By Rachel Levin, Sunset senior editor

Confession: It’s been almost a year since I ate dinner at the Duck Soup Inn on Washington’s San Juan Island—and, okay, I’m still thinking about it. (And, believe me, I've had many fabulous meals since.)

The anchovy-garlic spread served with just-baked bread… the fresh-cut linguine tossed with duck, blue cheese, and Chinese broccoli, red onion, and basil plucked from the farmers market down the road…the roasted pacilla chili-stuffed with “Mr. Sundstrom’s” lamb, with a kick from spices our server just brought back from Turkey…

And, my—and everyone else’s— very favorite dish: Applewood-smoked oysters pulled from Wescott Bay and topped with a fresh fig and tarragon vinaigrette and parmesan, then baked and adorned in edible flowers from the garden of chef-owner Gretchen Allison. She's the homegrown genius behind this 32 year-old country-cabin of a restaurant that still fills nightly with regulars and swooning first-timers alike.

It’s a few hours and a ferry ride from Seattle, but only four winding miles from the Friday Harbor terminal, and tucked in the woods, overlooking a pond—and, just to clear up any confusion, not an inn at all.

Luckily, though, the Lakedale Resort & Campground is within easy walking distance. I just wrote about their new tent cabins in the current May issue of Sunset, but word count only allowed for a quick mention of Duck Soup Inn—which killed me. (You know, word counts. It’s a magazine thing; nothing like the free-wheeling, wordy World Wide Web.)

So, I could go on and on…. But I won’t. Instead, I’ll say, just go.  And please give Duck Soup a hug for me.

Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, WA; $$; reservations highly recommended; 360/378-4878