Mendocino Restaurant Menus, Reviews, Raven's Fine Dining at Stanford Inn, Mendocino CA

Named for the raven pair who moved here in 1995 before we broke ground for the dining room, The Ravens is our vegetarian restaurant. We feature the best in vegetarian and vegan cuisine.

We recognize that most of our guests are not vegetarians and have been challenged to produce satisfying and delicious meals for those often suspicious of vegetarian dishes. In order to accomplish this, we have assembled chefs from throughout the United States in a co-creative, cooperative kitchen in which we work together with the common goal to nourish and satisfy, while reducing our impact on the environment.

All of us are committed to preparing outstanding cuisine, supporting sustainable agriculture and organic farming through our purchasing, minimizing waste and recycling all manufactured items and food wastes. We use no meat or meat products.

Our search for gifted staff was made easier by the fact so many qualified chefs were looking for us. When our intentions became known, chefs from throughout the region and from as far away as New York, Moscow (Russia) and Mexico City applied. These men and women wished to work in a kitchen committed to the use of the finest organic ingredients available, much grown on the property. These chefs are artists, sensitive to their materials.

Since 1996, we have learned that the de rigeur kitchen with an ego centric executive chef, a creative and intense leader, simply does not work. Our kitchen is run by a director/coordinator whose responsibility is to assemble and knit the creative talents of all staff from those who primarily prepare the food for cooking to those who are actively producing the food on the line.

If your local supermarket has an organic produce section you may have noticed the wide variety in quality and eye appeal of some organic produce. At The Ravens those of us who prep must be sensitive to the variations in quality of organic produce, adjust seasonings and even basic ingredients to suit quality and availability. Although organic produce is becoming more widely produced outside the United States, providing year around supplies of commonly seasonal produce, our approach has remained essentially seasonal. What is available in northern California is generally what we serve.

The Ravens' Kitchen

We are often asked, “Why a vegetarian restaurant?” The answer is very simple: it is how we cook for our family and friends and it is how we prepare foods for our guests.

The Ravens Restaurant is central to our philosophy of hospitality - we strive to prepare cuisine for our guests which enhances their lives though taste, nutrition and appeal, while acknowledging their better sensibilities.

So many love animals and we have developed an extensive vegan menu (food made without animal products) and a vegetarian menu using organic dairy products and eggs from cage-free, organically raised and fed hens.

Ravens' Celebrated Chef, Barry Horton

The Ravens' Mission

Our Mission is to provide healthy organic cuisine that rivals the finest Northern California restaurants. We feel that this is the “path of least resistance” to demonstrate that healthy and satisfying food produced and cooked with a lighter touch on our environment can be a wonderful experience. It is our mission to “seduce”those often suspicious of vegetarianism by continuing to build on our reputation as an outstanding restaurant within a four diamond, AAA rated country inn.

Sustainable Agriculture and Organic Food

This year we are celebrating 21 years of sustainable agriculture.

We are committed to reducing our impact on the environment and support sustainable agriculture through our purchases. We use no meat or meat products. All produce is organic, some produced by our California Certified Organic Farm - Big River Nurseries. Many of our dishes are “vegan”, that is, produced without animal products. We use only the freshest organic fats such as olive oil.

Organic foods are delightful to work with. Because they cost on average two to three times as much as “commercial” products, we handle them carefully and prepare dishes to order to assure the highest quality and food value from our ingredients. Each dish is individually prepared. All food wastes are composted.

Staff

Kitchen Staff: In the kitchen, our mission is to assure that our staff work co-creatively to produce outstanding cuisine with seasonal organic foods. We eschew titles, preferring, instead, that each person see themselves as a member of a team which relies on each person’s creative input to produce outstanding vegetarian cuisine.

In 1999 we organized an internship program and, today, we participate with Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts Program and The Natural Gourmet Cookery School's providing internship opportunities for their students. Interns come to work with our staff as practicum to complete their school's certificate program. This has been a happy alliance as some of our outstanding staff have been introduced to Mendocino and The Ravens through the school.

Serving Staff: Our professional serving staff is dedicated to presenting healthy and nourishing food in concert with our kitchen. They bring considerable knowledge of our gardens and procedures. They are also responsible for training local youth. We employ young people from the Mendocino Coast to train them in serving and other aspects of dining room operation. Most are students at either Mendocino or Fort Bragg High Schools or College of the Redwoods. With their experience acquired here, they are able to secure part time employment wherever they go to complete their education.

Menu Consideration - an Example

We prepare each dish to be delicious and satisfying. To satisfy, a meal must have have all components needed to nourish - proteins, complex carbohydrates, essential fats. A dish does not necessarily make a meal, which will often consist of many dishes. Sea Palm Strudel, one of our signature dishes, is virtually a complete meal and exemplifies how we approach food. This strudel with its side Asian stir-fry is extraordinarily beneficial due to the unique combination of ingredients.

Sea Palm Strudel

Locally harvested Sea Palm and Japanese root vegetables rolled in sesame phyllo and served with a stir-fry of broccoli, shiitake, edamame, bell pepper and cashews over umeboshi plum and wasabi sauces

Sea palm, or palm tree kelp, found off the Mendocino coast is somewhat rare due to the particular conditions here with cold water in the spring and hard blowing westerly winds creating up welling of deeper waters and their nutrients. Populations with high levels of sea weeds in their diet have low levels of cancer. Sodium alginate found in sea plants binds with radioactive strontium and passes out of our body. People who ate a strict macrobiotic diet including sea vegetables did not suffer from radiation poisoning even if they lived within a mile of the Nagasaki nuclear bombing.,

Umeboshi plum is a pickled apricot, not a plum.

Wasabi is from the rhizome of a semi-aquatic member of the cabbage family.

Shiitakes boost interferon production which is needed to fight bacteriological infections.

Broccoli contains folic acid, Vitamin A and beta carotene and boosts production of enzymes in the body that detoxify. Broccoli consumption helps prevent heart disease, osteoporosis, high blood pressure and cancer. Importantly, the calcium spectator content of broccoli can be as effective at lowering cholesterol as medication.

Cashews have less fat than almonds, peanuts, pecans and walnuts. High in proteins and essential fatty acid, they are also high in saturated fat. They enhance health is small amounts.

Edamame are green soybeans and are unprocessed except for cooking. High in protein, edamame contains all eight essential proteins, is nutrient dense and is associated with protecting against heart disease and cancer

Alcohol - The Ravens Wine List and Ravens' Nest Bar

In August, 2004, we received our first Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator. We worked to achieve this award as an integral part of our efforts to make vegan/vegetarian dining a truly fine dining experience. Our wine list features outstanding wines most made with organic or traditionally produced grapes. This past August we received our second award.

Last November we opened the Ravens’ Nest bar in our continuing effort to make fine vegetarian and vegan dining more mainstream. We have no “well” only “top shelf” beverages.

Alcohol should be savored with the purpose of helping to enhance food and social relationships.

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