7 Best Restaurants in The Far North, California

Hand-cut steak is the star in this refurbished early 1900s building, the place to come when you're craving red meat, a huge baked potato, or some fresh seafood. Exposed redbrick walls warm the dining rooms, and a long mahogany bar catches the overflow crowds that jam the restaurant on weekends.

The chef here gained experience working in top San Francisco restaurants before moving north to prepare adventurous Mediterranean fare with a French influence. Appetizers like a recent menu's mozzarella-stuffed arancini with a piquant tomato-based sauce hint at the level of refinement on display, as do entrées that might include cassoulet or roasted steelhead trout.

Many Reddingites consider this softly lit restaurant with black-linen-topped tables and artworks for sale adorning the walls their town's best fine-dining option. The menu tilts heavily Italian (gnocchi, lasagna, chicken Marsala) and American (braised short ribs, pan-seared fish, an elk burger), but the chef ventures across the Pacific for dishes that might include a pork-belly appetizer or Thai coconut curry entrée.

This casual breakfast and lunch place inside a clapboard house satisfies diners' cravings with dishes like homemade slow-roasted corned-beef hash topped with two eggs and accompanied by a slice of sourdough or gluten-free bread. You can get breakfast and excellent pastries all day, with soups, salads, sandwiches, wraps, and burgers on the menu for lunch.

Dining at the Highlands Ranch Resort’s contemporary roadhouse restaurant is in a stained-wood, high-ceilinged indoor space or on an outdoor deck with striking views of a serene meadow and the hillside beyond. Among the few sophisticated eating options within Lassen Volcanic National Park's orbit, the restaurant serves updated pasta, fish, chicken, beef, and lamb dishes.

This restaurant in a white-clapboard home, framed by a picket fence and arched trellis, offers an eclectic menu, starting with bananas Foster French toast for breakfast. The varied lunch and dinner selections might include spicy Mongolian chicken salad, herb-stuffed fresh trout, pad Thai, filet mignon, and always several burgers.