Quimby's Restaurant is Closed

PRESS

Oregon Coast can warm your heart in the winter

LATITUDES AND ATTITUDE    ALISON DAROSA

August 7, 2005

I'm hooked on the Oregon Coast. For more than 20 years, my husband and I hibernate annually for two or three weeks on the central Oregon Coast. We go in winter, when tourists are scarce and weather inspires cuddling.

We stay in the same room at the same place: nothing fancy, a former Best Western – but the Surfrider Resort in Depoe Bay is perfectly situated on an oceanfront bluff, and breakfast is served until 2 p.m. The tides and weather determine how we spend our days: At low tide, we walk wide, sandy beaches that stretch for miles, often finding no imprints in the sand but our own when we backtrack. When the tide is high or the weather isn't cooperative, we scavenge used bookstores, explore galleries or curl up in recliners by the fireplace in our room to read novels we've stockpiled during the year. Or we simply watch storms.

We know neighborhood restaurants up there as well as we know our favorite hangouts at home. On sunny afternoons, we hunker at a picnic table at The Crab Cooker along Newport's harborfront and stuff ourselves on fresh-from-the-pot Dungeness crab, slathered in butter. Former San Diego attorney Steve Halsey, burned out on practicing law, is the chief crab cooker. We consider his lifestyle change as delicious as the crab. Steve intoduced us to Don Duncan, refugee from the Big Apple and previous life running a neighborhood carpet cleaning NYC business, who pointed us to Quimbys. Don still plies his rug cleaning service part time on the OR coast for restaurants & bars, so he knows them all.

The hands-down best clam chowder on the coast is at Quimby's in funky Nye Beach. Mike Downing is owner-chef – the same Mike Downing who was owner-chef at Quimby's in Rancho Santa Fe. When he closed down that longtime Ranch staple in the early '90s, he put all furnishings into storage. In 2002, he transplanted the booths, bar, stained-glass windows, even the front door to Nye Beach. These days he's smoking salmon, serving killer crab cakes and winning chowder cook-offs. A Quimby's oyster dish just took first place at the Newport oyster cook-off. Is he happy? As a clam.

The family-owned Italian Riviera is where we go when we need a hearty fix of baked ziti or calzone – or feel the urge to slow dance. Piano man Ric DiBlasi is co-owner of the Riviera with his wife, Valerie. Her mother reigns as maitre d'. DiBlasi's domain is the lounge adjacent to the dining room. Larger-than-life cutouts of jazzmen pop on the walls. A curtain of rose-colored tinsel crowns the stage. There's a small patch of dance floor and a tier for dining. Think suburban Jersey Italian-American home away from home.

DiBlasi has taught us to time our getaways: The last Saturday of each month is Torch & Swing night at Italian Riviera. Regulars include guys like Dave Hutson, who played sax with Harry James and plays just about everything for DiBlasi. Patty George is the earthy gravel-voiced crooner. Sometimes her father, pianist Pat George, who played with Leroy Vinegar and Duke Ellington, sits in. During one visit, vacationing members of the Miller Brothers Blues Band from Portland took over the stage. Sometimes performers headlining at the Indian casino up the coast slip in. Jammin' at the Riv': "It's great fun," said Wayne Thompson, editor of Jazzscene magazine, who shared our table this winter.

On our last night before heading home, our routine is to reserve a window table at Tidal Raves on Depoe Bay. We sip a Willamette Valley pinot noir, order mussel spinach bisque, clam steaks and slaw, a big chocolate chunk cookie for the road.

The next morning, when we check out, we book the same room for the same time next year.