955 Ukiah St. Restaurant, Mendocino CA

Category & Type :

Restaurants

Location :

955 Ukiah St , Mendocino CA

Phone :

707-937-5138

Website :

http://www.955restaurant.com/

Information about 955 Ukiah St. Restaurant...

Featuring French-California Cuisine.A kitchen is a two-way street.

In comes the harvest bounty and out goes the plated banquet. Our family gardens, not far from Mendocino village, supplies an ample amount of the produce, including tomatoes, greens and herbs. To fill out the odds and ends, I daily peruse our excellent local markets. Once the ingredients are in the kitchen, great care is given to the preparation and cooking. We appreciate the journey and effort that has been made to get them here. We pay attention to the presentation of each plate before the server takes over. Everyone in the kitchen is aware that an individual is sitting at the table. We know how discriminating Mendocino’s fine dining crowd is.ur Mendocino story began in 1975, when we came to help Jamie’s brother, John, run his little Mexican restaurant. The kitchen was in “Toad Hall,” a hippie night club with fabulous music, young energy and a particular fragrance in the air. The “Toad” presented many great acts, including Mose Allison, Booker T, Robert Cray, Maria Muldaur, Clifton Chenier, Kate Wolf, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and Jimmy Reed. Blues legend John Lee Hooker once beckoned “young” Peggy with “come here darlin put your little hand in mine.”Our Mendocino story began in 1975, when we came to help Jamie’s brother, John, run his little Mexican restaurant. The kitchen was in “Toad Hall,” a hippie night club with fabulous music, young energy and a particular fragrance in the air. The “Toad” presented many great acts, including Mose Allison, Booker T, Robert Cray, Maria Muldaur, Clifton Chenier, Kate Wolf, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and Jimmy Reed. Blues legend John Lee Hooker once beckoned “young” Peggy with “come here darlin put your little hand in mine.”

Shyly, she did. He smiled and said “now you can tell everyone you held hands with the “Hook’.” Nights of rock n’ roll, blues, tacos, burritos and Toad burgers. By day, the “tail that wagged the dog” was a pushcart named “Juanito en Cajon,” in reference to “Jack in the Box” founder’s large influence in the town at that time. After awhile, we moved on to learn and get more experience.

In 1984 we opened the Little River Restaurant, housed in a former gas station with seven tables, two seatings and a view given solely to the kitchen. We had a camper parked out back, where Shawn and Shannon, our older daughters, would hang out and watch baby Kate. When it got busy one of the girls would come in through the kitchen window and help. LRR was a very intimate spot. We still have customers and friends going back to those days.By 1987 we had outgrown the LRR; we were booked all of the time and a larger space seemed to be in order. There was an idle building in Mendocino that had housed restaurants going back to the late ‘60s. We looked at this forlorn place after its last operators had left a few months earlier. The building had had a very positive inception. In 1965, artist Emmy Lou Packard was commissioned by the city of Fresno to design and paint a large mural for its Convention Center Theater. She needed a space to produce this work, so she built a studio in her garden. This studio is what we transformed into the 955 Ukiah Street Restaurant.Little River Restaurant 1985, actor Raymond Burr and Peggy ina battle of the bellies. Audrey was born two month later.

By 1987 we had outgrown the LRR; we were booked all of the time and a larger space seemed to be in order. There was an idle building in Mendocino that had housed restaurants going back to the late ‘60s. We looked at this forlorn place after its last operators had left a few months earlier. The building had had a very positive inception. In 1965, artist Emmy Lou Packard was commissioned by the city of Fresno to design and paint a large mural for its Convention Center Theater. She needed a space to produce this work, so she built a studio in her garden. This studio is what we transformed into the 955 Ukiah Street Restaurant.
 

About Emmy Lou Packard                                                                                                                                                                                                        According to John Natsoulas, Emmy Lou Packard was a "visionary with a sense of compassion and justice in service of mankind." A lifelong artist, she caught the attention of the internationally known Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo when she was only thirteen. While living in Mendocino in the 60s, she became aware of a condominium development being planned for the Mendocino headlands by a timber corporation. She enlisted others and began a letter writing campaign that eventually gave us the Mendocino Headlands State Park for all time.“… 955 has come into its own as a must-do dining experience."
— Sunset Magazine
In our kitchen we are looking for taste and texture, focusing on sustainable and organic, free of antibiotics and added hormones. We have a long history with Mendocino’s local growers, gatherers and purveyors. Year-round, they bring in seasonal goods, both domestic and wild.” More than five million visitors make their way to Northern California’s wine country each year. Our wine list features selections from the renowned vineyards of Napa and Sonoma, as well as outstanding vintages from our very own award-winning boutique wineries in Anderson Valley and the smaller Mendocino County regions of Potter Valley, Redwood Valley, Cole Ranch, McDowell Valley and Yorkville Highlands.