Skip to main content"Oh, what a shame," diners cried when chef Tommy Habetz left this upscale country kitchen last June. "It was getting so good!" No worries—it turns out current chef Earl Hook has continued the restaurant's local-food obsession, highlighting produce grown at Meriwether's own Skyline Farm (located just up Highway 30) and reveling in combinations of Oregon favorites like mushrooms and hazelnuts. Lunch brings playful takes on crunchy chickpea fritters, shrimp po' boys with spicy harissa remoulade and pint glasses of basil lemonade, while dinner features twists on classics like a meltingly tender, smoked paprika chicken with toothsome braised greens or halibut perked up with prosciutto and preserved-lemon relish. Dishes occasionally overshoot their mark, like a cloying coconut-curry crust on an otherwise excellent, juicy chicken 'n' waffle (with grilled nectarines to boot), or a slough of soupy sauce at the bottom of a unique "lasagna" of layered noodles, creamy mascarpone and local mushrooms, but the menu's good points outweigh the overwrought. Plus, Meriwether's has one of the best year-round patios in town—a made-for-Mother's Day collection of bloom-adorned flagstone circles and covered gazebos (there's even a fire pit) that provides the best accompaniment to brunch, lunch or dinner one could ask for.
IDEAL MEAL: Chilled cucumber soup with cayenne (if available), chickpea fritters, paprika chicken and a glass of Oregon wine in the spacious dining room or, even better, on the patio.
WWeek 2015