Today was a fabulous and warm fall day. I got a chance to check out a part of the nearby Pacific coast I had never been to before, just an hour north of San Francisco. Driving south on 101 we exited the freeway by Petaluma and started driving southwest towards the coast, aiming for the town Pt Reyes 
Station. Really gorgeous scenery on the way, passing McEvoy olive ranch. I'd soon get a nice break at Marin French Cheese Factory. It's a perfect spot for a picnic and they offer a barbecuing area, including a small scenic duck pond as a backdrop. In the back of the shop you can even see them making and package the cheese. Naturally I had to pick up some of their soft-ripened goodies: a Schloss, a garlic version of the Quark-spread, Marin French Blue and Camembert, I excluded the Brie, the girls in the shop said the Cam has more flavor, fine then, into the cooler they go.
The shop had a lot of other goodies and I didn't stop there: the nearby O'Neill Family makes local 100% pure raw honey, I wanted some for my Straus Whole Milk Yogurt. I also saw P.G. Molinari's Salametti Secchi and Dry Salame I hadn't tried it yet. The dry and sweet Secchi is my clear favorite of the two. This is turning out to be a crazy trip, I haven't gotten anywhere and the cooler in the back of the Highlander is already getting crowded...
My next stop was Tomales Bay Foods, a Cowgirl Creamery barn-like shop in the tiny town Pt Reyes
Station, at the base of the Tomales Bay. Cowgirl makes all cheeses from organic milk shipped from the Straus Family Creamery in Marshall 10 miles to the north. It was lunch-time so in the deli I picked up a ready-to-go sandwich, "Ham & Tam" containing Niman Ranch Ham, Cowgirl Mt Tam, Frisée and Dijon mustard: $7.75. For a dessert I had an organic Straus Vanilla Ice Cream, nice. It was a given I'd pick up some of their cheeses on the way out: Pierce Pt, Mt Tam (about $22/lb) and a brand new tiny cheese, Inverness, $3.50 not available in any stores. Made with lactic curd, aged 3 weeks, dense and tangy. A cute knowledgeable girl behind the counter was happy to offer samples. The shop was full of other artisan cheeses from close and far away, no factory-made cheeses anywhere. If you want salami, they offer Berkeley's Fra'Mani's, not bad. They also had locally hand-made bread by a danish woman, Anna's Daughter's Rye Bread, from Marshall, the next waterhole north on highway 1, it's was perhaps too juicy and doughy for my taste, but the rest of the family loved it.
The trip went back slightly to catch up again with highway 1 towards Marshall, since I knew that
Tomales Bay is the center for northern California oyster farms, the next stop was Tomales Bay Oyster Company. It was quite easy to spot, a long white picket fence and large sign. Since we showed up in the middle of the week, there were few tourists around so the manager on site, Paco, (on the picture), gave us a private view behind the gated area. The Pacific Oysters live in the bay, and these guys sell them by the pound. I sure wanted to try some, but rather in a restaurant of some sort.
The one store that was open along the route and being just superb for a sampling of fresh local
Oysters was the Marshall Store. I think most restaurants are only open during the weekends, except for this one. Scruffy looking, but there was nothing wrong with the super fresh oysters. I took a mixed plate with Barbecue and Rockefeller, $10, skipping the raw ones. Great stuff. Right next door they offered kayaking inside the calm Tomales Bay, but that's not for me.
The next and last stop was Dillon Beach, the place where you can look west across the Tomales Bay and see Tomales Point the last northern tip of the triangular Point Reyes National Seashore area. (The top picture)
Station. Really gorgeous scenery on the way, passing McEvoy olive ranch. I'd soon get a nice break at Marin French Cheese Factory. It's a perfect spot for a picnic and they offer a barbecuing area, including a small scenic duck pond as a backdrop. In the back of the shop you can even see them making and package the cheese. Naturally I had to pick up some of their soft-ripened goodies: a Schloss, a garlic version of the Quark-spread, Marin French Blue and Camembert, I excluded the Brie, the girls in the shop said the Cam has more flavor, fine then, into the cooler they go.The shop had a lot of other goodies and I didn't stop there: the nearby O'Neill Family makes local 100% pure raw honey, I wanted some for my Straus Whole Milk Yogurt. I also saw P.G. Molinari's Salametti Secchi and Dry Salame I hadn't tried it yet. The dry and sweet Secchi is my clear favorite of the two. This is turning out to be a crazy trip, I haven't gotten anywhere and the cooler in the back of the Highlander is already getting crowded...
My next stop was Tomales Bay Foods, a Cowgirl Creamery barn-like shop in the tiny town Pt Reyes
Station, at the base of the Tomales Bay. Cowgirl makes all cheeses from organic milk shipped from the Straus Family Creamery in Marshall 10 miles to the north. It was lunch-time so in the deli I picked up a ready-to-go sandwich, "Ham & Tam" containing Niman Ranch Ham, Cowgirl Mt Tam, Frisée and Dijon mustard: $7.75. For a dessert I had an organic Straus Vanilla Ice Cream, nice. It was a given I'd pick up some of their cheeses on the way out: Pierce Pt, Mt Tam (about $22/lb) and a brand new tiny cheese, Inverness, $3.50 not available in any stores. Made with lactic curd, aged 3 weeks, dense and tangy. A cute knowledgeable girl behind the counter was happy to offer samples. The shop was full of other artisan cheeses from close and far away, no factory-made cheeses anywhere. If you want salami, they offer Berkeley's Fra'Mani's, not bad. They also had locally hand-made bread by a danish woman, Anna's Daughter's Rye Bread, from Marshall, the next waterhole north on highway 1, it's was perhaps too juicy and doughy for my taste, but the rest of the family loved it.The trip went back slightly to catch up again with highway 1 towards Marshall, since I knew that
Tomales Bay is the center for northern California oyster farms, the next stop was Tomales Bay Oyster Company. It was quite easy to spot, a long white picket fence and large sign. Since we showed up in the middle of the week, there were few tourists around so the manager on site, Paco, (on the picture), gave us a private view behind the gated area. The Pacific Oysters live in the bay, and these guys sell them by the pound. I sure wanted to try some, but rather in a restaurant of some sort.The one store that was open along the route and being just superb for a sampling of fresh local
Oysters was the Marshall Store. I think most restaurants are only open during the weekends, except for this one. Scruffy looking, but there was nothing wrong with the super fresh oysters. I took a mixed plate with Barbecue and Rockefeller, $10, skipping the raw ones. Great stuff. Right next door they offered kayaking inside the calm Tomales Bay, but that's not for me.The next and last stop was Dillon Beach, the place where you can look west across the Tomales Bay and see Tomales Point the last northern tip of the triangular Point Reyes National Seashore area. (The top picture)
Now I was done, it was time to head north east, pass the small town of Valley Ford, (unfortunately no time for the interesting restaurant Rocker Oysterfellers) and connect with the 101 freeway and get back home. I can wholeheartedly recommend all of these places for a visit.
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