VanFoodies.com

If you paid attention to the title, you’ll notice that I’m covering yet another trip. April/May has been an interesting time for me because I’m literally in between vacations. Can you believe that I planned 3 vacations over the span of 6 weeks? Good idea at the time but silly of me to actually carry it out. Grateful that work has allowed me to be off so often during this busy time period but at the same time, I know I’ll be stuck in the office for the rest of the year. Something to look forward to. Sigh.

Anyway, vacation #2 is a 6-day drive along the Oregon Coast with Mr. We were blessed with gorgeous weather so there’s nothing to complain about. And if you have been to Oregon, or Portland alone, you would know it’s a heaven for foodies. So yes, we’ve got some material to work on for the next few weeks.

The Wildflower Grill in Lincoln City, Oregon

Instead of diving right into Portland eats, I want to start this series with this cute eatery in Lincoln City, the Wildflower Grill. We stopped by this place for brunch when we were basically on our way north to head home. It is actually a house-turned-restaurant, with a covered sun deck at the back, where we were seated, that has a view of some greenery.

Food

Brunch at the Wildflower Grill

We arrived at the restaurant just after 10:30am, which was awkward timing since breakfast is only offered until 11am. We were still able to order from the breakfast menu but the lunch menu would also become available in a matter of minutes. So we became one of those difficult customers – ordering from both menus.

Coffee

From the breakfast menu, I chose the Crab Benedict. Situated by the ocean, Lincoln City has a few places that sell fresh crabs, so I figured you can’t go wrong with this. And I was right. First of all, the plate had an abundance of fresh crab meat. You know it’s fresh because it wasn’t masked with any heavy seasoning nor did it have any fishy taste. The lightness of the crab meat and the heavy Hollandaise sauce was a good match. You could even see two claws sitting on top of the Wildflower toast.

Crab Benedict – Poached eggs & local crab on Wildflower toast with hash browns topped with Hollandaise sauce

Speaking of toast, this is not the traditional Benny with English muffin. This restaurant makes their own breads and baked items, so they use this thick toast as the base. Oh boy, the toast was GOOD! The bread was toasted crispy outside, you can cut right through it with flakes flying everywhere. Inside it was light and fluffy, and it just soaked up the Hollandaise sauce and runny egg yolk. Bread just works so much better than English muffin. I think all Benny’s should use fresh, fluffy toasts instead of hard, chewy English muffins. On the other hand, I didn’t care much for the hash browns. Even though it’s crispy outside, I didn’t like that it’s just soft and boring in between the crispiness. Way too much potato there. They also didn’t put in any seasoning so it was rather bland. I think I prefer potato cubes over this.

Look how thick the toast is!

From the lunch menu, Mr. selected the Oyster Po’Boy. It had a few big pieces of panko-crusted oysters and they were fried perfectly. I thought eating this sandwich could get messy but since the tartar sauce was offered on the side, Mr. was able to control how much dressing to add to it. I probably would like it with red onions instead of white onions – the raw onion taste was a bit too strong for me and I think the sweetness in red onions might help. Fries were thick-cut fries. Generous portion with a good bite to it.

Wildflower Oyster Po’Boy – Local oysters panko flash-fried on French roll with lettuce, tomato, onions & cajun tartar sauce and thick-cut fries

Service

A popular place for brunch on a Tuesday morning

The service we received, and witnessed, was excellent. I did appreciate the fact that they allowed us to order from the lunch menu. When we placed the order, we were warned that the lunch item in particular may take longer because the chef wanted to finish all breakfast orders before switching gear to lunch service. That said, we didn’t wait long for both dishes to arrive and the chef never actually shut down breakfast service. Tables that arrived after us were still ordering from the breakfast menu, even past 11am. That’s very accommodating.

The Wildflower Grill – interior

Final Thoughts

In a small town like Lincoln City, I thought the Wildflower Grill was an excellent option. The restaurant itself has character, food was tasty and service was of high quality. I would definitely go back when I visit the Coast again.

The Wildflower Grill – exterior

Wildflower Grill
541-994-9663
4250 NE Highway 101, Lincoln City