The New Café Beaujolais Cookbook – Recipes from the Iconic Mendocino Restaurant by Julian Lopez with Foreword & Select Recipes by Margaret S. Fox provides a delectable introduction to the iconic and historic California French restaurant, Café Beaujolais located in Northern California. It is a gorgeous cookbook that celebrates the cuisine of this famous restaurant with its longstanding tradition of excellence through its mouthwatering recipes, photographs, and illustrations. Julian Lopez and his parents, Peter and Melissa Lopez, purchased the restaurant located 150 miles north of San Francisco, in 2016 from its previous owner of 23 years, Margaret S. Fox. Since then, they have continued the restaurant’s tradition of culinary excellence. Bon Appetit!
Executive Chef and Co-Owner Julian Lopez took time to speak with Luxury Experience on Sunday, February 8, 2026, about his cookbook, The New Café Beaujolais Cookbook – Recipes from the Iconic Mendocino Restaurant by Julian Lopez, which launched on February 3, 2026. Chef Julian explained that previous owner Margaret S. Fox had written a cookbook in the 1980s to put the restaurant, Café Beaujolais, on the map. It was also her intention to create tourist interest in the Mendocino Coast.
His cookbook, entitled, The New Café Beaujolais Cookbook – Recipes from the Iconic Mendocino Restaurant by Julian Lopez, picks up on Margaret’s theme, of creating interest in the area, and is the driving force of the cookbook, which is a love letter to the Mendocino Coast with more than 85 delectable recipes, sumptuous photography, beautifully drawn illustrations, and interesting notes about each of the recipes.
Chef Julian Lopez
Julian also spoke about the restaurant, Café Beaujolais, and its history of culinary excellence for over 50 years since its opening in 1968 by The Pitsenberger family, then by Margaret S. Fox in 1977, and now his responsibility of continuing its tradition since his family purchased the restaurant in 2016.. Also interesting to note is that he and his family have not only continued to maintain the restaurant’s culinary excellence, but they have also added a boutique luxury Inn, located next door to the restaurant, in 2022. The historic building is over 100 years old and has 9 exquisite guestrooms (soon a 10th) that they enhanced to celebrate its Victorian aesthetic.
Chef Julian Lopez’s intention for the cookbook was to include a little bit of everything, to make it accessible for experienced as well as beginning home cooks, and to provide readers with insight into the small town of Mendocino. It is truly a love letter to the beautiful Mendocino Coast, its proximity to farms, wineries, and nature, and of course, the restaurant, Café Beaujolais.
The cookbook is divided into chapters: Morning Food, Lunch Food, Evening Food, Side Food, Desserts, Stocks, Sauces & Staples, a convenient Conversion Chart that converts US volume, weight, and length to metric, and converts Fahrenheit to Celsius and Gas Mark. It is a cookbook that was created and designed to be a legacy cookbook, one that will be passed down from generation to generation with love.
We found so many recipes that we cannot wait to make in each of the cookbook’s chapters beginning with Morning Food and ending with Desserts. A few of the interesting highlights from the chapter on Lunch Food includer the recipe for Chipotle Seafood Chowder (page 108), Pizza Dough (page120), and Wild Mushroom Pizza (page 126). (Edward) already made the recipes for Pizza Dough and for the Wild Mushroom Pizza, both of which were amazing!
From the chapter on Evening Food, we fell in love with the recipes for Black Cod with Agnoltti, Beets, Bok Choy, and Truffle-Madeira Sauce (page 183), Chinese Five-Spiced Duck Breast, Halibut in Parchment with Fingerling Potatoes, Tomatoes, Olives, and Herbs (page 205), and Pork Tenderloin with Marsala Sauce (page 218) to name but a few, and look forward to making them.
Chef Julian Lopez graciously allowed Luxury Experience to reprint his delectable recipe for Halibut in Parchment with Fingerling Potatoes, Tomatoes, Olives, and Herbs (page 205) from The New Café Beaujolais Cookbook – Recipes from the Iconic Mendocino Restaurant by Julian Lopez to provide a tempting and tantalizing “taste” of the cookbook and his restaurant, Café Beaujolais, located in Northern California.
Halibut in Parchment
Halibut in Parchment with Fingerling Potatoes, Tomatoes, Olives, and Herbs
Makes 4 Servings
Ingredients:
1 pound fingerling potatoes
4 halibut fillets, 6 to 8 ounces each
⅔ cup high-quality Castelvetrano olives, pitted and quartered
½ cup capers
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced lengthwise
3 lemons, thinly sliced
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 bunch fresh oregano
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup high-quality extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
Place the fingerling potatoes into a saucepan with cold water to cover. Place over high heat and bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes and transfer them to a baking sheet to cool.
While the potatoes are cooling, preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut a sheet of parchment paper about 24 inches square. Place the parchment on a low-rimmed baking sheet.
Using the palm of your hand, gently smash the cooled potatoes into a layer in the center of the parchment paper. Top with the halibut fillets.
In a bowl, combine the olives, capers, onion, garlic, tomatoes, lemon slices, thyme, oregano, white wine, olive oil, salt, and pepper, and mix well. Spoon the mixture over the fish. Lifting the two opposite sides of the parchment to meet in the middle above the fish.
Crimp the ends to seal and create a rough boat shape to enclose the ingredients completely. You are trying to trap the steam inside the packet as the fish cooks. If needed, you can use toothpicks to seal the parchment.
Bake the parchment packet until the halibut begins to flake and is evenly white and not translucent, 15 to 25 minutes depending on the thickness of the halibut fillets.
To serve, carefully transfer the packet to a serving platter and present at the table. Use a large spoon to spoon the ingredients onto serving plates.
The New Café Beaujolais Cookbook – Recipes from the Iconic Mendocino Restaurant by Julian Lopez
Website: https://www.cafebeaujolais.com/product-page/cafe-beaujolais-cookbook
The Collective Book Studio
ISBN: 978-1-68555-523-8
304 pages
$40 United States
$54 Canada
The New Café Beaujolais Cookbook – Recipes from the Iconic Mendocino Restaurant by Julian Lopez is available for purchase on the Cafe Beaujolais website, as well as other sites.
If you live in Northern California, or are planning a trip there, you might like to experience Café Beaujolais and its luxury boutique hotel, The Nicholson House, located next door to the restaurant.
Café Beaujolais Hours:
Fine Dining Indoors: Dinner Wednesday through Saturday from 5:00 pm until 9:00 pm, Sunday Brunch from 9:30 am until 12:30 pm.
The Brickery – Pizza & More in the Garden: Wednesday through Sunday from 11:30 am until 5:00 pm, and Smashburger Days on Wednesday and Thursday from 11:30 am until 3:00 pm.
The Waiting Room – Coffee Shop & Evening Lounge: Monday through Tuesday from 7:00 am until 12:30 pm, Wednesday through Saturday from 7:00 am until 9:00 pm, and Sunday from 7:00 am until 6:00 pm.
Café Beaujolais
961 Ukioh Street
Mendocino, California 95460
United States
Telephone: +1-707-937-5614
Email: info@beaujmendo.com
Website: https://www.cafebeaujolais.com/
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/cafebeaujolaismendocino
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/cafe.beaujolais @cafe.beaujolais
Follow Luxury Experience on YouTube: @edwardnesta9910 @luxurypair
Follow Luxury Experience on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LuxuryExperience to see photos and videos.
Follow Luxury Experience on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/luxurypair @luxurypair
© February 2026. Luxury Experience www.LuxuryExperience.com. All rights reserved.
