March 26, 2010

Big Sky Cafe

A recent work trip introduced me to San Luis Obispo, California, a charming college town (Go, Cal Poly!) nestled among gorgeous hills still green from winter rains.  For a place its size, it offers an impressive range of good eats.  Top honors this trip go to Big Sky Cafe, which was so good the first night that I returned on my only other free night, to try a bit more of the menu.

Although the interior is upscale-casual, the prices are very reasonable, the service friendly and efficient, the menu is clearly the star.  Three names appear inside the printed menu:  the head chef, the sous chef, and the pastry chef.  And all of them deserve credit the beautifully composed and ingeniously designed dishes.
Using the tagline 'fresh market cuisine,' the back of the menu thanks all the local producers of the noticeably high-quality ingredients utilized.

The Morrocan vegetable tagine over couscous was lovely, though not as stunning and complex as my first night's entree, a lamb shank with roasted vegetables (and potato-zucchini latkes!) that rivaled a fine osso buco.
The dessert menu, like the appetizers, salads, sides, and entrees offered, was not extensive.  But I would rather have a modest menu of great choices, with nightly specials rotated in for variety, than a huge inventory of mediocre fare.  The descriptions bordered on food porn; and the desserts lived up to their descriptions.  Shown above are the meyer lemon panna cotta (with blueberries and a pine nut crust) and the beignet with a dark chocolate filling (best shared by three non-diabetics).  The first night's delights, a Chinese 5-spice creme brulee with a garnish of sugar-cooked citrus slices, and an 'amor brujo' chocolate tart, were pure rapture.

Although I'd like to explore more restaurants in SLO, I'll need at least one meal each visit at Big Sky.

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