When former food columnist Richard Fencsak passed away last year, my editor at Coast Weekend asked me to continue his annual Munchie Awards. Since I was new at the job and didn’t feel I had collected enough information, I passed on the assignment.

Now that I’ve been covering local restaurants and food-related events for the past year and a half, I have put together a list of dishes that have truly inspired me. Here are a few of my favorite things:

When it comes to breakfast, hardly anything beats the eggs Benedict at Wanda’s in Nehalem. A toasted English muffin is topped with perfectly poached eggs, smoky Canadian bacon and a silky Hollandaise sauce. Breakfasts cooked at the Shelburne Inn in Seaview, Wash., by David Campiche (with breads and pastries baked by his wife Laurie Anderson) feature wild mushrooms, fresh seafood, eggs and fresh home-baked bread. On one visit, they prepared a country salmon pie with a Parmesan crust and smoked salmon filling that I will never forget. With freshly brewed coffee and wonderful company seated around a cozy communal table, you couldn’t ask for more. Coffee drinks and freshly roasted organic coffee beans from Sleepy Monk Coffee Roasters in Cannon Beach, also top my breakfast list.

When it comes to Mexican food, some of my favorite dishes come from Mazatlan Restaurant in Seaside. Tostada de ceviche, made with fresh shrimp, onion, tomato and avocado and the perfect kick of lime juice, is addictive. And chicken en mole, smothered in a spicy brick-red sauce with flavors of roasted chili, chocolate and more, with tender pieces of chicken tucked into warm tortillas, is perhaps my favorite soul food. The coctel de cameron at El Mariachi Loco in Gearhart – a giant shrimp cocktail filled with fresh shrimp, diced avocado, fresh tomato and crisp celery, seasoned with cilantro and fresh lime with crisp tortilla chips – was outstanding. I have not yet reviewed the Rio Café in Astoria, but I have eaten there many times. Everything has been fabulous, especially topped with their “special” hot sauce, made with sautéed chilies, garlic and more. (Don’t forget to ask for it; it is especially good with pan-fried oysters.)

A steak is seared and ready to serve with baked potato and garlic bread at the Driftwood Inn Restaurant in Cannon Beach.Bowpicker Fish & Chips, seasonally operated in Astoria out of a refurbished bowpicker boat, is hands down the ultimate fish and chips. Made only with fresh-caught albacore tuna, it is perfectly crisp in a beer batter crust. (They just received our 2008 Readers’ Choice Award for best fish and chips.)

Great Wall Restaurant in Gearhart also won a Readers’ Choice Award for Best Asian Food. Favorites include fresh green beans in black bean sauce and chicken sub gum chow mein brimming with fresh vegetables and tender pieces of chicken. I am also a fan of the pot stickers and Cannon Beach duck (half a duck grilled and glazed with sweet orange sauce) from Cannon Beach Thai Cuisine.

On to salads. Fulio’s grilled Caesar salad tops my list. Sliced lengthwise, a whole heart of romaine lettuce is drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar before being grilled. Tossed with a creamy dressing seasoned with mustard, anchovies and garlic, the complex charcoal flavor and bitter crunch of the lettuce are expertly showcased. Herbed bread crumbs and grated Pecorino cheese add highlights. Another of my favorite salads is served at the Terra Cotta Café in Manzanita. Their house salad, made with crisp, cold greens, arrives with a “carousel” of delicious ingredients, including dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, spiced pecans, Parmesan and blue cheese, green onions and tomatoes, with housemade dressings. At Maggie’s on the Prom in Seaside, a jerk chicken spinach salad tossed in garlic lime vinaigrette topped with Jamaican spiced chicken and a house-made mango chutney offered a nice kick of spice. The best spinach salad I’ve eaten recently came from the Hawk Creek Café in Neskowin. It’s topped with crisp bacon, toasted hazelnuts and chunks of Oregon blue cheese, tossed with tangy vinaigrette.

Slices of lamb stripped from a whole, fresh-roasted lamb are served with a medley of fruits and vegetables at Drina Daisy Bosnian Restaurant.I love onion rings. My two favorites come from the Driftwood Inn in Cannon Beach and McKeown’s in Seaside. Crisp, crunchy and sweet, they are one of my favorite appetizers. For French fries, the presentation at Bridgewater Bistro in Astoria couldn’t be better. Crisp and flavorful, they are offered with a variety of seasonings, including honey-lime aioli, cranberry-tomato ketchup and Oregon truffle oil, or Rogue River blue cheese with pepper-bacon crumbles.

Newmans at 988 serves up crabcakes with oregano, parsley, lemon and shallot aioli.Among seafood dishes, standouts include Pacific sea scallops with Fuji apples, fennel and ginger in a light cider Champagne sauce from Astoria’s Baked Alaska. A platter of fresh sushi and sashimi from Tora Sushi in Seaside was sparkling fresh. Layered with flavorful ribbons of fat, Chinook salmon was fruity with a rich, buttery texture. Bright, rosy tuna was richly flavored and meaty. Shrimp nigiri was sweet and clean. Golden crab cakes from Newmans at 988, made with fresh Dungeness crab bound with a seafood mousse, are crisp and delicate. The seafood chowder at Yummy Wine Bar and Bistro, packed with crab, bay shrimp, salmon, halibut and clams, was rich and creamy and resounded with delicate herbs.

Thomas Morisette adds a touch of basil oil to the seafood chowder at Yummy Wine Bar and Bistro in Seaside. The fennel-infused chowder is filled with shrimp. salmon, bacon and sweet potatoes.Whole roasted lamb rubbed with spices and flame-roasted over an open fire from Drina Daisy in Astoria is outstanding. Entering the restaurant, you will find the golden lamb turning on the spit. It comes sliced into a variety of tasty pieces, which are delicious dipped in red pepper-eggplant puree.

Topping my list of pizzas are the wood oven-baked pizzas from the Lumberyard Rotisserie and Grill in Cannon Beach. The Margherita pizza (with sliced tomato, roasted garlic, fresh basil and mozzarella cheese) is crisp and delicious. So is the Hawk Creek Café’s (Neskowin) wood oven-baked pepperoni pizza. An ultra-crispy, yeasty crust comes smothered in spicy housemade tomato sauce, molten cheese and pepperoni. A classic touch is a plastic “honey bear,” filled with honey to dip your pizza “bones”/crusts into. Fultano’s in Cannon Beach has another favorite – with thick-crust, extra cheese half Big Kahuna/half pepperoni and olive mix.

For meat lovers, well-aged, marbled rib-eye steak and tenderloin steaks are hard to beat. My current favorites are found at Bigfoot’s in Seaside and the Driftwood Inn in Cannon Beach. Both restaurants offer the ultimate flame-broiled steaks.

Unfortunately, I’m out of room for dessert, but many of the restaurants I’ve visited offer a superb assortment of freshly baked treats. Watch for a future review on local pastry chefs.

Meanwhile, please send in your own ideas for future Munchie Awards to Coast Weekend. I realize that there are many places I haven’t covered in this column. The dishes and restaurants featured here are those that stand out in my mind over the past year. Obviously, I have many more restaurants to explore. Once the weather clears, I can’t wait to do more in-depth reporting on restaurants in Ilwaco and the Long Beach Peninsula – so far, some of the finest dining experiences I’ve had in our coastal region have been across the river.

Happy New Year, everyone. Please send in your comments and ideas.

Astoria

Rio Café

125 Ninth St.

Bowpicker Fish & Chips

17th and Duane streets

Fulio’s Pastaria

1149 Commercial St.

Bridgewater Bistro

20 Basin St.

Baked Alaska

No. 1 12th St.

Drina Daisy

915 Commercial St.

Cannon Beach

Sleepy Monk Coffee Roasters

1235 S. Hemlock St.

Cannon Beach Thai Cuisine

316 Fir St.

Driftwood Inn

179 N. Hemlock St.

Newmans at 988

988 S. Hemlock St.

Lumberyard Rotisserie & Grill

264 Third St.

Fultano’s

200 N. Hemlock St.

Gearhart

El Mariachi Loco

3615 U.S. Highway 101 N.

Great Wall Restaurant

4340 U.S. Highway 101

Nehalem

Wanda’s Café & Bakery

2850 U.S. Highway 101

Neskowin

Hawk Creek Café

4505 Salem Ave.

Manzanita

Terra Cotta Café

725 Manzanita Ave.

Seaview, Wash.

Shelburne Inn

4415 Pacific Way

Seaside

Mazatlan Restaurant

1445 S. Holladay Drive

Maggie’s On The Prom

30 N. Prom

McKeown’s

714 Broadway

Tora Sushi

619 Broadway

Yummy Wine Bar and Bistro

831 Broadway

Bigfoot’s Steakhouse

2427 S. Roosevelt Drive