Roughly North-to-South from Salinas to Santa Barbara–with heavier population Paso to Santa Maria. Please note this is not a “Best Mexican Food” list. It is STRICTLY taquerias, and I only order ONE thing. Scroll to the bottom of this list for a rough outline of my parameters for “Tacos”. ◊◊ No No ◊ No ♦…
Category: Central Coast Restaurants
SIX TEST KITCHEN
Six Test Kitchen is Arroyo Grande’s flash-in-the-pan new eating establishment heavy on preparation and light on substance. The basis of this resty is not new–single-seating per night, pricy prix fixe accomodations, an allegedly whiz-bang young gun with an alleged stellar resume who is–by reduction–basically a local kid cooking in his parent’s–BEAUTIFUL WALL-TO-WALL STAINLESS STEEL–garage. Everything is ridiculously…
BLUE HERON OPENING
THE most anticipated restaurant opening for the entire food & wine community here on the Central Coast has easily been BLUE HERON in the Baywood section of Los Osos. Finally, after months and months of watching the build-out slowly creep towards fruition, the invites to family, friends, industry and media soft-openings started arriving. I was lucky…
Gardens of Avila at Sycamore Springs
GARDENS OF AVILA at Sycamore Springs Avila Beach, reduced to ♦ This is one of those situations where all things working together surrounding the dining experience are so dreadful, it casts a serious blight on the meal. Three phone calls which went to answering machine, a transfer from the front desk which resulted in same,…
Puffer’s of Pismo
They keep coming: Another tiny chef-driven eatery serving inspired creations in an intimate setting. PUFFER’S OF PISMO is the brainchild of the inimitable Charlie Puffer and his conversion of a former–and completely forgettable–winebar into a speakeasy-sort of indoor-outdoor night-spot is complete. I have been watching and waiting for him to get completely dialed-in with regular…
2 Re-visits and a Grand Opening 11.21.15
FULL Soifeats RESTAURANT LIST HERE RAKU RAMEN San Luis Obispo. Was not terribly impressed when first opened. But a re-visit after almost 5 years of still being there (there’s a feat in itself!) told me I had been a little too hard on them. Ordering logistics are still awkward and lines can be long. Not much…
BOTTLE NIGHT Winelist Specials
Many restaurants proud of their wine-lists have a weekly special allowing exploration of the cellar for a deep discount. I have made a list of restaurants on the Central Coast who have made these Wine Discount Specials apparent to me. These specials are often not advertised heavily, and sometimes are discontinued during special dates, heavy…
6DEGREES Orcutt 9.22.2015
THE FULL RESTAURANTS LIST 6DEGREES in Orcutt is the newest Central Coast restaurant in an area which inevitably represents near-exclusive rights to the best dining in Santa Maria. With the recent–and very sad–closing of MarketSM, one can safely say there is not a restaurant worth eating at North of Clark Avenue. We NEARLY walked out…
The Spoon Trade Grover Beach
THE SPOON TRADE in Grover Beach is the newest in an ever-expanding group of Central Coast restaurants to open in the collective Arroyo Grande-Grover Beach-Pismo Beach area. Two visits in, I can safely say it comfortably completes an EMBER-COMFORT MARKET-SPOON TRADE trifecta for amazing, quality food, daringly conceived and perfectly presented. From the tartare to…
Rooster Creek Tavern Arroyo Grande
THE CENTRAL COAST RESTAURANTS LIST ROOSTER CREEK TAVERN Several years in and this place still packs it in every night–and most lunches–serving above-average food in a pleasant atmosphere. Remember, this was the FIRST serious resty to come to Arroyo Grande. Those of us who have lived here for any number of years remember the days…
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