The Wheelhouse's cioppino is worth a trip off campus.

After experiencing some of the best golf holes in America, most golfers are satisfied to settle into a comfortable chair in one of Bandon Dunes Resort’s excellent restaurants, bars and lounges.

However, for the off-campus adventurer, the Wheelhouse Restaurant & Crows Nest Lounge, located in the quaint fishing village of Bandon, can be a highlight of a Bandon Dunes golf vacation.

Housed in the Old Town Mall building on Chicago Street, the Wheelhouse sits on the harbor and seems like a typical, nautical-themed restaurant festooned with wooden beams, ships’ wheels and lanterns. But, the food here is anything but typical.

My suggestion? Head upstairs to the Crows Nest Lounge, park yourself in front of the picture windows overlooking the water and diving gulls, and order the specialty of the house, cioppino.

This version of the tomato-based fish stew, developed by Italian fishermen in San Francisco, is jam packed with the freshest native seafood available. Dip your spoon into the cavernous bowl and you’ll pull up huge hunks of lobster, crab and fish fighting for space. And when it comes to eating the mussels and clams, their shells make convenient vessels with which to slurp up the zesty tomato broth.

Unlike that other famous fish stew, bouillabaisse, cioppino is served hot, which, after battling the winds at Bandon all day, should fit right in your wheelhouse.

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