A Chef-Ceramicist Tackles the Challenge of Serving New Food in an Old Space

by Holly Madrigal

There’s a particular charm to a new restaurant in an old building. Guests can enjoy delectable dishes by a fresh kitchen talent within a space that resonates with a wealth of good-time memories from years past. Following this tradition, Good Bones Kitchen, a new restaurant in the tiny community of Caspar just north of Mendocino, opened in May and gets its name from the architectural integrity of the old building that holds it.

The space previously contained the Caspar Pub House, and, for many decades before that, the beloved Caspar Inn. Chef/Owner Miles McCreary reflects, “It’s rare to come into a restaurant space with so much history. It already has this classic tavern feel, and the last thing we’d want to do is take the soul and character out of the room by doing major renovations.”

While this is his first restaurant, Miles’ culinary experience stretches back to his years growing up in Berkeley. His early restaurant jobs defined his culinary ethic: food should be fresh, in season, simple in its integrity, and beautiful. In addition to his kitchen chops, he has the eye of an artist and craftsman, all of which are on display at Good Bones. Like many creative people, it was a winding journey that led Miles to where he is now, a journey with repeating themes of clay, food, and fire. While attending Evergreen College in Washington and studying sustainable agriculture and food systems, Miles discovered the joys of baking sourdough bread. A nearby bakery had a wood-fired oven built by renowned oven builder Alan Scott, which Miles was allowed to use on its off-hours.

Soon there was more bread than Miles and his housemates could eat, and friends started asking to buy loaves. “I clearly remember the first time I exchanged bread for money. I was standing in the kitchen of my house in Olympia, and a friend offered me $3 for half a loaf of bread. I still have one of those dollar bills tucked away in a box with other sentimental objects. That was the first time I seriously considered making food for a living,” Miles recalls. He quickly developed a subscription model, baking on Saturday mornings and selling bread to friends and classmates on the weekend while he completed his studies. After graduating, Miles moved back to the Bay Area and began working in a kitchen that he credits as his most influential culinary experience: Ramen Shop in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland. Started by three veterans of Chez

Panisse—one of whom studied in Japan—the restaurant sourced ingredients meticulously, and the whole menu changed every day. “There was a blueprint to the menu—there were always a few salads and three types of ramen—but the ingredients would change every day with what was in season,” he remembers. “That blueprint resonated with me, structuring a menu in a way that allows you to highlight whatever ingredients are available on a given day.”

One of the Ramen Shop owners was married to an artist, and they used her handmade pottery in the restaurant. “As a line cook there, I first worked the salad station, and I really nerded out on the ceramics, deciding which salads looked best on which glazes. I loved how that was one of the decisions I got to make as a cook. Crimson tuna contrasting on a robin’s egg blue dish—I loved thinking about this as part of the eating experience,” Miles adds. “Most eaters aren’t thinking about the pottery, but it can enhance the dining experience even if every eater may not realize it.” Miles continues, “I asked Jessica Niello, the ceramicist, where she was making her work. She told me about the Pottery Studio in Berkeley, and I started taking classes. There’s a joke in the ceramics community that certain people just ‘get bit by the clay bug’ and I got bit hard. I fell down that rabbit hole fast, and before I knew it I was spending all my free time at the studio.”

When the pandemic hit, Miles was accepted into the ceramics residency program at Mendocino Art Center. Mendocino struck him as an appealing amalgamation of his previous stomping grounds. “This part of the coast reminds me of every place I’ve lived—culturally there’s lots of overlap with Berkeley. We’re far enough north that the landscape and flora remind me of the Pacific Northwest, especially the way lace lichen hangs from trees. The colonial architecture in the town of Mendocino reminds me of summers spent cooking out on Martha’s Vineyard. And there are days driving through Anderson Valley when there is a haze, an alpine glow almost, that reminds me of my time living in Asheville, North Carolina surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. All together, it feels like home.”

While working on his residency, Miles picked up a part-time job at the Brickery at Café Beaujolais cooking pizza in a wood-fired oven built by none other than Alan Scott—a nice parallel to the early days of his cooking journey. While he enjoyed working at the Brickery, he also wanted to have a kitchen of his own. He heard about an opportunity with the new owners of the Caspar Inn, an old roadhouse with a long history as a music venue, restaurant, and bar.

Owners Erin Walkenshaw and Thomas Rosskopf, who both had ties to the community in Caspar, decided to buy the restaurant property and move to Caspar full-time in 2021. “I feel incredibly lucky because they put the word out that they were looking for someone to take on the restaurant, and a few people in the community put my name forward,” recalls Miles. “The timing was perfect, too. I had just finished the Artist-in-Residence program and was looking for something that could be my anchor and allow me to stay. This felt like it was my ticket to putting down roots here in Mendocino.”

The restaurant’s May opening followed a successful series of pop-ups this past winter that proved that there’s an audience for Miles’ cooking. Staples like housemade bread and fresh seafood anchor the menu, while the kitchen team improvises daily with all the local produce they can get their hands on. Devin Myers of Dorsal Wines and Fog Bottle Shop manages the bar and has curated a unique wine list focusing on natural wines from all over the world. Jenna St. George brings years of experience working in Bay Area restaurants to her role as general manager, as well as a talent for designing and curating restaurant spaces. There are plans for live music on Fridays so guests can start the weekend off right.

And of course there’s the pottery, which adds an extra creative dimension to the guests’ experience. “It’s probably not realistic to make every single plate or bowl myself. One of the things I’m most excited about is to bring in pottery from other artists, to have a platform where I can showcase work that I admire,” shares Miles. But whether the dish or plate under the food comes from Miles’ hands or another ceramicists, each one was made with care—just like the food, and the old building in which it’s made.

Good Bones
14957 Caspar Rd., Caspar

GoodBonesKitchen.com | IG: good.bones.kitchen
Open for dinner Fri – Mon | Check website for lunch hours

Photos by Nik Zvolensky