Recently named Best Restaurant by the North Bay Bohemian and Best West Marin Restaurant in the Pacific Sun Times, Nick’s Cove Restaurant, Oyster Bar & Cottages is adding to the team led by executive chef Austin Perkins with new pastry chef Jenna Katsaros and bar manager Danny Martin. Both Katsaros and Martin have extensive hospitality experience in the Bay Area and are looking forward to showcasing their respective passions and creativity at Nick’s Cove, beginning with the Father’s Day menu, which will be incorporating new summer cocktails and desserts in addition to Perkins’ savory specials.

As pastry chef at Nick’s Cove, Katsaros oversees the dessert menus in the main restaurant, in-room dining, and special event catering. A Northern California native, one of her earliest memories as a child in Rohnert Park was the immense pride and joy she felt after making a chocolate cream pie on her own at age eight. After graduating from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco in 2004, she became a pastry assistant at Cyrus, where she stayed for seven months before being hired by the Left Coast Restaurant Group as their corporate pastry chef. After two years of creating and executing the pastry programs for this restaurant group’s three very different restaurants, Katsaros took over the pastry program at Boca Tavern for 18 months followed by two years at Santa Rosa’s Grapevine Catering. She looks forward to bringing her love of baking and using local produce and dairy products to the pastry program at Nick’s Cove.

Now at the helm of the pastry program at Nick’s Cove, Katsaros looks forward to enlivening the dessert menu with heartfelt and personal dishes such as her Apple and Black Currant Crisp with fennel pollen and Mascarpone-honey sorbet; Warm Spiced Walnut Cake with red wine glazed dates, blood orange curd, and candied pecans; and Orange-Chocolate Bombe Torte with Grand Marnier anglaise, orange syrup, cocoa nibs, and fiore di latte gelato.

Prior to being named bar manager at Nick’s Cove, Danny Martin worked at several well-known bars and restaurants in the Bay Area including The Room, a popular bar in the Mission district of San Francisco, and Lucas Wharf in Bodega Bay. In 2012, Martin picked up a second job as an expediter and breakfast server at Nick’s Cove. Shortly thereafter, a bartending position opened up and Martin jumped at the opportunity. Since then, he has worked hard to transform the cocktail menu at Nick’s Cove, incorporating mostly small-batch, local spirits into the drinks, and has continued his personal education with local wines and craft beers.

Now as bar manager of Nick’s Cove, Martin looks forward to teaching his colleagues and customers about the beauty of products local to the Bay Area. His personal goal is to incorporate a locally made spirit and house-made ingredient into every cocktail he puts on the menu. He is already experimenting with making his own tonics, bitters, shrubs, essential oils, and vinegars, some of which are now on the menu. In homage to the new on-site farm and garden at Nick’s Cove called The Croft, Danny has added an oft-changing “Croft Cocktail” to the menu, which features home-grown ingredients, such as Douglas fir needles, chocolate mint, beets, and blackberries. 

In celebration of Father’s Day, Nick’s Cove showcases the bounty of neighboring farms and fisherman on Sunday, June 21, with special menus for both brunch and dinner. In addition to Perkins’ savory menu specials, there will also be some fun new cocktails and desserts on offer, including the Golden State Negroni with St. George Botanivore gin, Grand Poppy liqueur, and Point Reyes Vineyards’ Late Harvest Viognier ($12) and the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Tart with peanut butter cream, chewy caramel, and peanut florentine ($9).

In addition to classics that are always on the menu including Dungeness Crab Mac & Cheese ($17) and a wide variety of oysters, there will also be some special items on the brunch menu, such as Fingerling Potato & Duck Confit Hash with crème fraiche, spring onions, and a sunny side up croft egg ($17); Lobster and Truffle Coddled Eggs with Pt. Reyes Toma mornay, arugula, and croft eggs ($19); and a Huevos Racheros with Rancho Gordo beans, salsa-by-the-fire, and Laughing Bird Shrimp ($16). Dinner specials include Roasted Beef Short Ribs with oyster mushrooms, fregola sarda, sunchokes, mushroom demi, and horseradish cream ($29); and Mole Braised Kurobota Pork Loin Chop with leek-quinoa puree, cipolini onions, and tequila-soaked saltanas ($29).

The special Father’s Day menus are only offered on Sunday, June 21, 2015. Brunch runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner starts at 5 p.m. Reservations are strongly recommended.

In addition to the restaurant’s extensive indoor seating, the dog-friendly waterfront oyster bar is now open for the summer and adds seating for 30 people to enjoy cocktails and oysters by the water. The adjoining, dog-friendly Nick’s Cove beach is steps away from the oyster bar, and, weather-permitting, bonfires are lit every night for guests to enjoy while the sun sets.