More typical is a rubbery burger with little condiment packets, a medium Coke and a bag of Cheetos.

It is the kind of food that comes to mind, however, in Point Reyes National Seashore and the rest of West Marin, an area known for its bounty of local organic ingredients, where rustic goes hand in hand with fine dining and where even the local feed store has an espresso bar.

Restaurants such as Nick's Cove and the Drakes Beach Cafe (a National Park Service concession) - as well as the local oyster farmers and cheese and bread makers who supply them - make the region an easy, entertaining getaway for food lovers (or even casual fans).

Backstory: For more than a decade, many Northern California foodies (as well as a few from British royalty) have made the trek to windy, fog-shrouded West Marin for hand-crafted breads and cheeses and the quirky white-tablecloth eating places that offer good food without big-city pretentiousness.

At Drakes Beach Cafe, for instance, Ben Angulo and wife Jane Kennedy took over the lunch concession in November 2005, offering a menu that highlights local and organic foods. Within months, they received park service approval to expand the hours and began opening for dinner on Fridays and Saturdays. These days, dinner reservations for one of the nine tables are a must, often at least a week in advance.

"Part of the draw is that it's such a random thing to come across us," said Angulo. "We're out here in the middle of nowhere. That's what makes it so cool."

Why go now: September and October are the months with the least wind and fog.

Checking in: One of the first inns in the area was the Blackthorne Inn, still run by Susan and Bill Wigert. The whimsical lodge is topped by an octagon-shaped room called the Eagle's Nest. Bill Wigert has great stories about how he built the stone fireplace and managed to nab an old San Francisco train station door for the inn.

Also there's Ten Inverness Way, run by Terri Mattson, who calls her 1904 Craftsman home "an inn for readers and hikers." Rooms are small and the bathrooms, while spotless, show their age. The warmth of the inn's large living room and its big fireplace, cozy library and inviting back patio and garden make up for any drawbacks.

Spend your day: Explore where local chefs get their inspiration and ingredients, and where just plain locals get their sustenance.

Start the morning with a pastry or scone at the Bovine Bakery in Point Reyes Station, where regulars store their coffee mugs on a shelf. Around the corner, in a former hay barn, is Cowgirl Creamery, where you can watch renowned cheeses, including Red Hawk - a triple cream cheese from West Marin's dairy cows - being wrapped by hand. Nan Haynes, a retired ranger from Samuel P. Taylor Park, is behind the counter two mornings a week, full of ideas for local hikes.

For picnic supplies, in addition to its own cheese and bread from Brickmaiden Breads next door, Cowgirl has charcuterie-style offerings, including a grilled flank steak with peppers, onions, corn and cilantro and ready-to-go sandwiches at the adjacent Cowgirl Cantina.

Marin Sun Farms just south of town is a butcher shop that sells an array of local grass-fed beef, lamb and pork raised on 1,500 acres of nearby rolling pastures.

A drive north along Highway 1 takes you to Tomales Bay Oyster Co. and Hog Island Oyster Co., where workers transfer oysters, mussels and clams from wet storage tanks into sacks for sale. Both offer waterside picnic grounds where customers can barbecue (there's a per-person fee and reservations are required for a picnic spot at Hog Island).

Before dinner, visit the Point Reyes Lighthouse 6 miles southwest, the windiest and foggiest place on the Pacific Coast. The 1870 lighthouse was built low on the craggy headlands so that its beacon - a 6,000-pound Fresnel lens with 1,032 glass prisms - could shine under the heavy fog, which often reduces visibility to just hundreds of feet.

Eats: The area's new hot spot is Nick's Cove in Marshall, a lovingly restored seafood restaurant, by Bay Area restaurateur Pat Kuleto, which has garnered rave reviews. Drakes Beach Cafe for lunch daily has sumptuous clam chowder and sandwiches made from organic ingredients, including hamburgers from local grass-fed beef, and the above-mentioned fixed price dinner Fridays and Saturdays.

Don't miss: In Point Reyes Station, Point Reyes Books, with a terrific offering of books on the area and works by local authors, and Toby's, a combination feed store, gift shop and espresso bar - and home of West Marin's Saturday farmers' market, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Don't bother: Driving out to the lighthouse when there's strong wind. If it's a windy day, call ahead - (415) 669-1534 - to make sure the stairs and path to the lighthouse are open. When winds kick up above 40 miles an hour, they are closed for safety reasons.

Laura Del Rosso is the author of "Great Escapes: Northern California." For more, see www.greatescapesnorcal.com.

This article appeared on page D - 8 of the San Francisco Chronicle