Café at the Bug

Description:

• Ask the locals for their favorite secret place to get a great meal at a very reasonable price, and if they'll tell you, it will likely be this bustling eatery. It's a noisy, busy, somewhat self-service restaurant at the Yosemite Bug Rustic Mountain Resort & Spa, a hostel, lodge, and campground 10 miles from Mariposa on the way to Yosemite National Park. This casual restaurant contains several rooms with knotty-pine walls, oak floors, wooden chairs and tables, and an open-beamed ceiling that features suspended skis and a kayak. There are a woodstove, some games, and couches where lodgers lounge. You order at a counter and your food is delivered to your table.

  The food -- innovative American dishes with Mediterranean and Californian influences -- is great. Although the dinner menu changes nightly, popular entrees include top sirloin and a citrus glazed broiled chicken breast. You also might have a trout filet with lime butter, or stuffed portobello mushrooms. (There is at least one vegetarian and one vegan option at every meal.) Breakfasts here range from bacon and eggs to buckwheat pancakes or granola; and lunches include a variety of sandwiches prepared as sack lunches for those heading out into the park.

• © Frommer's 2012

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Highly Recommended 2010