Westward Ho!

On a trip west to see family in Oregon's beautiful Cascade Mountains, we found two restaurants where they create delicious dishes from locally sourced ingredients. Jen's Gardens (http://www.intimatecottagecuisine.com/restaurant-menu/menu) is housed in a quaint little cottage in Sisters, OR which looks like Hollywood's version of an old west movie set. We dined in the garden on Oregon albacore tuna nicoise, bay shrimp with an heirloom tomato consomme, and artichoke crusted steelhead salmon over wilted local greens. You can chose from a 3 or 5-course menu and we opted for a different wine with each course. Another great find is Kokanee Cafe (http://www.kokaneecafe.com/kokanee-menu/) about 10 miles into the woods from Sisters at Camp Sherman. By the side of the Metolius River, we supped outdoors on a crunchy salad of shaved snap peas, endive and radicchio in a creamy dressing and wild cedar plank roasted salmon over sage and corn polenta. A culinary version of manifest destiny seems to be alive and well in the Cascades today!