes into making the dish, so we normally don't order it.) Finally, a few huckleberries and pineapple quince added a nice contrast of sweetness and tartness to what might otherwise have been an overwhelming entree.


My second dish was a Colorado rib-eye lamb. Unlike the typical bone-in rack of lamb, this was a very lean cut. Yet it was still very tender, and pink throughout. A smoked applewood flavor on the outside edge of the lamb was a nice touch as well. Marnius served it with candy cap mushrooms, fennel and roasted garlic jus.

My third dish was a filet mignon, a perfect example of what a filet should be. Seared to almost blackened on the outside, it was crispy with a strong smoky flavor (the Applewood again) on the outside, but the inside beef was the kind that would melt in your mouth. It was so tender it would move with the stroke my knife, and was perfectly delicious. It was served with a roasted torpedo onion, a "pomme ancienne" potato wedge (no idea what that means) and a bearnaise sauce.

My companion's third dish was a big eye tuna. Seared on the outside and pink on the inside, it too was well done, with a whole grain mustard sauce. What really caught her eye was the bloomsdale spinach though - even though fully cooked, it still had a strong, crunchy texture of a vegetable cooked just enough to be, well, cooked, without losing its essential flavor.

Between the entrees and dessert, the chef had the whimsy to serve a lemon sorbet with - get this - pop rocks. But it worked well to cleanse the palate.

My dessert was a chocolate vahlrona mousse, a very rich mousse with a thin layer of chocolate on top, served with a dollop of pistachio ice cream. Her dessert was a a hazelnut ganache, with a unusual consistency somewhere cake and a brownie, served with a scoop of coffee ice cream. Rounding out the meal, I had a DuMol winery Syrah (Russian River, 2004), whose smooth, full bodied, dark cherry and chocolate flavors paired well with the heavier meats that I ordered.

We look forward to our next visit here and wish we could come more often. We know of at least one older gentleman who dines at Marinus frequently: he sat in the corner acoss from us, and the staff paid extra-special attention to him, with four different servers standing by his side and sipping wine with him (in rotation). A younger couple that also frequents the restaurant arrived midway through our meal and chatted with the gentleman before digging into their meal. Seems like a nice life.

All in all, it was a fantastic experience, from the attentive service and excellent food to the whimsical, playful touches and relaxed, intimate ambience. It is worth every minute of the time it takes to reach this hidden, tucked-away gem, and we can't wait to go back.