Fog Eater Cafe Opens in Mendocino for Vegetarian Southern Food and Natural Wine | Eater SF

"I'm excited that Fog Eater Cafe opens June 12 in Mendocino; it occupies a cozy wooden building with a garden patio just off Main Street and seats roughly 25. The kitchen focuses on vegetarian Southern food — as the owners say, “really rich southern food” that simply doesn’t include meat — developed through successful pop-up dinners and featuring dishes like hush puppies with pepper jelly aioli, pimento cheese, grits with veggies, and Rancho Gordo red beans and rice, with hearty shiitake mushrooms supplied by Samas-Berry’s uncles. The aesthetic is described as a “whisper of grandma,” complete with mismatched saucers and the occasional doily. Owners Haley Samas-Berry (a Fort Bragg native and cocktail expert) and chef Erica Schneider (originally from Nashville, with experience at Babycakes/Erin McKenna’s Bakery and Angelica Kitchen) emphasize natural and biodynamic wines and cool, low-ABV cocktails made with sherries and Den sake; Fog Eater won’t serve liquor to start, but Samas-Berry has been “tincturing up a storm” with wild, seasonal herbs. The wine list favors local-minded natural producers like Broc Cellars, with by-the-glass options such as Lichen Estate Blanc De Gris (2014) and Moon Juice Zinfandel (2017), and early tasters have enjoyed the deliberate secondary fermentation. Though the team worried about being outsiders, locals have been “pummeled with kindness.” Hours are Wednesday–Sunday 5 p.m.–9 p.m., happy hour 4–5 p.m. Wednesday–Friday, and Sunday brunch 10 a.m.–2 p.m." - Caleb Pershan