Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

The Salishan Experience Northwest Food, Culture And Architecture Blend Into An Oceanside Haven Of Harmony For Travelers

Timothy Egan New York Times

Ever since the Hudson’s Bay Co. first built a guest house at its Columbia River trading post facing Mount Hood, travelers to the Pacific Northwest have been able to take in some of the more sublime works of nature while sipping a decent wine.

The vintages were European, of course, when the Gentlemen Adventurers of England, as they were formally known, were building their trading network with the native people in the early 19th century.

But the food - sturgeon caviar, five species of salmon, a dozen kinds of berries, exotic mushrooms, shellfish of all sizes and shapes - was all part of the local bounty.

Nearly 150 years after England gave up its claim to the Northwest, people are still searching for the ultimate balance between nature and comfort. The task for lodges is to be close to the scenery, using indigenous building materials, while being as unintrusive as possible. For restaurants, the challenge is to serve local food in an original manner, avoiding East Coast or European imitations.

The Salishan Lodge on the Oregon coast, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, was one of the first major resorts to try to create a food, wine and lodging haven in the modern Northwest style.

It is surrounded by a tangle of overgrown firs, cedars and spruce trees on a hillside above an estuary so rich in marine life that the herons seem fat from overeating. But there is also golf, 18 holes within earshot of pounding Pacific surf, a large indoor pool and health spa, and four restaurants.

The main dining room, directed by Rob Pounding, the executive chef, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who left New York City more than a decade ago, is a virtual laboratory of Northwest cuisine. And in the basement is one of the largest wine cellars in the American West, nearly 20,000 bottles from around the world, the most popular being Oregon’s own pinot noirs.

Until Salishan was built, the destination lodge experience in the Northwest was mostly of the old national park school, wherein a big-timbered, stone-fireplaced hotel was set down amid a rain forest or next to a glaciated volcano. The lobbies in these old style resorts were - and still are - splendid, but the rooms inevitably had a dormitory-like feel, with small windows.

There has always been something a bit wondrous at these older places, be it the hidden hot springs or the tearoom under the waterfall. But food tended to be of the surf ‘n’ turf variety, and local wines were sweet and poorly regarded.

Over the last two decades, restaurants and lodges started to experiment with regional food and architects fostered a design philosophy of building in harmony with nature. This coincided with the maturing of the Northwest wine industry, as vintners discovered that the climate of this region, its northern light and volcanic soils made it one of the best places on earth to raise wine grapes.

The white wines - rieslings and chardonnays - were the first to get attention, but the more consistent acclaim has been for pinot noir from western Oregon and merlot and cabernet sauvignon from southern Washington.

Bringing all of this together, with something diverting and relaxing to do over several days, has been the goal of the Salishan, named for the Salish natives who have lived in the Northwest for at least 3,000 years. The lodge is at Gleneden Beach, midway down the Oregon coast, about 90 miles from Portland.

The shock of Lincoln City, a somewhat sprawling beach town of heavy traffic and outlet malls, does not prepare the visitor for Salishan, just to the south, where the volume of people and noise drops off considerably.

The resort, built and owned by John D. Gray, an Oregonian, covers 750 acres, much of which is forest. It does not sit directly on the beach - which, in any case, would be a violation of Oregon’s strict land use laws - but is across Highway 101, on a rise above Siletz Bay and the Pacific.

The sand and waves of the Pacific are a good half-mile from the main lodge, but you can walk along a wooded trail to the ocean, or drive and park at the resort parking area, which some people may find a drawback.

The lodge has 205 comfortable guest rooms and suites, spread out in more than a dozen buildings around the site. The rooms are decorated in a low-key style that does not compete with the setting; each has a stone fireplace, exposed beams, private balcony and simple bath.

The buildings are close to the golf course, or the estuary, or the children’s playground - the proximity determined by what the guest is looking for. For all the sprawl, the Salishan is nearly camouflaged. It is done in muted tones of beige and gray.

Small creeks run through it. Covered walkways connect the different units. And everywhere, there are wind-shaped Sitka spruce, some looking very much like bonsai done on a grand scale. The landscape does not seem pruned, tortured or imported, and that is one of the Salishan’s initial charms.

A central idea behind the Northwest school of design is to let as much natural light into a room as possible, and the Salishan attempts to do that. The rooms seem larger than they are, in part because they have expansive open views of the bay, the ocean, the golf course or the woods, depending on which building is chosen, through large windows.

Add a crackling fire, and there is reason enough to explain why frequent visitors seldom complain about the coastal mist, which can be ubiquitous in the cooler months.

The golf course is 6,549 yards long on rugged land, surrounded by ocean and forest on various sides. There are water hazards, and tall tree hazards. It’s a par 72, built, they say, in the Scottish tradition - meaning the most difficult thing to do is simply to keep the ball in play.

Of the four restaurants, the centerpiece is the Dining Room at Salishan, built on tiers that face the forest and the ocean to the west. The other restaurants are Mulligan’s Grill, a coffee shop near the golf course; the Sun Room, an informal place for meals on the lighter side, and the Cedar Tree, which specializes in Sunday brunch and a weekend seafood buffet.

The high-ceilinged dining room, with Northwest art on the walls, is as close as you can come to eating in the woods without camping. Outside, it may look like a knot of green, but there are trails for after-dinner walking, and markers that identify the plant species.

Inside, the sommelier, Phil DeVito, will fill your ear with narratives of individual wines. He has been in the business for 40 years, and has grown up with the Oregon wine industry. The cellar that he developed has great range, in price from $9 to $900, and taste from rare Bordeaux to young California bottles.

Any Northwesterner knows that Oregon, despite its reputation for rain, is typically dry and warm from early July through late September. A few summers back, the Willamette Valley recorded nearly 100 days in the summer without measurable precipitation. This is perfect weather for pinot noir, as the French, who helped to put Oregon wines on the map, have discovered.

DeVito carries some bottles that long ago disappeared elsewhere, and he will even warn you away from the overpriced and overpraised ones.

His staff can do magic tricks for children, which allows parents to linger over wines and food that might otherwise be rushed.

An Oregon pinot gris makes a good appetizer wine with oysters, caviar from Columbia River sturgeon or salmon cured with alder and apple wood smoke. The main menu features salmon cooked in the Indian style, stretched around alder planks set near a fire, or a seafood grill of prawns, scallops and Dungeness crab sausage. There is also lamb and beef from the Willamette Valley. The abalone, grilled and served with Asian greens, is innovative. But Northwest purists should note that it comes from California.

Pounding, the executive chef, has cultivated a number of fishermen who keep him supplied in this era of dwindling Pacific Coast salmon runs, and he contracted with a local gardener to raise produce for the restaurant, in season.

Dinner can also be arranged, in advance, in the wine cellar, for groups who want to dine next to all those aging pinots, with recorded music as well.

Northwest coastal sunsets in the summer are late-night affairs, with the glow lighting the sky until well past 10 p.m. The coast is mostly sandy, but there are monolithic rocks here and there, and huge pieces of driftwood tossed on shore in random fashion. The waves here do not lap gently against the beach, but arrive with a great roar.

If it storms, the Salishan has a cozy library stocked with regional histories and major newspapers. It also has a large collection of paintings, sculptures and woodwork from regional artists, displayed in selected areas around the resort.

When exploring away from Salishan, the little town of Depoe Bay, just to the south, is a fine place to stroll. It has a tiny harbor - the smallest in the world, the residents boast - and huge rock bluffs on one side of town. When the tide comes in, accompanied by wind, the surf forces itself up through rock cracks and spouts like a geyser in Yellowstone Park. It is a reminder that the Oregon coast can be at its best when infuriated. And the Salishan, snug above the waves, is a civil companion.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO The Salishan Lodge, Gleneden Beach, Oregon, (503) 764-2371. Reservations, (800) 452-2300. Rooms in summer range from about $170 a night for two persons, to $240 for larger rooms with open views of the bay and golf course. Prices drop by as much as 50 percent November through April. Dinner entrees average $25 for salmon, shellfish and meat entrees. A children’s menu is available.

This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO The Salishan Lodge, Gleneden Beach, Oregon, (503) 764-2371. Reservations, (800) 452-2300. Rooms in summer range from about $170 a night for two persons, to $240 for larger rooms with open views of the bay and golf course. Prices drop by as much as 50 percent November through April. Dinner entrees average $25 for salmon, shellfish and meat entrees. A children’s menu is available.