Where can I find Cajun Food restaurants in the California or Nevada?

What local foods are worth seeking out on a road trip in Northern California and Oregon?

• We are going on a trip to the Northern California Coast and Oregon. I want to stop in Walla Walla Washington on the way to Portland because of the onions and wine tasting bars downtown. Is there any other local food worth a detour on a road trip vacation? I going with a group of people to the Northwest coast of the U.S., from San Francisco to Portland the second and third weeks in June. There isn't a set itinerary set but we have a preliminary, general route of: San Francisco North up the coast with a possible camping stop at the Lost Coast, through Eureka to Brookings, over the mountains through Crater Lake towards Eastern Oregon. In Eastern Oregon we were planning on camping near John Day for a few days. We gleaned a lot of great ideas from http://ask.metafilter.com/189565/Help-me-make-the-most-of-my-Northern-California-trip and http://ask.metafilter.com/191673/Help-us-fill-in-the-blanks-on-our-road-trip-from-Seattle-to-San-Francisco. On the way to Portland from John Day, I want to stop at Walla Walla Washington for at least one night. I have traveled through there once before and thought the downtown was a great place for fantastic food and wine. I love that they are very proud of the local produce, and if they are bringing in the first harvest of sweet onions I might have to bring a sack home with me as a carry on. Also, it is fantastic how many places to try the local wines within walking distance right downtown. Are there any other places along the route that we should think about stopping based on the local food? Are there any kinds of local produce that we should seek out? Is there any local fish we might be able to pick up at a market along the coast of Northern California? What should we find to grill while we are camping? Also, are their any restaurants, bars, breweries, etc. that we shouldn't miss?

• Answer:

  I live in Walla Walla. Food For fancy touristy sit-down dining, you want The Marc (at our famous Marcus Whitman Hotel, on 2nd & Rose) or the delicious T. Mac's http://www.tmaccarones.com. You can get comfortable food and drinks at Marcy's http://marcysbarandlounge.com, which is my personal hangout, or around the corner at Pub 124, or a block away at Sapolil Cellars http://www.sapolilcellars.com/, which features its own wines and a full bar and food. Main street has so many wineries you'll have no trouble finding a place to get wine drunk. (I recommend Sapolil Cellars and Village Winery wines, mainly because they're my friends, but there are so many tasting rooms it ultimately doesn't matter.) The very, very best Mexican food in Walla Walla -- and there's a lot -- is Rosita's on 9th. Her chile rellenos are ASTOUNDING, and she'll probably serve you herself. (I once went 11 years between visits to her restaurant, and she remembered me when I walked back in. Srsly.) The second best is Berny's Tacos http://bernystacos.com on Issacs. Cheap, fast delicious--it's like an indoor taco wagon. We also have a perfectly decent sushi joint on 1st & Main called Aloha Sushi http://www.alohasushi.net and the staff there is great. They sometimes do local wine pairings. Onions Do not buy sweets in a grocery store. Drive around until you find a stand, and buy them directly from a farmer. Any local can tell you which road to find a stand on. Walla Walla Sweets are extremely high-moisture, so if you take a bag home you'll need to store them properly or they'll rot immediately. Either: keep them in a cool, dry place, separated so they're not touching each other (wrap loosely in newsprint, for instance, or lay out with 1" between them on a shelf, or hang in knotted stockings), or dice them and freeze them for cooking (this is what we do in my household when the tail end of the bag starts to think about going soft and moldy). Pre-diced, frozen onions are actually a pretty bitchin' cooking shortcut. If you leave your sweets in the box or bag, they will rot much more quickly than any hot onion you've ever met.