Hanging in the 805 - Day 3

For Day 1's coverage, click here, and for Day 2, click here.

On Day 3 of the trip, we woke up in Pismo Beach and wandered over to Penny's All American Cafe for a great diner-style breakfast (Penny's sponsors the annual Pancake Eating Contest, so you know they're legit); on our way back, we wandered the boardwalk one last time, waving goodbye to this particular stretch of the Pacific.  We packed up the car, checked out, and hit the road, heading in a northeasterly direction, in toward the central coast.

Bye, Pismo!  It's been fun!

On our way to wine country, we stopped in San Luis Obispo at the mission named for the town (it just dawned on me that the town might actually be named for the mission...).  It was a pretty, peaceful place, and we wandered around a bit, stopping to take pictures and visit the museum on site.

After finishing up at the mission, we hopped back in the car and continued on toward Paso, with wine tasting on our minds.  Our first stop was at Castoro Cellars, a great location (technically in Templeton) with a lovely tasting room and helpful sommelier.

Under the vines at Castoro

That's a beaver with the words,

"Dam Fine Wine."

The cats at Castoro -

Ebeneezer and Falafel

(probably not their real names).

Yum!

We really enjoyed the wines and experience at Castoro, and we picked up a few bottles to take home with us, including a great Chardonnay, a steal at only $12!  We also picked up some lunch recommendations from the som, as we were starting to get hungry.  She sent us into downtown Paso to Thomas Hill Organics, a local eatery.

Truly, we can't say enough about THO; the food was absolutely amazing, the service was great, and the ambiance was beautiful.  I had a skirt steak sandwich while Chris had a pork belly sandwich, and both were out of this world delicious; we finished up with a lemon tart that was also excellent.  This was hands down, the absolute best meal of our trip, and I can't recommend them highly enough.

Seriously, so good.

After lunch, we swung by our hotel for the next two nights, La Bellasera, to see if an early check in was possible, but alas, no dice.  The manager at the desk did give us a recommendation for another winery in the area, however, so we hopped back in the car and headed out to Tooth and Nail.  Sadly, T and N was just okay; the som on duty wasn't the greatest, and while the wine was okay, it was rather overpriced for its quality.  Maybe the wine cost so much to help subsidize the tasting room itself - a GIGANTIC castle the winery built on the property.

"It's good to be the Queen!"

We next sought out Zenaida Cellars, a winery in the same general area, as we'd heard great things about it.  Thankfully, Zenaida didn't disappoint.  The tasting room was small but cozy, the som was pleasant and friendly, and the wines were great.  We ended up taking home a bottle of their Wanderlust, a blend of grenache, syrah, and mourvedre grapes.

Bonus poultry at Zenaida

While we were tasting at Zenaida, the som gave us a map of the area and showed us a few other neat places, based upon our tastes and what we might like.  On his recommendation, we headed next to Brecon, a winery that uses a lot of stainless steel aging with its wines.

Tanks at Brecon

The wines at Brecon were good, if a bit pricey, but we still brought home a bottle of their petite syrah.  While there, when we answered the som's question about where we were from, a couple on the other side of the tasting room piped up, "oh, we're from Scottsdale!"  Apparently, these folks were on their way to their summer house right on the California coast.  Hard life, that.

After Brecon, we headed to Re:Find, a location that not only made wine but also featured distilled, homemade spirits, like gin, vodka, and lemoncello.  

Copper stills at Re:Find.

True story, we walked in and Chris screamed,

"DISTILLATION COLUMNS!"

He was meant to be an engineer, that one.

The spirits at Re:Find were good - super smooth - but we didn't need a bottle of any of those specific items enough to justify the decently high price tags on them.  Re:Find is also working on a rye whiskey, which might have tempted us enough to purchase, but it's still in the making.  I'd keep an eye out for these folks.  What's really interesting is that apparently, in California, spirits have to be named in a certain way for regulatory purposes, so these spirits made of grape extracts can't be truly called "gin" or "vodka."  Instead, they can be called "brandy."  Re:Find was working on new labels when we visited, so in the picture above, you'll see that there's a bottle of "gin" next to a bottle of "botanical brandy," a bottle of "limoncello flavored brandy," and a bottle of "neutral brandy" next to a bottle of "vodka."  Funny, heh?

After Re:Find, we headed back to La Bellasera for a successful check in this time; we unpacked the car, sat down for a bit, and then headed across the small street next to the hotel to Chili's for a few apps/snacks (hey, not every meal can be Thomas Hill Organics, people).  We headed back to the hotel and asked them to call us a cab, so we could head to our stop for the evening, BarrelHouse Brewing (BH was just under 2 miles from the hotel, so too far to walk, and since we knew we'd be indulging, we didn't want to bring the car or bikes).  

Tasting at BarrelHouse

BarrelHouse was great - the beer was excellent, and the bartender was kind enough to put the Lightning/Rangers hockey game on the tv for me (go Bolts!).  We tried a taster of one of everything on the tap list, including two sours they were featuring.  We had only beer that was a true miss (and this was due to the hop profile - it was New Belgium Rampant-esqe, and that's not our bag), but everything else was either solid or really a standout.  I loved the clementine blonde, Chris preferred the barrel aged maple stout (called Curly Wolf), and we both enjoyed the dry brett.  We also brought home a bottle of Celebration, a Belgian quad aged in port barrels - that was great, too.

Etching on the bottom of our glass.

Warning: feeble attempt at an artsy photo.

When we'd finished our beer and eaten a cubic ton of free pretzels, we called our cab company, Fetch, back and asked for a pickup.  They assured us they'd be there within 15-20 minutes or so.  When this time passed, we received a call back from Fetch, apologizing profusely and letting us know that since they couldn't get to us, they called a few other cab companies on our behalf, and one was coming soon.  Remembering the great cab service we'd had in Avila Beach the day before, Chris called A Ride Awaits, and apparently, they were the folks already on their way to get us.  We settled in to drink more water (essential) and watch more hockey (even more essential) while waiting for them to arrive.

Waiting for a cab.  Any cab.

When the driver from A Ride Awaits arrived, we headed out to the parking lot, only to find that our cabbie was the exact same cabbie from our Avila-Pismo adventure the day before!  He was like, "I know you guys!"  After reuniting on the short cab drive back to La Bellasera, we tipped him and wished him well in the future.

We headed back up the room to change, then wandered back down to the restaurant in the lobby, Enoteca, where we had a few appetizers to round out our food consumption for the day.  The food was just okay, but the atmosphere in the restaurant was nice, with the exception of sitting at the table next to the loudest people in the entire world.  After we finished eating, we headed back up to the room to hang out in bed and watch the finale of Survivor.  Vacation with us is exciting, y'all.

Later!

Amy