California Food and Wine Blog

Early April we had family visiting and all wanted to go to lunch somewhere that allowed dogs. Dorns has always been very accomodating and out on the patio brings water and sometimes treats for the dogs.

That afternoon the service wasn’t as great as usual but the food was quite good with my Cobb/Avocado salad filling and refreshing on a sunny day.

http://www.dornscafe.com/

Today I decided to check out the new Mediterranean restaurant in San Luis Obispo, Fattoush.  It is located at the corner of Santa Rosa St and Foothill Blvd.  They claim to have award winning falafel and to make their pitas fresh daily.  I went during lunch at about 12:30 and was behind one other person.  I ordered the gyro sandwich and the chicken pesto flatbread pizza.  After I ordered there were 4 more orders.  Annoyingly the 2nd to last person who ordered received his food before either I or the girl before me did.  After waiting 20 minutes I finally got my order, this is pretty ridiculous since this place is to go only.

I got home and opened up the gyro first, this is a pretty large gyro, a deal for the price.  The meat was a bit dried out and the tzatziki was too thin.  The pita itself was also too dry, though it didn’t fall apart as i would have expected.  The tomatoes, lettuce and onion were all fresh and quite good.  The  sandwich tasted good and was a great size, however for the quality of the meat, pita, and tzatziki definitely not a good value even at $5.99.

Second was the chicken pesto flatbread pizza.  At $7.99 I was definitely expecting as much or more food than the gyro and was sorely disappointed.  There is a very thin layer of pesto, a sprinkling of feta, very little mozzarella, and a few kalamata olives and tomatoes.  Once again the meat and pita was dried out.  The pizza itself tasted okay, but was certainly nothing spectacular.

I welcome Fattoush to that side of town, however I hope they seriously step their game up since good Mediterranean food is only a mile away at Jaffa Cafe and Petra.  Until they do, I’d have to recommend to go to Jaffa for your Mediterranean desires.  Not only was the food below par, but the time it took to get the food was at least double what I would have expected.

Gyro sandwich

Chicken Pesto Pizza

Taste Rating:

Value Rating:

Overall Rating:

It was a beautiful day in Morro Bay with our dog, so we wanted to find a place that was dog-friendly and we could enjoy the weather. On Fridays Dorn’s has red clam chowder, so that tipped them in our favor.

We grabbed a great table on the patio where we could still hear the seals from the pier and had just the right amount of shade from our umbrella. Our waitress and water service was very frequent and friendly, and the dogs were happy too!

I ordered the Cobb salad and it was perfectly refreshing with lots of meat, avocado, blue cheese, and really couldn’t believe how much food it was. Our lunch was served with fresh sourdough bread and butter and lemon-flavored water. Nathan and I shared a bowl of the red clam chowder; it was creamy and the clams had just the right consistency.

The menu is a little on the pricey side with dishes ranging between $9-$15 but overall still very reasonable for the quality and quantity of the food. Definitely recommend on a nice day!

Overall Rating:

http://www.dornscafe.com/

We were trying to find an upscale bar or lounge to have a romantic evening at for our 3rd anniversary and the first place we tried was absolutely packed.  So we decided to stroll the streets of downtown Chico and see what we could find.  Thankfully we came across Monk’s Wine Lounge which was a place we had glanced at before, but their specials board outside caught our eye this time.  As soon as we walked through the door we knew it would be the perfect place to have a relaxing evening.  The tables were spread out, the people weren’t obscenely loud, and there were several couches and lounge chairs towards the back.  We opted to get a couch so we could really just kick back.

We ordered a bottle from Sicily, unfortunately I forgot to record what we ordered.  The wine was a newer vintage at 2008 which was my only concern, but it turned out to be a nice light red which was what we needed for the night.  After a glass each we ordered the mushroom bruschetta and crab cakes.  They were reasonably priced around $10 each.  It was probably about 15 minutes before we received the food, but time passes quickly here since you are comfortably talking with whoever you are with instead of raising your voice and straining to hear.  Each appetizer came with two portions, which was perfect since it was just two of us.  The mushroom bruschetta was unlike any bruschetta I have had before.  It was elegantly plated and served as a long slice of a baguette topped with mushrooms, olive oil and a few herbs.  It wasn’t exactly the perfect pairing with our wine, but the bruschetta was excellent.  Easy to eat, bread was crisp but not flaky, mushrooms were delicately seasoned, the oil was light, and the herb blend was just enough.  The crab cakes paired incredibly with the wine.  It’s hard to say if it was the crab cake itself or the sauce they serve it with.  The crab cake was light, but held together well.  It was seasoned very well and the sauce wasn’t too heavy, there was no need to use lemon on it like I so often do other places.  I’d recommend both dishes as great starters.

Mushroom bruschetta and crab cake

Taste Rating:

Value Rating:

Overall Rating: