Blue Heron Restaurant and Tavern

The Blue Heron is a restored 1800s tavern in Duncans Mills, the tiny railroad village that grew around Alexander Duncan's sawmill in 1877, about four miles from the Pacific. Its redwood-finished dining room adjoins a bar that bills itself as the oldest tavern on the Russian River. The village was restored in the 1970s and still looks much as it was built, with its depot and original railroad cars a short walk away. The format is uncommon for the Lower River: a kitchen known for its seafood, paired with a working bar that has long been the village's gathering place, pouring Pliny the Elder on tap and hosting live music year-round. The redwoods and the river do most of the atmosphere work; the restaurant delivers consistent food and unfussy hospitality.