Great find. I don’t head out there any more, but when I do, its glad to know that options like this exist!
I learned about this on Chowhound years ago! Next time, I plan to get a soup and noodles – – veggie Lee Kind of phones in their noodle dishes.
Are there a lot of Buddhist temples over there?
We were limited in time, and the air was smoky from the fires not so close by, so the only temple we saw/visited was the Jeweled Hall. The subject headings near the bottom of their background page mention a few “halls” that we didn’t get to.
I’m long overdue for a meal there. Thanks for the report!
There is a dress code there (“dress modestly”) is what a sign reads. I usually wear a long skirt and a top that covers my shoulders. My husband wears pants - hard to do in the summer.
Whoops, I should have said that. Thanks for mentioning! (I’d hate to encourage disrespectful behavior, but I’ll mention they didn’t appear to turn away two women with exposed shoulders).
What do you like to order there?
It’s also cash only. There have been a few close calls when I forgot about that!
My favorite dish is the seaweed roll, followed closely by the deep fried tofu puffs. The golden tofu seaweed rolls are also very good, as is the curry noodle soup.
Other than that noodle soup, I avoid their noodle dishes because they’re not anything special. The same goes for the fried rice.
The ambiance of City of 10,000 Buddhas has always reminded me of a David Lynch film, especially when the albino peacocks and monks are out against the backdrop of those industrial buildings. The grounds used to be a rather notorious mental institution that was shut down in the early 1970s.
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Oh, City of 10,000 Buddhas is a temple. I thought its the nickname for a town around Ukiah.
Have to try that if I ever head up that way.
City of 10,000 Buddhas is name of the whole 700 acre shebang, and the Jeweled Hall is the temple with 10,000 physical Buddha’s (with Buddha’s elsewhere in the complex, I guess that means there’s probably more then 10k buddhas, but who’s counting? 
Heading up this weekend. Any new stuff near Eureka? Probably heading to Samoa Cookhouse at some point.
Very sleepy this time of year, especially at dinner. There’s an abundance of breakfast/brunch options.
- Samoa Cookhouse (Samoa): historic place with all-you-can-eat, multi-course meals at shared long tables. Food-wise, well, it’s all you can eat Breakfast is probably the way to go rather than dinner. Dead at Friday dinner time, so we missed out on the expected entertainment— gaggles of gorging young people. What i missed in personal nostalgia, I gained in history from old logging photos in the dining area, and in a cool mini-museum room filled with everything from saws to accounting machines.
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A Taste of Bim (Eureka): There’s no shortage of Caribbean inspired hot sauces and Jamaica things in Humboldt county, so we were pleased to see an actual Caribbean restaurant, owned by a woman and her mother from Barbados ( A.k.a. “Bim”). Fish stew, goat stew, and ox tail stew are only available Friday through Sunday. Fish stew paired with slow cooked cabbage and carrots, which married flavors yet still had some bite. Goat stew had a light acidity, from lemon juice, that brought all the seasonings into balance. Jamaican beef patty, made to order, had a thin delicate crust, And the smoothly ground beef filling had a more pronounced meat than spiced flavor. I’m not well-versed in Caribbean cuisine, but I’m happy to report that we found a place to prioritize when we return through Eureka.
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Arcata has a Farmer’s market on Saturday mornings, and people seemed to bounce between there and popular Cafe Brio for pastries. A Nicaraguan stand had pupsusas and good curtido. Produce, especially for this time of year, was varied and pristine.
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Is Samoa Cookhouse related to the island Samoa?
Interesting we have Caribbean food in Humboldt county. I wonder how folks from the islands moved there.
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There’s a samoan and tongan community in east palo alto which is vanishing with gentrification. There was a market around the corner from my house - on Willow - which had Samoan stuff, they got replaced by a Subway a few years ago. Not much info on the web about why they came to be there.
Of course Samoans are known for their size - probably very effective folks for logging big trees Or maybe just marketing large portion sizes???
Mentioned in the wikipedia page as being 13,000 people! I don’t believe that.
Don’t know any EPA places focused on pacific island food. Guam at least is represented in Fremont? https://www.yelp.com/biz/booniepepper-islander-grill-newark-2
There used to be a Samoan food truck The Umu which parked outside Kelly Park to serve the local community. I made it there once but didn’t see the truck. Yelp said they are no longer around, however…
Samoa was indeed named after the island, but other than the name, I don’t believe any element of the culture was ever represented (or misrepresented).
Yeah, I found two reviews of Taste of Bim, but none said much about how the owners or whether there was a larger community (I suspect not given the demographics of Eureka).
We’ll be passing by Eureka in an upcoming roadtrip. So glad to see that Bim is still around.
Anybody have any recent thoughts about restaurants around Eureka/ Arcata area?
I hope I’m not to late, I just came across this very nice trip report of Eureka.
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We came back already. But thanks- that’s a good read. We wanted to try Brick and Fire but didn’t have a chance. Our host told us about the new Eureka Zoo and its elevated walkway. Didn’t have a chance to do that either. But that’s something to look forward to next time!
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Thanks for posting this link to the Royaltour blogpost - I would have never seen it otherwise. Great to know that Brick & Fire has survived and thrived. It’s been almost exactly 11 yrs since we were in Eureka (part of a 6-week driving tour from the EBay through the PNW and back again), and we ate at B&F.
My review of that Oct 2010 dinner said the kitchen needed more experience, especially with timing; but the creativity was solid in concept and the chef’s palate in seasoning his dishes was excellent. B&F was fairly new at the time, I believe.
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