The heart of the Central Coast wine world, Paso Robles boasts more than 200 wineries, tucked amid the folds of the San Andreas Mountains or sprawled out on the desert valley floor to the east. With all those bottles must come food. For a small town, Paso is filled with restaurants. Though none is world-class, the scene offers plenty of gratifying fare. And this being California, you enjoy it all in a T-shirt and jeans.
Chef Chris Kobayashi, a two-time James Beard nominee, put this barnwood-clad downtowner on the map with sustainable sourcing — including from his own organic farm — and comforting but elevated cooking.
Kobayashi has moved to Denver, but the cooking, if not as accomplished now, retains his locavore signature. Cayucos-raised, panko-fried abalone is pretty as a picture laid over avocado on a plate dotted with pink grapefruit, radish and tarragon. Too bad it’s thumbnail size. More rib-sticking is the white cheddar and goat cheese fondue, with excellent andouille for dunking.
Bordelaise and soubise make the toothsome meatballs (with beef from Templeton’s Charter Oak Style Meats) taste more Swedish than Italian, a welcome change. Californians love wood-fired pizza, and here, the crust is appealingly chewy. The truffle oil on the goat cheese pie is subtle enough to amplify but not overwhelm, the organic mushrooms topping it.
The bar finds a way to feature Ancho Reyes chile-based liqueur in a well-balanced drink, adding St. Germain for floral appeal and dry vermouth to keep things mellow. The wine list puts the focus on the Central Coast, so it’s a good place to sip robust red blends.
Those wines match the burly mains. An immense mound of mashed sweet potatoes, greens and crispy onions threatens to swallow the slow-smoked pork. But the meat is so deeply flavored and tender, you almost forgive the kitchen. If you have the room, butterscotch pudding is a comfort-food way to end the meal. Reservations recommended. $100.
Artisan
843 12th Street. Tel. (805) 237-8084
When it comes to bistro classics, precise cooking brings soulfulness. Chef Laurent Grangien’s cozy spot will leave you deeply sated.
His French onion soup is so caramelly, stewy and chock-full of allium, it puts others of its kind to shame. Balance out its richness with a salad. A good French chef knows what to do with mesclun. For crisp contrast, Grangien loads the lettuces atop smoked salmon, a flaky flatbread slathered in crème fraîche undergirding the satiny fish. The only quibble with the Lyonnaise salad — croutons, lardons and sweet-tart vinaigrette offsetting bitter frisée — is that the crowning poached egg was a tad overcooked.
Going for a bottle? Grangien has things you won’t see on other lists: Epoch’s spicy “Veracity” Rhône blend and other labels from small Paso wineries; stalwarts like Burgundy’s Domaine Faiveley Mazis-Chambertin. The latter works for his flatiron, a ribbon of muscle cooked on the rare side and doused in a deep, dark au poivre sauce. Polite, blond frites contrast its terrific tang.
Though the steak is perfect enough, why not try some seafood? Lunch’s enormous pan-seared shrimp, well-salted to amp their sweetness, top couscouslike sarda, golden with saffron. Devour them, crispy tails and all. Then linger while the chef prepares apple beignets or a warm chocolate tart whose insides ooze out into a pool of vanilla sauce. Formidable! Closed Sundays and Mondays. Reservations recommended. $100.
Bistro Laurent
1202 Pine Street. Tel. (805) 226-8191
Chef Santos MacDonal has been cooking upscale northern Italian fare in downtown Paso since 2009. Still, the restaurant and enclosed patio get packed with diners who come for the house-made pastas. With a soft bite and nearly orange with egg yolk, fresh pappardelle gets an elegant ragu, hunks of wild boar tucked amid the wide ribbons. Spaghetti is slightly dried before cooking to give it more heft to hold up to the heat of pepperoncini and the saline punch of grated bottarga over garlicky clams and shrimp.
All that’s needed to start is pristine tri colore salad, with curls of Parmesan and a clean, light balsamic dressing. If you must have something more lavish, in cold months, MacDonal shaves Piemontese white truffles over beef carpaccio. Some appetizers aren’t as crave-worthy, though. Savory-sweet and delicious on its own, onion jam clobbers the subtle duck carpaccio.
Mains pale in comparison to MacDonal’s pastas, but a sea bass special showed his way with northern Italy’s other starchy intermezzo, risotto. The silky fish sat on rice that was just creamy enough and dotted with sweet prawns.
After such richness, this-side-of-sweet ricotta cake is reasonable, particularly with the last sips of wine. The list excels at Central Coast and Italian reds. Though you can get a pour of Gaja “Sito Moresco” Langhe Rosso from a Coravin-preserved bottle, a Pianetta Barbera from the Central Coast shows the Nebbiolo grape in fine light, too. Closed Tuesdays. Reservations recommended. $125.
Il Cortile
608 12th Street. Tel. (805) 226-0300
You may want to sit outside at this Paso hot spot because flat screens over the bar give the narrow dining room a sports-bar feel. Though when you realize it’s Spanish-language TV, the soccer matches start to support the cuisine. The second restaurant from Santos MacDonal highlights the Honduran chef’s roots, with Spanish and Latin American dishes spun from local ingredients.
The kitchen excels at starters. Pastelitos, fried pockets filled with spiced beef and potato and topped with funky cotija cheese, are just the snack to soak up the happy-hour sauce. So are gambas, a gratifying dish of jumbo shrimp atop cheesy polenta with smoky, spicy linguiça and chorizo sausage. Fine-tuned mixology is behind drinks like the Peruvian Pizzare, with Aperol adding a bittersweet blush to a classic pisco sour.
MacDonal proves pizza can be Spanish when you pile on Mediterranean ingredients like lamb sausage, goat cheese and marjoram. The crust lacks crunch and char, but the sauce is outstanding — soupy and umami-rich. Mains have their ups and downs. Braised buffalo short ribs slide off the bone, though their red-wine sauce is rather thick and unfocused. The New York strip is beautifully seared, juicy and flavorful. One wants for a better veg with it, though, than bland steamed broccoli and cauliflower.
Afterward, skip the forgettable tres leches cake, and order a nightcap instead. Another twist on the pisco sour, Agave Lightning swaps in mezcal and Averna Amaro for a dark and smoky end to the evening. Closed Tuesdays. Reservations recommended. $125.
La Cosecha
835 12th Street. Tel. (805) 237-0091
Chef Nicola Allegretta uses organic and sustainable ingredients for the vivacious contemporary Peruvian fare at this River Oaks Golf Course restaurant. Decorated with a cascading water feature, the room is laid-back, and the service is relaxed and gracious.
A way to tackle the big menu is to start with the Sabor a Mistura, a selection of four seafoods. There’s marinated fish: meaty sea bass ceviche in sweet-tart passion fruit; pristine ahi tuna and seaweed in a gingery, citrusy oyster sauce. Creamy purple spuds figure in the potato terrine called causa, here topped with crab, avocado and glistening salmon roe, that pops when you eat it. Fried squid rounds out the quartet, in a delicate cumin-laced crust with pickled vegetables for contrast.
The wine list is filled with bargains. The cherrylike brightness of Santa Barbara’s organic Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir gives it flexibility for every dish, including a hefty rib-eye, with chimichurri for herbaceous punch. More authentic is lomo saltado. Tri-tip gets stir-fried with French fries and tomatoes in a piquant soy and yellow chile sauce. It’s a lovable Chino-Peruvian mashup. Escabeche is more elegant, the sea bass dressed in pickled onions and draped over purple and golden potato hash. The beautifully sautéed vegetables with it show off the work of local farmers.
Fruit flavors dominate dessert, including in the purple maize pudding. There, apricots, plums, quince and more bring a fall flavor that partners well with the warmly spiced rice pudding it’s plated with. A tea of restorative Andean and Amazonian herbs makes a fitting digestif. Dinner only; closed Mondays. Reservations recommended. $85.
Mistura
700 Clubhouse Drive. Tel. (805) 238-3333
The most oenophilic fun while dining in Paso is at the marble horseshoe counter inside Ian Adamo’s wine shop. The sommelier did time in fancy restaurants from London’s Fat Duck and Paso’s own Bistro Laurent. Now he wears a flannel shirt to his own house party, where he proffers tastings and tapas. A few he cooks himself — delectable experiments like coconut tapioca pudding — and others come from chef-partner Tom Santos. Any of Adamo’s 250-some bottles are available for takeout.
Start with charcuterie and cheese. A Domaine Savary Chablis he describes as “brothy” has the lean savoriness to hold up to musky jamón Ibérico. It goes, too, with nutty, 24-month Parmesan, dotted, for piquant comparison, with saba and two aged balsamics, one 25-year, one a full century old.
Adamo might pour a super-fragrant Mosel Spätlese against a guava-and-rocks Diablo Paso Albariño. The former wins the match for exemplary tortilla española, garlicky and tender. And since it’s a party, how about Llopart Cava Brut Rosé? It’s a bittersweet partner for meaty asparagus, a just-poached egg melting over the spears and into the chive crème fraîche beneath.
For pressed chicken thigh in thyme-laced Cognac sauce and other meaty dishes, Adamo takes palates in opposite directions. Oak lovers could get full-throated Pride Cabernet, while Paso’s rare Beaujolais fan enjoys a peppery, cherry-forward Domaine des Marrans Morgon. But switch to Sauternes for dessert. Adamo’s eggy Bolzano apple cake beckons, the sweet equivalent of that tortilla you had earlier. Closed Monday to Wednesday. Reservations for parties of six or more only. $120.
Somm’s Kitchen
849 13th Street. Tel. (805) 369-2344
Attached to the sleek tasting room with a patio overlooking the vines, Justin’s intimate restaurant is a picturesque spot for an à la carte lunch before or after a cellar tour. The seasonal prix fixe dinner is grander. Knowledgeable, entertaining staff pour two different pairings, one of them reserve. If you’re dining with an intimate, go for one of each. That way, you’ll taste 10 Justin wines, from an aromatic Viognier to an herbaceous reserve Cabernet with cheese at the end.
The meal has awkward moments. Acorn squash comes with too few greens and too much gooey burrata. Pistachio pesto tries to balance the dish, but sugary apple chips throw it out of whack. And truffle demi-glace notwithstanding, why sous-vide free-range beef? It begs for the mineral char and dripping fat of live-fire cooking, not the mild manners of a warm-water bath.
Sustainably farmed New Zealand salmon proves chef Will Torres’ capability for delicious innovation. Moist inside, crispy out, the fillet is expertly pan-seared. But it comes as the third of five courses. By then, the wines are bigger reds. Won’t reserve Malbec kick sand in the salmon’s face? Torres sets the fish atop XO sauce. A Cantonese concoction of dried seafood, garlic and chiles, it’s like the Charles Atlas of sauces, bumping up the salmon’s dynamism so that it can lift the wine’s weight. The course works beautifully. Dinner Tuesday to Sunday with three seatings; lunch Thursday to Sunday. Reservations required. $135 prix fixe; wine pairings $45 and $95.
Justin
11680 Chimney Rock Road. Tel. (805) 238-6932
Andrew Harper members have access to full travel-planning services through Andrew Harper Travel.
1 (800) 375-4685
Open M-F 8:30AM-5:30PM CT
