It seems like all anyone can talk about lately is the weather, myself included. Temperatures recently dipped into single digits, a feat that some sources report hasnt been matched since 1972. I dont know about you, but personally, when the mercury drops, my appetite rises.

I didnt let a little snow and ice stop me from venturing out to Pelicano Restaurant in Ilwaco, Wash. Ilwaco has done a lovely job in recent years of attempting to revitalize the Port of Ilwaco, including quaint shops, restaurants, art galleries and a Saturday market with local vendors in the summer and in December. Pelicano Restaurant is nestled in the center of it all, and is as cozy and unassuming as it is upscale.

I respect restaurants that change their menu as available ingredients come into season, and such is the case with Pelicano, which is helmed by the culinary team of Jeff McMahon and Shelly Hedges.

The special appetizer of the evening was a lamb and wild mushroom shumai with ginger soy sauce. Since shumai is Chinese in origin, I was surprised to see it on a menu that is mainly inspired by Mediterranean flavors so of course, I had to order it. Shumai is commonly featured in dim sum and is a tender dumpling usually filled with pork, but I found the rather unusual filling of lamb to be absolutely perfect with its inherent, subtle spiciness, and the wild mushrooms lent a savory Northwest flair. The ginger soy awakened the umami taste buds, and the sharp, salty flavor of the sauce and the tender dumpling were an exceptional marriage. I joked with my server that the shumai was so good that I wished I had shmore a joke that, as I type it, I realize may have been funnier in person.

A Caesar salad with garlic croutons and shaved pecorino-romano cheese was a nice second course, and I particularly enjoyed the prevalence of lemon juice in the dressing. Lemon is a natural digestive and is often used in Mediterranean cooking to cleanse the palate.

My favorite dish on this cold, snowy evening was a cassoulet of braised white beans, lamb shoulder, pork sausage, and duck confit a stick-to-your-ribs sort of meal. Cassoulet is a hearty French dish so named for the deep dish it is cooked in, called a cassole, which is also where we get the term casserole. If all casseroles could taste as good as this cassoulet, I would have logged significantly fewer hours as a kid who didnt like to eat, sitting at the kitchen table until I cleaned my plate. Although I ordered the light portion, it was positively bursting with meats and rich, robust flavor, and it was more than I could eat in one sitting. The cassoulet is a December special, and I will be sad to see it go when the month is over.

My dining companion enjoyed an Angus ribeye steak with garlic butter, mashed potatoes and carrots. The steak was flavored and cooked perfectly, and each accompaniment tasted fresh and provided balance for the steak. I usually call this a no nonsense kind of meal: what you see is what you get, and there is no mystery about what youre eating. Fresh, simple food, cooked extremely well.

No dining-out experience would be complete unless I tested the strength of my waistband by having dessert, and a slice of classic New York cheesecake with a sauce of oranges and Makers Mark fit the bill perfectly. The oranges tasted like Christmas, in a way, and I liked their zestiness against the smooth, creamy, subtly sweet cheesecake.

Though it was already dark on the evening I visited Pelicano, from my seat overlooking the river I could still see the boats docked nearby, many strung with Christmas lights, which cast a colorful glint on the still water. Between bites of cassoulet, I watched snowflakes softly falling, and I remembered again the many reasons I love living on the coast: snow that only lasts a day or two, and outstanding restaurants like Pelicano.