I shall try to make my life like an open fireplace, once wrote American newspaper columnist George Matthew Adams, so that people may be warmed and cheered by it and so go out themselves to warm and cheer.

At Morris Fireside Restaurant in Cannon Beach, the impressive and inviting stone fireplace most certainly brought warmth to the cold and dreary day that I visited, and I was so cheered by my lunch experience that the rest of my afternoon seemed sunnier, despite the pouring-down rain. A pleasant dining experience and a warm fireplace can do that for a person, and Morris Fireside generously offers both.

My fellow diners and I were delighted to be seated next to the handsome fireplace, and our gracious server took our orders quickly. I was impressed by the sheer expansiveness of the menu, with several pages of items for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Regrettably, there were only four of us at the table, so it was only possible to sample a random smattering of offerings, but I would like to return for either breakfast or dinner to taste some other dishes from the vast menu.

I must first talk about the most surprising dish of the afternoon, a taco salad with beef. The shredded, pot-roast-style beef was simmered in a Mexican broth with red peppers and cumin, served atop salad greens and sprinkled with cheese. To be honest, I was rather expecting something more along the lines of seasoned ground beef, so I was intrigued by this. The beef was savory and tender, although its consistency made it rather difficult to eat in bite-size pieces. The overall flavor, though, was above average. Also interesting were the cheese quesadilla triangles served alongside, again an unusual but pleasing addition, and finally a deep-fried, cheese-stuffed Anaheim pepper. The pepper was enormous and most interesting, with a terrific crunch on the outside and pleasing, piquant-but-not-spicy flavor on the inside. To top it off, the salad and its accoutrements were served in a ceramic, sombrero-shaped dish with flowers inside an orange pepper in the center. Although on the whole I found the salad and its various components a little average and not exceptionally noteworthy, I must award extra style points for originality in presentation.

A fellow diner was thrilled with the lunch special of a meatloaf sandwich, piled high on toasted sourdough and served with homemade mayonnaise. The meatloaf was tender and flavorful and the sandwich easily large enough to feed two people. Served with a choice of soup, salad or French fries (log rolls), we decided on the daily soup special of vegetable beef. I was a bit disappointed in the soup, as I was expecting something more on the order of a beef stew or consommé, but the predominant ingredient in the cup and on the palate was tomato, making for more of what I would call a tomato vegetable soup with beef. Not unappetizing by any means, just not what I would expect from a vegetable beef soup.

A char-broiled chicken sandwich with pepper jack cheese, bacon and barbecue sauce atop toasted onion bread was another solid sandwich in size and in flavor. The chicken was delicious all on its own, but I found the quantity of barbecue sauce a little heavy handed for my liking, and the sauce overly sweet. Still, the sandwich was more hit than miss, and the log rolls absolutely delectable; hand-cut spears of potato with skins still on, crunchy and flavorful but tender on the inside.

I found a classic cheeseburger to be better than average with a hand-shaped patty cooked to my specifications, moist, dense and full of flavor. A final entrée of halibut fish and chips were also better than average, with a crisp, crunchy breading and the fish soft and flaky inside.

A fellow diner couldnt pass up a dessert of bread pudding with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. I have a positively yummy recipe for bread pudding (remind me to share it with you sometime) and am hesitant to try others, but the generous plate of the dessert indeed impressed me. More cake-like than custard-like, which is my preference, the bread pudding had a dense consistency and rich flavors of rum, almond and caramel; most certainly one of the better bread puddings I have sampled at any area restaurant. A giant slab of carrot cake was also sweet, moist and delicate, with the pleasant, aromatic spices of cinnamon and nutmeg one expects from the popular dish. A chocolate chip brownie with vanilla ice cream also hit the spot, although, I suppose, when chocolate and vanilla ice cream come together, magic is inevitable, isnt it?

It was a sweet end to a positive dining experience, and the warmth and charm of the restaurant itself, not to mention the tasty offerings, are reason enough to return.