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August 28, 2013September 4, 2013

Don’t expect custom meals at Custom House

Posted from Avila Beach, California, United States.

At first glance, Custom House is your typical bar and grille. What makes it stand out however is its magnificent view of the Pacific with a panoramic stretch from Port San Luis to Pismo Beach. Located on the boardwalk in Avila Beach across from the pier, this is a surprisingly large restaurant for the tiny cluster of buildings and sandy cul de sacs that make up this one stoplight town.

The menu is typical grille fare, naturally weighted towards seafood. Our group started with some appetizers, quesadillas and potstickers. The quesadillas had a generous amount of avocado and Hatch green chiles in them (yay for picking season!) but otherwise were fairly generic. For the main course, most of our party opted for seafood, but being a landlubber, I went for the pork chops. Nicely seasoned and grilled, these were very tender and flavorful. There was nice sear lines from the grille (instead of your usual pan-fry) but overall this was an uneventful dish, and overpriced. In fact, looking through the menu, everything was overpriced, and beach-front-dining wasn’t enough compensation, as picturesque as the view was.

The one thing that did stand out was dessert. I opted for the Olallieberry pie. Olallieberry is a berry grown primarily in the San Luis Obispo area, and I’ve never seen products made with it sold anywhere else. It’s like a giant boysenberry, but a little less dark, a little lighter in flavor, and a little more tart. It makes for a great pie, especially when served with a generous helping of vanilla ice cream.

There are other sources for pies in the area, namely Avila Valley Barn, an expanding farm stand / agritourist stop off the 101 just south of San Luis Obispo. I made sure to stop by and pick up a whole pie on my trip home. The pies are light in flavor, and a little runny, but definitely worth a taste. Skip Custom House though unless you can’t drive back to San Luis Obispo, and pick up your pie at Avila Valley Barn.

August 27, 2013September 5, 2013

SLO Delivery Will Ruin a Hot Sandwich

Posted from San Luis Obispo, California, United States.

Stuck in the office for lunch doesn’t seem to be so bad, as the San Luis Obispo Rosetta crowd has a pretty organized lunch order process for the fairly large staff. Today’s restaurant was Tahoe Joe’s Steakhouse.

I selected the namesake steak sandwich, figuring that would probably be the best sampling. When it finally arrived, I was getting really hungry, and upon opening the box I was practically drooling. Unfortunately the looks belied the taste. Although the bread looked nicely grill-toasted like you’d find at a diner, it was soggy. The fries were very soggy as well, bland, and the seasoning just made them salty and not worth eating.

This is the downside of order-in food.

However, the meat itself was lukewarm, but tasty, smokey beef and bacon, with a flavorful cheese. Had this been order-in instead of delivery, it probably would have been a fantastic sandwich. Being hot and fresh matters. As it was, I was disappointed and had to trudge on with my day dissatisfied.

August 25, 2013August 25, 2013

Visit II to Hitching Post II

Posted from Buellton, California, United States.

After my big claims about the best steak I’ve ever had, I decided I needed a revisit to make sure that wasn’t a fluke or just the wine talking. So on a nice leisurely Sunday afternoon drive up to San Luis Obispo I stopped off in Buellton at the famous Hitching Post II for a nice steak and glass of wine. The same wonderful smokey aromas from last time greeted me as I pulled off the road, a sign of great things to come.

While a little lonely at a table set for one, the atmosphere was mostly as before, just a little quieter due to it not being a holiday weekend. A glass of Highliner to start, which I still think is the best Pinot Noir in the region.

I opened with the same simple salad, a nice fresh mix of several lettuces, with very crisp croutons, spicy black pepper, a light tangy vinegarette, and salty parmesan on top. I think they smoke the pepper or toast the croutons on the grill because there is a wonderful slight smoke to this salad that sets the tone for the upcoming main event.

I had to order the huge ribeye again. At 26 oz with a bone, this thing is monstrous and way too much food. But it is their only ribeye cut, my favorite cut for flavor and texture, so I guess that means steak sandwiches this week for lunch.

One word, AMAZING. This is just as good as I remembered. After being disappointed with Cut in Beverly Hills a few weeks ago, and having also tried Pacific Dining Car for our anniversary, I was afraid this steak wouldn’t hold up to my memory. It does. This is still the best steak I have ever had.

A perfectly cooked medium rare, with tons of beef flavor and amazing texture, the outside is perfectly seasoned with Magic Dust, and a delicious buttery, crispy char courtesy of the red oak grill, trapping loads of delicious smoke. This time the steak came with some homemade salsa, which surprised me, but I gave it a go. Fresh and light, lots of chile flavor with very mild spice, this was a nice compliment to the steak. I wouldn’t say salsa improved the meat, but it certainly didn’t detract. It simply masks some of the beef flavors, replacing them with fresh tomato, onion, chile, and cilantro. The chef here clearly has a very good sense of balance and control of subtle flavor.

What else can I say? This is a great steak, and the sides would be worth their salt anywhere. Oh, the wine. Clearly made to pair with the great smokey flavors. Buy some for your next backyard BBQ! Too bad I can’t comment on the desert this time, as I was too full and still had a drive ahead if me.

So yes, stop by, and make sure you mimic me and pick up a jar of their Magic Dust and a few bottles of wine to take home! The only downside to this place is that when you waddle outside, the smell is so irresistible you’ll want to turn around and head right back in.

May 27, 2013May 27, 2013

22 Flavors on the 101

Posted from Santa Barbara, California, United States.

While sitting in traffic waiting to get on the 101 we spotted an ice cream shop, Scoops in Montecito. On entering though, it turned out to be gelatos and sorbets.

I got the espresso gelato, with peanut butter cup gelato in a waffle cone. The scoops were generous, and the flavors good but light. Biggest downside is that they were very icy, and not the rich smooth texture gelato should have. The shop was making fresh cones, and had a chocolate batter version which I haven’t seen before; but I opted for the traditional waffle cone. The cone was slightly sweet, but chewy and could have used more browning. Between the texture and taste, it seemed stale, even though they were clearly making fresh cones. The cones also tasted as if they were made with water rather than dairy, as the flavor was light and missing the butterfat a good cone should have. Scoops had a nice touch of putting a mini marshmallow in the bottom of the cone to prevent drips, but mine was leaking like crazy within a minute or two.

Pearl got coconut and mango sorbets, also in a waffle cone. The coconut was rich and creamy, with loads of coconut flake mixed in. The mango sorbet however was tangy and tasted artificial.

Overall, we wouldn’t recommend it. We probably would have been better off with the shop on Stearns Wharf that was serving Thrifty ice cream and also had fresh-made cones.

May 26, 2013August 25, 2013

Seafood on the Seashore

Posted from Santa Barbara, California, United States.

It was Sunday night on Memorial Day weekend, and Pearl had a hankering for seafood. Based on various reviews proclaiming its merits, we took a walk down to Stearns Wharf to try The Harbor Restaurant. My initial impressions were not promising. The decor and atmosphere seemed to match every generic seafood restaurant I’ve been to in California. The great views off the pier certainly gives it an edge, and we enjoyed shooting sunset photos while navigating the crowds. Even though every hotel in town was sold out, we were quickly seated, and the restaurant was half empty. This should have been a warning.

Being Santa Barbara, you’d expect a good wine list, and they didn’t disappoint. I found a very extensive selection, primarily of California wines, to be encouraging, and not representative of most restaurants like this. Unfortunately, we didn’t go in for a full bottle, and the wines offered by the glass were mostly limited to a couple of generics found in almost every restaurant, with 2 exceptions: Flying Goat Pinot Noir (which we had tasted the day before at the winery) and EOS Zinfandel. I went for the Zin, and thought it very enjoyable, the highlight of my meal.

We started with some raw oysters on the half shell. There were 3 different varieties on the normal menu, but a special added a fourth. The waiter didn’t know anything about them, which should have been a warning. I found them tasting too much like a bay under a pier and lacking in fresh ocean taste. I also found lots of bits of shell in each, and unseparated meat, indicating poor shucking technique.

For our main courses, Pearl selected a whole Maine lobster and thoroughly enjoyed it. Granted, it was lobster with a ton of butter, and served with a side of corn-on-the-cob, both of which she finds impossible to pass up. But there certainly wasn’t anything spectacular about the lobster and the corn was bland.

I’m not much of a seafood fan, and almost half of the menu was steaks and sandwiches, including a prime rib dinner. This seemed promising, instead of the usual single filet mignon or strip steak entry found at seafood restaurants. Since the previous night was heavy on the steak, I opted for something a little lighter and chose the prime rib french dip sandwich. I was very disappointed. The meat was well-done, and clearly not made from their prime rib dinner. It was dry and flavorless, and had the texture of boiled or steamed beef. The bread was nice and fluffy with a light crispy crust, just like you’d find at Philipe’s in LA, but the the dipping sauce was generic, salty, thick, and tasted like it came out of a packet mix or can. Again, clearly not made with the pan drippings from a ribeye roast supposedly being prepared in-house. I didn’t even finish the sandwich.

So, overall verdict, if you want good, but generic seafood with great views, this is worth a stop. But if you want something new, or have terrestrial eaters in your party, keep looking.