The Harbor House Inn now offers a $150 four-course lunch, a more casual alternative to its $350 dinner tasting menu
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The lunch service supports the Inn's sustainability goals by cross-utilizing ingredients from its farm and whole-animal sourcing
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The restaurant's oceanfront setting and hyper-local menu provide a unique, luxurious dining experience
A CaliforniaMichelin-starredrestaurant is now offering a new lunch service that is over half off its dinner price.
The Harbor House Inn, which has a California oceanfront restaurant with twoMichelin stars, is now serving a lunch service five days a week that costs $150 per person, a fraction of the dinner tasting menu cost of $350 per person.
The restaurant's executive chef, Matthew Kammerer, told PEOPLE that “lunch is a more casual, relaxed experience than dinner.” Whereas the dinner tasting menu is about three hours and 12 courses, lunch is a four-course meal “at a leisurely pace.”
“Think roasting an entire leg of lamb and carving portions throughout service, along with cuts and vegetable preparations that wouldn't necessarily fit the more refined dinner courses,” Kammerer said.
Kammerer added that the lunch experience should not be compared to the Michelin-starred dinner service.
“While it can be seen as a more affordable option, it's also a completely different experience overall,” he said. “The same quality of ingredients and care are as ever present, but it is not the full two-Michelin-star production of 17 staff for 18 guests.”
The chef told PEOPLE that the reasoning behind the new service was both to expand the restaurant beyond guests of the inn and to support the inn's sustainability goals.
“The decision to expand lunch programming was made in honor to expand access beyond guests of the inn [such as] to day-trippers heading up the coast or traveling through Mendocino,” he said. “It also makes practical sense for the kitchen: it helps them cross-utilize products, giving the team more tools to move food and wine.”
“Since Harbor House receives whole animals and operates a working farm year-round, having multiple meal services: breakfast, lunch, in-room snacks, in-room dinner, and dinner service, helps find a home for everything,” he added.
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According toSFGATE, a sample lunch menu in the service features a wide range of Japanese-inspired dishes, with a heavy emphasis on veggies and local proteins.
The menu has a ranch cucumber salad, grilled nukazuke (traditional Japanese pickles) and sourdough bread with cultured butter and sea lettuce. It also features grilled halibut with bush bean, potato and blistered, smoked tomatoes, along with a house-made pork sausage with a side of rice and jus.
Sides include sesame broccoli and a green salad, while dessert includes custard and meringue made with amazake, a traditional Japanese drink made of fermented rice, along with a grilled zucchini cake with buttermilk ice cream.
Per the outlet, the hotel initially offered lunch starting in 2021, and it was available intermittently. This offering marks a regular lunch fixture throughout the week from Thursday to Monday.
According to the hotel'swebsite, the lunch service is available Thursday through Monday at a price of $150 per person.
The website noted that the restaurant, which has 20 seats and overlooks the Pacific Ocean, is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, and no children under 15 are allowed.
As for the dress code, the website says, “come as you are.”
The website said the menu is changed according to the season and weather, as most of its ingredients are in “our immediate surroundings.” The restaurant noted it is not able to accommodate certain dietary restrictions, including wheat and soy allergies and severe shellfish allergies, because of the “seasoning and structure' of its menu.
“The North Coast terrain promotes flavors unique to our location, supported by a product-driven style of cooking,” it reads. “By minimizing imports, cultivating as much food from our own land and tidepools as possible, we offer a hyper-local experience that is constantly evolving.”
Read the original article onPeople
