Eating at the Chef's Table is the same as watching over an artist's shoulder as she paints: only confident artists should submit themselves to such scrutiny. Chef Kim Badenhop, of Fort Bragg's Rendezvous Inn & Restaurant, may be Mendocino County's finest classically trained chef, and watching him practice his art is a joy and an enlightenment.

The Rendezvous is Fort Bragg's "Event Restaurant" of choice and, increasingly, it has been found by the Zagats gang due to the Rendezvous' enjoying the highest ratings in Mendocino County. At home in an unassuming historic 1897 residence built by the town's apothecary, the dark redwood paneling and simple interior puts the emphasis where it should be: on the food. Situated in a small room beside the Chef's station, Chef's Table at the Rendezvous provides an exciting view of all the action in a busy, well-managed commercial kitchen. Service here is casual, but the cuisine is extraordinary.

Our dinner began with two amuse-bouches, first, a creamy custard foie-gras served on a crisp round of toast. The chef followed that with a dayboat scallop topped with macadamia in spicy kumquat sauce – the first perq of dining at Chef's Table.

The Rendezvous's tasting menus are, according to another food critic, "worth the three-hour drive from San Francisco" and so that's what we ordered. The crab tasting menu was an ode to Dungeness: delicate flavors perfectly balanced to emphasize crab's many perfections. The meal began with definitive crab bisque, essence of crab distilled from fresh crab shells with a gently spicy basenote, dotted with clouds of crab. The mushroom tasting menu was darker, meaty, with mushrooms playing their usual supporting roles with surprising brightness. The golden chanterelle mushroom bisque was thick, smooth, and earthy, and dotted with truffle-like black chanterelle quenelles, a Badenhop innovation.

House-made Crab Ravioli emphasizes crab's sweet side by combining it with shallots and Madeira; spinach sauce provides a mouth-pleasing counterpoint. Chef Badenhop's wine palate is superb, and the Rendezvous wine list is the most distinguished on the Coast, so it is no surprise that good wine finds its way into many dishes most satisfyingly. Wine pairings with the tasting menus allow a diner to sample several wonderful wines well suited to their respective dishes.

Chef Badenhop follows the proteins less traveled, and the mushroom tasting menu featured mustard-herb pan roasted venison, served tender and rare on wild mushroom polenta, then marrow custard with gambonis beside red wine braised ox tail. Venison is no easy meat, but Chef Badenhop handled it just right, and the marrow custard was smooth, rich, intriguing, and completely new to me.

On the crab side, the Rendezvous' justly renowned Spicy Crab Cakes are delicately heated from within by finely minced jalapeños in the cakes, underscored by their sauce of housemade sweet-hot jalapeño mustard.

The mushroom tasting menu ended with a final flourish: lavender-infused black truffle chocolates. The regular menu at the Rendezvous is seasonal and locally inspired – Chef Badenhop regularly patrols the local Farmer's Market – and reliably features out-of-the-ordinary starters (potted rabbit, ragout of escargots in puff pastry) and main courses seldom found away from metropolitan eateries (Kurobuta pork, Masami beef, quail) to please the most adventurous eaters. Always available: more conventional food superbly and thoughtfully prepared. Deserts at the Rendezvous are legendary, prepared with the same care and finesse Chef Badenhop takes with the mains – there is usually a souffle, ordered at the beginning of the meal that is worth the wait. We finished off our meal with fresh-made coconut sorbet with peanut butter swirls, an unexpected delight ... but by then it shouldn't be. Chef Badenhop is a thinker whose analytical approach to food takes him outside the usual boundaries to surprising pairings and fortuitous discoveries. The result is intriguing, even challenging, food.

Published in Mendocino Arts, Spring 2009. Reprinted by permission of the author.