If you love delicious food and tremendous views, Astoria’s Baked Alaska restaurant is the place to be. Sitting right over the Columbia River, the restaurant offers outstanding views of the Columbia River complete with the ongoing drama of the bar pilot tug rushing out to escort freightliners, local fishing boats passing by, a view of the Astoria-Megler Bridge, the dramatic Willapa Hills, all sorts of waterfowl and the ever-entertaining sea lions and seals.

In theater, the old adage is “Don’t work with animals or children – they always steal the show.” So how do you compete in the culinary world with one of the most beautiful dramatic Columbia River views on the coast? Chef Chris Holen has the answer. Cook up incredible dishes and let the river flow as the backdrop.

Holen hails from a town just outside of Anchorage, Alaska, where he took his first restaurant job as a dishwasher for Stuart Anderson’s – then, the busiest restaurant in town. While there, his brother called to offer him a job working at Denali National Park. He worked there for five years. Holen spent holidays traveling to the Mediterranean, West Africa, Mexico and around the United States in a VW bus – where he honed his palate. Upon return from his travels, Holen moved to Montana to be a “ski bum,” where he skied days and at nights ran a popular cafeteria. One night, just before Christmas, his house caught fire. It was 10 degrees below zero and the house went up in a blaze.

“I lost everything,” says Holen. He woke the next morning on a mission. “I suddently knew that I wanted to become a world-class chef,” he says.

Holen (who co-owns Baked Alaska with his wife, Jennifer) trained at the Scottsdale Culinary Institute in Arizona. While attending school, he also worked at The Marriott Resort. When he applied, the chef was impressed with Holen’s resume, but questioned his long hair and beard. When he was hired, the chef said, “Well, I guess we’ve got a ‘baked Alaskan’ working for us now.” The name stuck.

Holen graduated with a degree in culinary arts and restaurant management in 2000. Together, he and Jennifer started a business selling soup out of a van at local music festivals. In Astoria, they first opened the tiny Baked Alaska Soup Company, which later became Bistro L’ecole, a culinary internship program. The Holens opened Baked Alaska at its current location in April 2001. Since then, it has expanded to include more than 200 seats, with two banquet rooms, a cozy bar and a large main dining room with deck seating, all perched over the Columbia River. Holen opened Mise en Place, a high-end kitchenware store, with his mother-in-law in the summer of 2006, where he teaches cooking classes several times a week.

In 2006, he assisted John Newman (of Newmans at 988) for a dinner they presented at the prestigious James Beard House in New York. Holen is a two-time winner of the Taste of Tillamook Black Box Awards, a fast-paced competition where chefs compete using Tillamook cheese and a variety of local ingredients.

Holen’s food is unpretentious, yet sophisticated and innovative. “I don’t read recipes,” he says. “I taste in my head.” Holen seeks out the best local, natural foods he can find. The menu features only sustainable wild caught seafood, including wild Alaskan sockeye salmon, Pacific sea scallops, albacore tuna and halibut. All-natural beef, raised by Northwest ranchers, comes from Painted Hills Beef. “It’s the perfect meat,” he says. “The cows are fed a vegetarian diet, and are not given hormones or antibiotics.” Chickens are free range and pork is naturally raised too. Whenever possible, he uses fresh, local organic produce.

I’ve had the good fortune to taste Holen’s cooking over the years – as a judge at culinary competitions and at Baked Alaska and The Schooner, which they owned until recently. I have so many favorite dishes that it’s difficult to choose. I most recently fell in love with broiled Pacific sea scallops with Fuji apples, fennel and ginger in a light cider Champagne sauce. With a hint of sweetness from the apples and cider, and the intoxicating spice of ginger, the silky sauce was so delicious that I couldn’t leave a drop. The plump scallops were the perfection of the sea and were beautifully matched with the sweetness of apples and fennel.

The dessert sampler at Baked Alaska includes shot glass servings of, from left, key lime cheesecake, strawberry shortcake, blueberry granita, chocolate mousse and mint smoothie.Another favorite, one of Holen’s signature dishes, is Thundermuck tuna. Dusted with Thundermuck coffee, albacore tuna is seared rare with a honey sesame sauce, a syrupy balsamic reduction, pickled ginger and a handful of baby greens. A basil chiffonade scattered over the albacore lit up my taste buds. Another signature dish, campfire salmon, was equally delicious. Wild sockeye salmon is my favorite for its dense red meat and earthy flavor. This was perfectly cooked and topped with an amber-colored sauce that was bright with citrus and spice. A separate super lemony, golden egg-yolk colored sauce added highlights to the dish. At lunch time, a peach-colored sweet potato salad with bits of crisp celery, egg and bacon was a nice side dish.

Under “skillet dishes” on the lunch menu, crab mac-n-cheese is everything you want in comfort food and more. Chock full of fresh Dungeness crab, noodles are tossed with a creamy Mornay sauce seasoned with dry jack and asiago cheese, topped with bread crumbs and baked in a small cast iron skillet. The dish is served in the same skillet, so it stays nice and hot throughout the meal. A dinner special one night featured Ranch and Ocean, a flame broiled Painted Hills top sirloin steak with Alaskan king crab legs. The perfectly cooked (medium-rare) steak was packed with flavor. The spiny crab legs were not to be opened with the nutcracker that was provided. On noticing our frustration, our waitress kindly offered us a pair of kitchen shears. I was disappointed in the crab. The legs were small and didn’t taste fresh. Grilled asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes were welcome side dishes.

The wild mushroom salad with avocado is accompanied by a glass of Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Noir at Baked Alaska.A vine-ripened tomato salad with creamy goat cheese and fresh basil was a delightful precursor to my entrée of fennel seed-crusted pork tenderloin. Served warm and perfectly seasoned with herbs, salt and pepper, the tomatoes and soft goat cheese melted on my tongue, with waves of sweet herbs and crisp baby greens. Sliced and served with roasted garlic and Fuji apples, the pork was very tender and flavorful with its licorice-flavored crust of salt and fennel. The risotto was flavorful, but a bit dry. The charred zucchini spears burst with flavor – earthy, sweet, bitter, salty and juicy. It’s not easy to make a humble vegetable sing. With this meal, a glass of Sagelands Vineyard Cabernet from Washington’s Columbia Valley, with notes of mint and dark cherry, was very much appreciated.

Another very delicious salad is the marinated mushroom and fennel salad, which is marinated in an Oregon pinot noir vinaigrette and served with fresh avocado. On the lunch menu, I highly recommend the salmon club, made with grilled salmon, pepper bacon, Tillamook cheddar and tomatoes on foccacia bread. The Denali burger is a mountain of a burger – a half pound of Painted Hills beef topped with caramelized onions, Oregon blue cheese, tomatoes and lettuce. Blackened fish tacos with cilantro lime crème fraiche, pico de gallo and avocado were spicy and flavorful.

Save room for dessert. A 2 1/2-inch high cloud-like lemon cheesecake, baked in a toasty walnut and graham cracker crust and topped with sour cream, is sublime. The dark chocolate mousse topped with whipped cream and candied hazelnuts has a hidden surprise at the bottom – a sweet layer of strawberries. This sent one friend to chocolate nirvana. I liked it too. Among other desserts listed you will find Northwest Three-berry Cobbler and Half-Baked Alaska, their signature dessert featuring a double chocolate chip cookie baked in a cast iron skillet, topped with vanilla ice cream, walnuts and chocolate sauce. It arrives at your table flaming with brandy.

With great food and the fantastic Columbia River as the backdrop, this is definitely one of my favorite places to dine.