In looking for a new local spot to celebrate my birthday, my husband and I happened upon a gem in the nearby town of Jacksonville, Ore. (home of the Britt music festivals and a charmingly preserved gold rush-era downtown) The brothers Murphy (Gabriel is the executive chef and Jo runs the front of the house) provided us with a most exquisite meal and a relaxed yet refined dining experience. We’ve decided that we will darken Gogi’s doorstep again and often and can’t wait to share it with others. Located on the ground floor of a wood and brick late-19th-century building just a block off Jacksonville’s main thoroughfare and just down the hill from the Britt amphitheater, the Gogi’s Restaurant offers about a dozen booths and tables, a few outdoor tables and a gorgeous dark wood bar. From the latter comes a host of cocktails and specialty drinks with inventive names and intriguing combinations of ingredients. (We did not indulge this time but certainly enjoyed perusing the menu and checking out fellow diners’ choices.) The décor is understated and elegant and the service superb — not intrusive but attentive and gracious. We brought our own special bottle of wine for our celebratory meal (the corkage fee is a modest $10), but Harry checked out the wine list, as he always does, and found a great selection and very reasonable prices. Now, to the meal itself: First came slices of warm bread and a divine pesto dipping sauce. I had to limit myself to just one slice in anticipation of the courses to come, but it took enormous willpower.  I started with the evening’s special appetizer of crusted red snapper served with rainbow Swiss chard and radish kimchi.   Harry went for the house-made sausage (from the trimmings of the rib eye and filet mignon on the entrée list) served with a raspberry ground mustard and house-pickled vegetables.    I should note here that everything is made in-house, and much of the produce comes from the brothers’ one-acre farm in the nearby Applegate Valley. And, as you can see, every presentation is a feast for the eyes. Our salad course saw Harry ordering the organic baby spinach salad with poached pear, candied pecans, blue cheese and a red wine vinaigrette.   He called it one of the best salads he’d ever had, finding the combination and balance of textures and flavors superb. My butter lettuce with avocado, sultana raisins and a fabulous, creamy lemon-chevre vinaigrette was equally divine.   In both cases, the dressings really pulled everything together; wish I could duplicate them at home! Our entrée choices ranged from pasta to seafood, poultry to red meat, but to go with our excellent Cabernet Sauvignon, we opted for the filet (mustard-crusted with butter-crisp fingerling potatoes and grilled asparagus) for him   and the bone-in cider-brined pork chop for me. The pork chop came with a sweet, creamy fresh corn polenta with whole kernels of the corn providing a little crisp crunch. On top sat a generous helping of the house-cured bacon and apple compote (delectable) crowned with a whole slice of the bacon — the best I’ve ever had. Well, as satisfied as we were with our meal, this was, after all, a birthday dinner, so we had to have dessert, too. Harry opted for the flashy but heavenly flaming Grand Marnier crème brûlée, while I couldn’t pass up the triple chocolate temptation including a crispy tuile stuffed with a creamy mousse and a rich, dark flourless torte. Gogi’s is open Wednesday through Sunday for dinner from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and for Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oh, yes, we’ll be back! — Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor