Cowboy Eggs Benedict at Hotel Cerro in San Luis Obispo, California by Ruth Paget

Cowboy Eggs Benedict at Hotel Cerro in San Luis Obispo, California by Ruth Paget 

The Hotel Cerro in San Luis Obispo, California does not offer complimentary breakfast. Instead, the hotel has an informal café where you can order small or large breakfast at a counter and pay according to what you order. 

Servers will bring items to your table and clear dishes.

I liked this arrangement, because I like large, warm American breakfasts when I travel. Laurent, on the other hand, prefers lighter fare like croissants, yogurt, and orange juice. Hotel Cerro can deliver both at the same time with Swiss aplomb. 

I ordered a twist on traditional Eggs Benedict called Cowboy Eggs Benedict. The twist in this dish is using a thick, black peppery sausage patty in place of Canadian bacon in this tasty breakfast sandwich. 

Aside from the sausage patty, the eggs Benedict was made the traditional way on a split, toasted English muffin with the sausage topped with a poached egg and lemony Hollandaise sauce. 

The Cowboy Eggs Benedict came with a generous helping of oven-baked, small new potatoes in their skins that were seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper. I dunked these in spicy Cholula sauce. 

I sipped American diner coffee with cream as I ate and liked the Western spin on the Eggs Benedict. 

The day I ate this breakfast it was rainy and cold, making the food especially flavorful. 

I like the breakfast dining arrangement at Hotel Cerro in San Luis Obispo, California and thought the food was fresh and the service was quick. For a good breakfast before setting out touring or driving home, it was perfect. 

Hotel Cerro Room View
Photo by Ruth Paget

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Morro Bay Oysters and Dungeness Crab Salad at Tognazzini's Dockside Restaurant in Morro Bay, California by Ruth Paget

Raw Oysters and Dungeness Crab Salad at Tognazzini’s Dockside Restaurant in Morro Bay, California by Ruth Paget 

On our family mini recharge trip to San Luis Obispo, California, we returned to Salinas via a side trip to Morro Bay for lunch at Tognazzini’s Dockside Restaurant. (The Tognazzini’s also run a fishing company located on the dock outside the restaurant.) 

My husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I began our meal with six raw Morro Bay oysters. I squirted lemon juice on mine and ate a few with cocktail sauce and creamy, grated horseradish. I love cold, briny raw oysters, but recognize that not everyone likes them despite the quality. For me, however, our New Year’s Eve meal was off to a great start despite the rainy, cold weather. 

While we were eating, Tognazzini’s fishermen were hauling in 4-feet flatfish and weighing them outside our window on the dock as mealtime entertainment. Tognazzini prides itself on boat-to-table cuisine. They even claim they can provide the boat name and captain’s name for your fish order. 

As our main dish, Laurent and I ordered the Mariner Salad that you can add a variety of fish and seafood to as protein ranging from shrimp to salmon. Laurent chose this and ordered Dungeness crab as our shellfish protein since the end of December is in Dungeness crab season. (Florence ordered the calamari and chips plate.) 

I grew up living on salads in Detroit, Michigan where I ate Greek salads in Greek town at least once a week and Cobb salads at Syros Restaurant around the corner from my apartment building about twice a month. Seafood salads were a treat I could order at Lelli’s Restaurant when I was taken there by my mother and babysitters.  I love salads in general and view seafood salads as a great treat.

The Mariner salad at Tognazzini’s features a bed of baby greens and seasonal vegetables. The seasonal vegetables for Californian winter included boiled beet slices, a neat pile of perfectly cut tomato cubes, cucumber slices, grated carrots, slices of red onions, and another neat pile of crumbled blue cheese. I ate my salad with house made blue cheese dressing and thought I had an outstanding finish to my recharge mini trip in San Luis Obispo County. 

We drove over the mountains from Morro Bay to Paso Robles and enjoyed viewing the rural landscape dotted with longhorn cattle, furry sheep, black and white goats, reddish-brown Swiss cows, and horse farms. The vineyards were empty of leaves with vines pruned back for winter. 

Back in Salinas, we ordered Gino’s mushroom and cheese artisanal pizza and drank champagne with it to ring in the New Year all refreshed from outstanding, Italian seafood meals in San Luis Obispo County. 

Mariner Salad with Crab and Calamari with Fries
at Tognazzini's Dockside Restaurant in Morro Bay, California
Photo by Laurent Paget

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Primo Pumpkin Risotto at Novo Restaurant in San Luis Obispo, California by Ruth Paget

Primo Pumpkin Risotto at Novo Restaurant and Lounge in San Luis Obispo, California by Ruth Paget 

For a short recharge vacation, my husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I set out from Salinas, California down Highway 101 to San Luis Obispo, California (about 2 hours away). 

We stayed at Hotel Cerro by Marriott for its center of downtown location and valet parking option. Both hotel lobby doors let to dining and shopping venues for fashion and gourmet food purchases. 

For dinner, we went out the hotel’s back door and crossed the street to arrive at Novo Restaurant, which has creekside dining, a private party cellar room, and indoor seating by a full bar with liquor bottles and chilled wine storage units going all the to the top of the walls to the ceiling. 

Novo’s walls are red brick with large, glass ball lights suspended on wars over the bar and seating area. Tubes of glass went through the diameter of the glass ball lights that glowed. The trendy and cool décor reminded me of bars in Brussels, Belgium that feature menus with the best that Europe has to offer for food and beverage including sushi fusion food. 

I was very happy with our restaurant even before we had ordered. 

We started with eclectic appetizers – the warm chèvre goat cheese board and raw ahi (tuna) nachos for a Hawaiian fusion twist. Laurent and I ordered locally brewed Firestone Walker Belgian blonde ale from Paso Robles, California to go with the appetizers. Florence ordered a Lavender Linen cocktail to sip on throughout the meal.

I like Novo’s warm chèvre board, because it features all savory items. The tray arrives with eight diagonal baguette slices that have been grilled with olive oil. Warm chèvre on warm baguette slices is luscious on a cold, rainy, winter night. 

The warm chèvre board also comes with warm, heirloom cherry tomatoes in olive oil. These tomatoes were sweet and meltingly, soft on the tongue.  The final treat on the warm chèvre cheese board is a cupful of warmed black olives that taste like they have been dressed with raspberry vinegar.  All these contrasting flavors pair well with the low-alcohol Belgian blonde ale from Firestone Walker.

The ahi nachos were for Florence, but she let me taste several cubes of perfectly cut ahi with sautéed scallions and sriracha mayonnaise on house-made crispy tortillas. The nachos tasted great with beer, too. 

For our spa dinner, we ordered some choice items – lobster gnocchi pasta for Laurent, filet mignon with mashed potatoes and sautéed carrots for Florence, and pumpkin risotto for me. 

The risotto was made with pudgy, round carnaroli rice that had absorbed chicken broth and white wine with Parmesan cheese stirred in at the end of the cooking. Sautéed cubes of baked pumpkin, slices of porcini mushrooms, strands of shiitake mushrooms, and fresh baby lettuce were mixed into the risotto. A handful of pomegranate seeds was scattered on top of the risotto. The flavor was magnificent. I ate everything. 

Laurent and Florence were equally happy with their dishes. 

For a relaxing and cozy spa meal, Novo Restaurant and Lounge in San Luis Obispo, California is certainly worth a visit to this busy college town. 

Garden View at Hotel Cerro
in downtown San Luis Obispo, California
Photo by Ruth Paget

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Authentic Monterey County California Lunch at Woody's in Monterey, California by Ruth Paget

Authentic Monterey County California Lunch at Woody’s in Monterey, California by Ruth Paget 

My husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I ate an authentic Monterey County lunch at Woody’s Bar and Restaurant at the airport the day after Christmas that was healthy and delicious. 

The three of us started our meal with iodine-rich shellfish from the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary. Florence ate chunky, clam chowder with salty oyster crackers. Laurent ate a jumbo shrimp cocktail with piquant cocktail sauce made with horseradish. I ate a plateful of lightly fried calamari with creamy tartar sauce and tangy cocktail sauce. I squeezed lemon juice on the calamari for a zingy addition of Vitamin C. 

Seafood tastes superb in rainy, cold weather like the winter of 2025. I snuggled up in my sweater and hoody jacket and thoroughly enjoyed each bite of calamari squid. 

Laurent ate one of his favorite Monterey County meals as his main dish – sand dabs fillets sautéed in lemon-butter with mashed potatoes and steamed seasonal vegetables.

Florence ate a Cobb salad that Woody’s made with organic produce from Swank Farms and Country Store. The salad also had organic chicken and bacon from San Benito County. Florence likes Woody’s house made ranch dressing. 

I ate one Woody’s large, fork-and-knife sandwiches – the mahi mahi sandwich with citrus aioli, citrus-flavored garlic mayonnaise. Mahi mahi is fished from the Pacific Ocean and is also known as dorado and dolphin fish. 

Mahi mahi is a Hawaiian term for this predatory fish. Mahi mahi eat protein-rich prey like crab and other smaller fish. The flesh of mahi mahi is firm from hunting.  

Mahi mahi’s flesh is also white and readily picks up flavors in poaching water like onion. At Woody’s, the mahi mahi seems to be poached with water, onion, and olive oil.

The fillet is placed on a toasted Palermo bun with citrus aioli and lettuce and tomato. I added salt to the fillet along with dill pickle and red onion. 

The sandwich is too slippery to eat with your hands, but very delectable when eaten in bites with a fork and knife. I understand why the mahi mahi sandwich at Woody’s is a Monterey County classic dish. 

I ate the mahi mahi sandwich with sweet potato fries. Sweet potatoes grow in parts of Monterey County with sunny, warm weather and sandy soil. I always associate orange vegetables with Vitamin A, which is good for the eyes. 

For a terrific, authentic Monterey County lunch, the seafood and salads at Woody’s Bar and Restaurant at the airport in Monterey, California is a welcoming spot for travelers and locals alike. 

Note: With pineapple aioli instead of citrus aioli, this meal could equally be Hawaiian.

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Organic Spinach and Blue Cheese Salad at the Stillwater Bar and Grill at Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget

Organic Spinach and Blue Cheese Salad at Stillwater Bar and Grill in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget  

My husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I decided to eat Sunday lunch at the newly re-opened Lodge at Pebble Beach, California. 

Our restaurant choice was the Stillwater Bar and Grill, which has large windows that look out over the Pacific and the 18th (5-par) hole on the golf course. The Stillwater serves American food with a great selection of seafood. 

What I really wanted on the fall day we went, though, was a salad. 

Monterey County grows delicious organic produce, so I celebrated fall with a “feel-good” salad as people in Detroit where I grew up were wont to say about the Greek salads we consumed in abundance during winter months to stay healthy. Stillwater’s “feel-good” salad is the California Coastal Spinach Salad is a lacto-ovo vegetarian’s dream. (Lacto-ovo vegetarians eat eggs and dairy in addition to produce.) 

This vitamin-rich salad contains: 

-baby spinach 

-frisée lettuce 

-magenta-colored endive 

-corn kernals 

-red grape halves

-cherry tomato halves

 -small cucumber slices 

-chunks of avocado 

-chunks of Port Reyes blue cheese

-toasted and sliced almonds 

The blue cheese dressing ties all these rather sweet ingredients together and adds additional protein and calcium to the blue cheese that is already in the salad. Blue cheese also contains iodine and selenium, which provide several health benefits as well.

Along with this delicious salad, I ate grilled baguette slices that had been stuffed with slices of Brie cheese and mushroom slices. The baguette slices were buttered, and the grilling gave them a golden, crunchy crust. The Brie cheese inside the baguette melted around the mushrooms, making each bite an oozing bite of deliciousness. 

Laurent and Florence both ate a seared sole fillet with baby vegetables and drank a Tiefenbrunner pinot grigio from Italy’s northeastern Alto-Adige region, which borders Austria. (This region has also been called the Sud Tyrol.) Both Laurent and Florence said the fish and wine together were a nice way to begin celebrating the holidays. 

For dessert, Florence and Laurent shared the Valrhona chocolate cake. I ate the toasted walnut cake that was loaded with caramelized milk whip and came with candied walnuts that were flavored with lavender. The desserts completed the meal and made me skip dinner. 

The meal was just wonderful and filling. 

The Stillwater Bar and Grill in Pebble Beach, California is a nice spot for weekend lunches with family (several came in while we were there) and gatherings for the holidays. The Lodge has private rooms and catering facilities for large events as well. 

Spinach and Blue Cheese Salad

with Milk Bread at

Stillwater Cafe in Pebble Beach, California

Photo by Ruth Paget

View of Stillwater Cove from
Stillwater Cafe at Pebble Beach, California
Photo by Ruth Paget

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Tonic Fall Deli Meal at the Gallery Cafe in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget

Tonic Fall Deli Lunch at the Gallery in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget 

Cool, rainy fall weather was the perfect setting for a spa lunch outing at the Gallery Café in Pebble Beach, California for my daughter Florence Paget and me in mid-November 2025. 

We ordered fried calamari to start that came with a horseradish-rich dipping sauce. This crunchy treat has iron, B vitamins, and protein in it. Moderation, though, in eating is the key to keeping off weight when eating the yummy, crunchy breading. 

Then, I ordered a substantial deli-style Reuben sandwich that came with tender corned beef that was not overly salty, tangy Swiss cheese, salty but not watery sauerkraut, and piquant Russian dressing made with ketchup, horseradish, and Worcestershire sauce. The bread, of course, was a slightly bitter, grilled marbled rye. I like this flavor combination. 

The Reuben came with a neat mound of deep-fried onion rings and a house-made dill pickle. Onions contain many antioxidants, so I always order them when give that option. 

My favorite thing to drink with a Reuben is a pilsner beer, but I ordered unsweetened iced tea instead. The tea the Gallery uses is a strong black one, probably Indian Darjeeling. Black tea is an antioxidant, so I also order tea on spa lunches. (I call pretty healthy lunches “spa lunches.) 

My daughter Florence shared the calamari with me. For her main dish, Florence ordered a Killer Klub. The Killer Klub was made with the usual combination of turkey, Swiss cheese, tomato, and lettuce along with slices of fresh avocado – a very California touch. (Hamburger tastes good with avocado slices, too.) 

For people who enjoy cool, fall weather, Pebble Beach offers several activities to do besides golf – golf lessons, horseback riding, spa services, and walks along the oceanfront. Bird watchers can often see several species fly right over their heads and nest. 

I like to visit Pebble Beach to try out the dining options in fall, so I would add food tourism to the list of things to do at Pebble Beach, California. 

Enjoy the perfect sweater weather this fall with a great meal! 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Art at the Farm in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Art at the Farm in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

On my family’s weekly outing to buy pie (strawberry - rhubarb this time) at The Farm in Salinas, California, I focused on finding country art.

The garden furniture art at The Farm is welcoming and rather regal with its armrests:

The large painting of squash and flowers on the entrance sliding door almost qualifies as a mural: To enlarge the image, place your fingers on the image and spread them apart.

Artist Diane Grindol, who has studied art in France, sells notecards at The Farm with samples of her artwork on them.  I love notecards with artwork.  I have some notecards by Big Sur artist Erin Gafill that I have sent to my family in Connecticut, Wisconsin, and Georgia.  Notecards help with cash flow and publicity.  Grindol’s notecard we bought follows:

A trip to the farm would not be complete without food decorative art like the squash beauties below:

The goats have the art of leisure down as they lazily wake up in the morning sun:

My daughter Florence Paget, husband Laurent Paget, and I  enjoyed our morning at The Farm and came home with heirloom tomatoes and a strawberry-rhubarb pie (rhubarb has a large amount of Vitamin K, which is important for healing wounds and blood clotting).

The Farm is a local country outing that young families might enjoy as well.

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Squash Economics iat The Farm in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Squash Harvest is in The Farm in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Now is the time to buy squash for decorating and eating, bringing children out to jump on haystacks and ride mini tractors, and buy a homemade pie.

Look at the squash beauties below!  Orange colored squash has vitamin A, which is important for vision.  Chop it up, remove the filaments inside, brush the flesh with oil, and bake it at 350 for an hour.  Eat it with butter and paprika.  The filaments and skin can be recycled as green waste.

Even the too cool to care goats were checking out the squash.

My husband Laurent and I bought a berry pie. Starting in November, the bakery will be the only department open at The Farm till spring.

The following video deals with baking butternut squash.  For squash that is hard to peel, I leave the peel and bake slices or cubes of squash and then scoop out the flesh from the peel:

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/229733/simple-roasted-butternut-squash/

Another fun marketing day in Salinas, California.

Photos and text by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Salinas, California Cheese and Pie Lunch by Ruth Paget

Salinas, California Cheese and Pie Lunch by Ruth Paget

My husband Laurent and I did our recycling of tin cans, plastic bottles, and glass bottles at Star Market in Salinas, California this morning.

We used our recycling money as a coupon towards buying Wisconsin cheddar cheese and Cypress Grove California Humboldt Fog cheese, similar to Saint Maure Chèvre from Tours, France.  (Cypress Grove is located in Humboldt County California).

.

American cheese selections at Star Market in Salinas, California

Cheese, chocolate, and apple caramel crisp pie from The Far.m. We drank Joffrey’s Tatiana Bayou Beignet coffee with milk along with “lunch.”

We ate sourdough flatbread and baguette with the cheese.

The apple caramel crisp takes about two minutes to warm up and oozes caramel for this pie from The Farm.

Salinas, California has the ingredients for a fall lunch when cool weather comes back.

(Note: My relatives in Wisconsin of English descent ate cheddar with apple pie and coffee or Darjeeling tea.  I am continuing the family tradition with local ingredients in Salinas, California.)

(Note: The bakery at The Farm is open year round.)

By Ruth Paget author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Goats, Kiddy Tractors, and Organic Produce at The Farm in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Goats, Kiddy Tractors, and Organic Produce at The Farm in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Harvest 2025 is here at The Farm in Salinas, California, but everyone knows the real reasons kids want to visit are the goats and kiddy tractors they can spend time with while their parents shop for organic produce.

The windmill below is what you can see from Highway 68 going into Salinas lets you pinpoint the farm as you navigate your way there from the Spreckels Exit:

Once you are headed toward The Farm on the 1 1/2 paved lane paved service road, you will drive right into The Farm with its logo sign mounted on an old pickup truck:

The first thing you will see especially if you have children is the kiddy tractors play area.  This area is rich in photo opportunities:

Another great photo opportunity area is by the goat pen.  The Farm is not a petting zoo, so you cannot feed the animals but talking to them is fine if you are sweet like Dr. Doolittle.

The Farm’s organic produce is coming in everyday including flowers for u-pick purchase.  When my husband Laurent and I visited, the following crops were on sale:

One of my favorite bumper crop items is the apple.  I think one of the best ways to eat apples is in pie, which they sell at thyme Farm year-round.

The Farm will close in November and will reopen next year for Farm School classes and tractor rides.  The Farm’s website has details on these activities, which I have listed below:

The Farm in Salinas, California

For a fun country outing, The Farm in Salinas, California has something for everyone.

Strawberry earrings for $6 are a nice farm souvenir.

Row of vitamin C and antioxidant rich cilantro.  Cilantro is so good for you I think a security camera on it to prevent theft. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Pumpkin Economics in Monterey County California by Ruth Paget

Pumpkin Economics in Monterey County by Ruth Paget

This past weekend, my daughter Florence Paget, husband Laurent, and I went to Trader Joe’s in Marina, California and admired the bumper crop of pumpkins coming in from the 2025 Harvest.

The photos below show some of the beautiful varieties on sale.  For photo details, spread your fingers apart on the image to enlarge it.

For other pumpkin harvests when my daughter was little, I took her to Earthbound Farm in Carmel Valley to buy pumpkins to make homemade salted pumpkin seeds and savory pumpkin soup.

My travel memoir from this staycation outing follows:

Earthbound Farm Outing

For people who would like to make an easier pumpkin soup, I have posted my recipe for pumpkin soup using canned  pumpkin purée below:

Pumpkin Soup Recipe Created by Ruth Paget

For people who would to buy ready-made pumpkin pies and/or pumpkins, you can go to The Farm just outside Salinas at the Spreckels exit off Highway 68 (Main Street become Highway 68 outside of town).

The Farm is an agricultural research station with a model farm, country store, community supported agricultural produce box subscription program, and bakery.

I have posted a link to The Farm’s website below:

The Farm in Salinas, California

Harvest Pumpkins at The Farm pictured below:

For people interested in a fall festival with pumpkins and a corn maze head out to Swank Farms in Hollister (San Benito County).  Ticket details and information are posted below:

Swank Farms Fall Festival

Cooler weather is coming, which is perfect for warm berages with pumpkin spice as well.

Whatever your preference, enjoy the 2025 bumper crop of pumpkins in Monterey County.

Note:  The internal mesh around the pumpkin seeds might be able to be used as feed for hogs and chickens or as organic fertilizer to make the pumpkin a no-food-waste item.  The pumpkin skins might be able to be used as feed and fertilizer as well.  I think pumpkins are pretty slop for hogs.

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Dinosaur Bones, Ohlone Reed Boats, and Historic Menus at the Carmel Valley History Museum in Carmel Valley, California by Ruth Paget

Dinosaur Bones, Ohlone Reed Boats, and Historic Menus at the Carmel Valley History Museum in Carmel Valley, California by Ruth Paget

The first thing that you will notice about the Carmel Valley History Museum when you arrive at the Carmel Valley Park is the shape of the museum.

It is built in the Monitor style that is still used for horse stables and cow barns throughout the Western US.  The Monitor style has a raised central aisle with two lower flanking sides.  Windows between the lower sides and central aisle let in light and let breezes through to remove hot air that rises from below.  Hay can be stored on a second floor built into the raised aisle.

The label for Junipero Swiss Cheese from the Schoch Dairy in Prunedale outside Salinas shows a modified Monitor Barn the family uses for their dairy.

What everyone comes to see at the Carmel Valley History Museum is the dinosaur hip bone found while plowing a local field.  According to the museum’s exhibit label, scientists need to find dinosaur teeth to identify if the hip bone belongs to a mastodon or mammoth.

A picture of a mammoth and mastodon shows why they are hard to tell apart.

A Rumsen Ohlone tule reed boat is a living tradition made by Linda Yamane from tule marsh weeds found in the marshes of Carmel Valley.

Students who are studying sustainable tourism at California State University Monterey Bay might be interested in the menu, and seating plan from Will’s Fargo Saloon and Restaurant that was in business for decades.  To enlarge the menu, spread your fingers apart on the image.

My photo is a bit tipsy

There are many other fun things to see at the Carmel Valley History Museum in Carmel Valley, California including saddles, wagon wheels, plows that look like one-wheeled bicycles, and old fashioned typewriters.  After your visit, you can walk in the park, picnic, or admire the Emerald City Playscape.

Saddle detail with flowers and lariat

Pear cart wagon wheel.  There were orchards in Carmel Valley before vineyards.

A ride over the Laureles Grade (10%) to Salinas follows an old cattle drive path to Salinas for market and Gonzales for fattening is a bit of a thrill ride ending for a day at the museum.

Note:

There is an Emerald City Playscape located by the museum.  I have posted some photos in the following blog:

Carmel Valley Park playscape

During summer, you can buy a pass for the Carmel Valley Pool located in the park.  I have posted a summer staycation memoir below:

Carmel Valley Pool Life

Locals and visitors alike might enjoy a recharge weekend at the Hidden Valley Inn, Laureles Lodge, or Bernardus Lodge, which are located nearby.

My family likes to eat at Rustica in Carmel Valley.  I reviewed the restaurant for the Monterey County Weekly when I was younger.  The blog follows in two parts:

Rustica Review - Part 1

Rustica Review - Part 2

I also reviewed The Wagon Wheel Restaurant in Carmel Valley, which is famous for heart Western breakfasts. My review for the Monterey County Weekly follows:

Wagon Wheel Restaurant Review

Woody’s now has a place in Carmel Valley.  I like their calamari steak and sand dabs, which I have written about in the blog below:

Woody’s for Calamari Steak and Sand Dabs

The Trailside Cafe and Beer Garden has a rib special on Tuesdays:

https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2025/10/diegos-rib-night-at-trailside-cafe-and.html?m=1

An example of the kinds of school parties that can be held in the park comes from my daughter’s charter Waldorf school below:

Minnesingers and Medieval Games

Happy Trails!

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

 

Ranchero Shrimp at Super Pollo in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Ranchero Shrimp at Super Pollo in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I found a dish at Super Pollo in Salinas, California that I am pretty sure qualifies as a Blue Zones recipe, which is 95% plant-based with 5% of the dish being made up of six butterflied and sautéed jumbo prawns.  

This dish is called Ranchero Shrimp (camarones rancheros). This dish is almost a stir-fry using olive oil (California has a lot), white onions, fat Serrano green and spicy peppers, 1 pound of diced tomatoes, cilantro, and shrimp. (Recipe source: mexicoinmykitchen.com) 

Ranchero shrimp is delicious and full of Vitamin C and antioxidants like lycopene in the tomatoes that can help prevent cancer. 

The light tomato sauce and vegetables pair well with the Spanish rice that comes with the meal. I always love Spanish rice as it is made with chicken broth, tomato juice, and green pepper slices. The refried beans at Super Pollo were light and tasted as if they had been made with olive oil. 

Finally, Super Pollo also delivers a side salad with this meal made of crispy iceberg lettuce (tastes great in the heat), tomato slices, a ring of raw onion, shredded cheese, and ranch dressing on the side. The salad and all the vegetables that go into this dish make it country or ranchero. 

I think camarones rancheros at Super Pollo tastes great and is really a good value for your money when you consider all the organic food from the Salinas that go into making it. I also think it is a candidate for a Blue Zones designation. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Italian Linguine with Clams at Lure Fish House in San Luis Obispo, California by Ruth Paget

Italian Linguine with Clams at Lure Fish House in San Luis Obispo, California by Ruth Paget 

For a family mini trip, my husband Laurent, my daughter Florence Paget, and I went to San Luis Obispo, California which is about 2½ hours south of Salinas. 

The landscape changes dramatically along Highway 101 going south. We saw longhorn cattle grazing on the hillsides by the freeway and oil rigs in San Ardo. We passed San Miguel Mission with its whitewashed stucco architecture and compania bell tower that is typical of many Spanish churches with its open towers that allow bells to swing wide and freely and resound over the vineyards. 

The Salinas River is underground here, but you can trace its course by looking at trees that sinew along the countryside. Vineyards and olive trees rise up the hills that become browner the farther away they are from the Salinas River. 

The landscape looks like Spain with its patches of white sheep grazing along the way. English road signs remind you that you really are in the United States. (I did ask Laurent if Gibraltar is like this. His Navy ship passed by there when he did a Mediterranean deployment.) 

San Luis Obispo is also named for it mission church that honors San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (1274 – 1297). Tolosa refers to Toulouse, France. San Luis Obispo sits on a plain like Toulouse, France despite going through some mountains to get to it. San Luis Obispo is the home of California Polytechnique State University, which is highly respected for its engineering, business, and architecture schools. 

Our dinner destination in San Luis Obispo was the Lure Fish House. This family-owned California chain also has locations in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Camarillo, West Lake Village, Porter Ranch, and Scottsdale (Arizona). 

Menus at Lure vary by location to take advantage of seasonal and local produce and seafood. As an appetizer, 

I started with deep-fried, crispy calamari (squid) that came with two excellent dipping sauces. The first was a chipotle aioli (garlic mayonnaise with chipotle peppers blended in). The second sauce was a cioppino dipping sauce. This light sauce did taste like tomatoes and white wine cooked with seafood and garlic. Both sauces were delicious. 

I ate all the sauce and all the calamari. Fried calamari are served all around the Christian Mediterranean and have a happy, devoted following in California. 

For an Italian Mediterranean Diet dinner, I ate a specialty of Naples, linguine with clams, as my main dish. The clams were steamed with white wine, lemon juice, garlic, and parsley.  

The meat from about two clams was chopped into the sauce and poured over the linguine. Six large clams were arranged a mound of linguine for this dish. I enjoyed every bite of this dish, too! 

I drank a home-made agave vanilla cream soda with this Mediterranean meal. Agave is a natural sweetener that comes from agave plants that grow well in the soil and climate in San Luis Obispo. 

Back at the hotel (a Marriot Courtyard), I took a hot shower followed by bursts of cold water to cool off and luxuriated in the air-conditioned room as I looked outside the room window at three kinds of trees: a rubber tree, a California magnolia tree, and a palm tree. San Luis Obispo has a city-wide initiative to develop a tree canopy that is recognized by the Arbor Foundation.

For a great health, culture, and history recharge, San Luis Obispo, California might just be the vacation town for you.  The warm weather invites swimming and most hotels have a pool.

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

(Note: View from hotel window.  To better see the trees, place two of your fingers on the photo and move them apart to enlarge the image.  The tree in front is a rubber plant that can be used to make tires.  The pollen from the magnolia tree can be used for honey.  The palm trees produce coconuts that can be used for food and coconut milk.)