When my wife and I planned our California vacation in March, we considered how to break up the drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco. I suppose we could have done it in one day. But there was no need to hurry (it was a vacation after all) and there are plenty of things to see and do in the nearly 400 miles between the two cities. I’d always been curious about the Paso Robles wine region. We have friends who recommended it as did some of my former associates at Land O’Lakes.
Our hotel was the Paso Robles Inn, located right on the town square and easy walking distance to several restaurants. A friend had recommended Il Cortile for excellent Italian cooking. But when we called for a reservation, we learned that Il Cortile is closed on Tuesdays. However, they recommended La Cosecha, also right on the town square and owned by the same chef. We enjoy good Spanish and Latin food, so it was an easy decision to give it a try.
I’m glad we did. It was delicious, relaxing, and very enjoyable.
Since we’d spent the afternoon wine tasting at several area wineries, we decided to have cocktails before dinner, rather than a bottle of wine. The restaurant offers an intriguing array of craft cocktails. My wife had something called the Jabroni, like a Negroni only made with cachaca instead of gin, Cynar, white vermouth, and amaretto. She doesn’t normally like the bitterness of a Negroni. In the Jabroni, the Cynar gave a hint of bitterness. But it was mellowed by the white vermouth and amaretto. She liked it.
My cocktail was called ‘A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That.’ It’s not on the regular menu; I think it was a special concoction of the bartender. It was made with bourbon, iris liquor, Fernet and amaro. It was sort of like a Manhattan though the iris liquor gave it a flowery essence like a Sazarac.
As I’ve mentioned before in my blog, my wife is sensitive to cilantro. So we asked the server to steer us away from anything that would have cilantro. Ceviche is a house specialty. We knew that would have cilantro, but I wanted it anyway. It featured shrimp and scallops, and it was great. My wife ordered a salad for her starter. When it arrived and she took her first bite, she detected the distinctive cilantro flavor. The server was genuinely dismayed; he had told us no cilantro in the salad. He took it away and brought her a fresh one, at which time he informed us that the first one had micro greens as a garnish, and that included some cilantro sprouts.
For her entrée, Linda had chicken roasted with mushrooms and white sweet potatoes. We had never encountered white sweet potatoes before. Our server actually brought one out from the kitchen to show us.
My entrée was braised bison short ribs. They were excellent, very tender and very flavorful. They were served on top of a celery root puree. I did have a glass of wine with my dinner. I ordered a Turley Old Vines Zinfandel. It was one of the wines we had tasted at the winery earlier in the day. I wanted to see how it paired with the meat. It was excellent, as you’d expect. La Cosecha has a very interesting wine list, with many locally produced wines as well as a selection of Spanish and South American wines.
The ambiance of the restaurant was very laid back. There were a couple of large groups in the restaurant that night. I thought it was interesting that the groups were all men. I assume that they were in Paso Robles doing business, and most likely that business was wine.
Our server was very friendly and helpful. He quickly and efficiently took care of the slight misstep of the cilantro greens on my wife’s salad, and otherwise, he was great.
With the prevalence of Hispanic culture in California, I suppose it makes sense that a town like Paso Robles would have a great Spanish/Latin restaurant. I’m glad we found it.
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