The Art of Eat

Novo Restaurant and Lounge
726 Higuera St.
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
(805) 543-3986‎

So finally I am reviewing what I consider the best restaurant in San Luis Obispo. I’ve been countless times, and every time, excluding my first meal at Novo under the old management, I loved the food, the ambiance, the wine, and the service. Unfortunately to be the best in San Luis Obispo means competition with the poor likes of Firestone, Thai Palace, and Buona Tavola, and so Novo even with its flaws is still my top choice. I would venture to say that when it comes to preparation of the meal the only restaurant with equally good food is Native Lounge and Restaurant but only when chef Charles A. is preparing which is not a guarantee. But enough about the competition.

Novo is the best restaurant in San Luis Obispo for a number of reasons. In large part, the ambiance is brilliant. The outdoor patio in the back overhangs the creek making it one of the most romantic places to dine in all of San Luis Obispo and only the closed Grappolo had a patio worth comparing. Novo’s interior dining room is chic and trendy with a wine bar at both front and back and late at night fills with better dressed patrons than the usual San Luis haunt although I’ve never considered Novo a lounge like its name would lead you to believe. The service at Novo is hands down the best in San Luis Obispo with the best service coming usually from the male waiters who are perky, attentive, and chatty.

Where Novo falls down a little is the menu. A little more than half of Novo’s food is fantastic and, besides Native, is unparalleled in San Luis Obispo. Half the menu is a selection of traditional tapas dishes including meats and cheeses which are amazingly well done, but the other half of the menu is a selection of Pan-Asian inspired fusion dishes which are lacking in flavour and skill in preparation. The dishes are of the trendy small plate variety, with a couple daily specials and a soup du jour, although I’ve never ordered one of the entree dishes since I love a good variety. Almost everyone I know that’s eaten at Novo loves their Lobster Bisque although it’s a bit too thin for my liking. My personal favourites include their Roast Quail, Lavender Lamb Chops, Moroccan Lamb Mechoui, Chevre, and Shepherd’s Plate, and the best special I’ve ever ordered was a tuna tartar taco salad that was literally a small mountain - unusual since their usual dishes are very small. Of the dishes I didn’t like the ones that stood out the most are the Spring Rolls, Singapore Chicken Satay, Lettuce Wraps, and Roast Duck Breast which had no flavour at all and was only saved by the Penang curry accompanying.

What Novo misses in lounge ambiance, mainly a dj, loud music, dark lighting, and lounge chairs, it makes up in sheer variety of alcoholic beverages. Novo doesn’t have a fancy bartender that makes tropical concoctions that’ll knock you off your feet like Blue, but Novo has a wine list that’ll take a half hour to read through and a beer menu as large as Spike’s, the beer bar down the street. Novo stays open Friday and Saturday nights till midnight as a Wine and Beer bar and is one of the better places to go if you’re fashionable and have money to burn. Of the wine’s I’ve tried at Novo all were excellent with a wide variety from the Central Coast and almost equally wide variety from all over the world. Novo’s beer prices are pretty reasonable, but the wine prices are a bit high with a $10-15 markup per bottle from retail price and almost nothing in the upper $20s. A word of advice though, with such a large wine selection to choose from perhaps check out the bottle you’d like to try before going since the staff generally haven’t tried all the selection and may not be very helpful in recommendations.

As I mentioned countless times, Novo is the best restaurant in San Luis Obispo in terms of food, drink, ambiance, and service. The biggest draw backs are the cost and Asian menu selections, but if you’re willing to spend and know what to order it’s a very rewarding experience. If you’re a big drinker expect the tab to be in the $50-60 range after a meal, but I’ll say for the last time, it’s a price that’s worth it in this town.

Celadon
500 Main St # G
Napa, CA‎
(707) 254-9690

Don’t be discouraged by the difficult to find front door to Celadon because this restaurant in Napa Valley is absolutely stunning and well worth the hunt. When I first picked out Celadon as a stop on my Napa trip last year I didn’t expect the entire front of the hotel it was adjacent to to be under construction with no sign postage explaining that the restaurant was located on the side of the hotel, but after parking and looking around for a little while we finally found our way into the dining room and were on our way to wine and dining in true Napa style.

Celadon is located right along the river front in a very scenic spot although with the construction going on we decided to sit inside. The interior dining area is a roofed off courtyard with a large open four sided fireplace right in the middle. Since we were grabbing a late lunch around 2pm there was no one there, literally, so we got the entire restaurant to ourselves. The decor had a rugged elegance to it and fit everything just right. Celadon is a contemporary fusion restaurant with overtones of Chinese, Italian, and French cuisines, blended and created with California ingredients to create its own style. Let me just say that I generally hate trendy fusion restaurants but Celadon changed my mind. The food was excellent!

To start we had a bottle of Beringer Private Reserve Chardonnay that was excellent, with beautiful oak tones and a smooth, buttery mouth feel. I’m a big fan of buttery Chardonnay’s and Beringer’s maintained a lot of the oak and wasn’t as fruit forward as many newer styled Chards. To go with the Chardonnay we ordered an appetizer of Pork Belly with Watermelon. I can’t imagine that Pork Belly is a top selling choice on the menu, but being Asian I understand that Pork Belly is a specialty and the appetizer was stunning and possibly the best choice in terms of simplicity and originality. The two counterparts of pork belly and watermelon were a perfect match with the watermelon providing a cool crisp cut to the richness of the pork. Paired with the Chardonnay, it was nothing but excellent.

For my entree I continued with the pork belly since it was so excellent on the appetizer and I ordered the Pappardelle with pork belly, spinach, mushrooms, and truffles. At first I didn’t think the appetizer could be topped, but the entree was even better. Pappardelle, a wide linguine type noodle, is traditionally paired with rich sauces of hare and wild boar and the pork belly, although nontraditional, made a good alternative to more European choices. The richness of the truffles also added to the flavour and it was one of the richest meals I have ever eaten. Somehow I managed to finish my plate helped down with the increasingly more buttery Chardonnay and finished completely satisfied.

Celadon was the last stop on my way out of Napa and it left an impression that even if the wines were overly challenging and over priced, the food was still spectacular and made the trip well worth it. Hopefully someday I’ll return to Celadon and be able to sit on the scenic terrace over looking the river, but until then I will look fondly on the best tasting fusion restaurant I have ever eaten at.

Native Lounge
1023 Chorro St
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
(805) 547-5544‎

A little over a year ago the overpriced and unnoteworthy Mission Grill was replaced by Native Lounge, a trendy big city club that set a new bar for classy drinking in an otherwise average small college town. Native stripped the old wood decor in favour of glass sliding walls and a shiny silver bar. The dining room was replaced with a good sized dance floor, and the tables were replaced with modern sectionals for reclining and tiny drink tables to hold the small plates and mojitos. It was shaping up to be the best thing that ever happened to San Luis Obispo’s nightlife, and for a time it was.

Native operates as a restaurant during the afternoon and early evening until about 9 when the music picks up and it reorients itself as a lounge. After about 10:30 on weekend nights it reverts to more of a bar and club with mostly upper classmen and sophisticates from the Bay area or Los Angeles that enjoy a collared shirt requirement and a $5 cover charge. I first heard of Native soon after I turned 21 when the head chef Charles A. came into the olive oil store I worked at on repeated Farmer’s Market nights. We got to talking food and olive oil and inevitably he invited me to try out the restaurant. He explained that the restaurant had a tiny fridge capacity and he used the Farmer’s market to stock up on fresh local produce and a bottle of olive oil for every weekend. Local food freshly procured! I set a date and a few days later there I was with 6 of my friends. Charles A. is the best chef in San Luis Obispo, and when he’s preparing the meals there is no better restaurant in the town. Unfortunately, most often he isn’t preparing the meals and the food is just so so and I picked up the habit of going only if I know he is working. But when he is cooking it’s as good as any restaurant in any big city.

Native has the trendy small plate envisionment of food which allows for maximum sampling (a plus) and maximum cost (a negative). To start, I picked out the Armenian special, since Charles A. is Armenian I figured he’d be able to do a good job with this one, Parmesan and White Truffle Fries, and Baby Purple Artichoke Hearts served Crispy. All of these plates were absolutely bursting with flavour. Since truffle is my favourite flavour, of course the fries were stupendous and one order of those was enough to go around and then some. The artichoke hearts were the most unusual dish, but I have to admit easily as my favourite of the night. Sadly they no longer serve the artichoke hearts at the moment but hopefully I’ll persuade a comeback for it. For the entree small plates we got a wide assortment: Duck Confit empenadas, Meatloaf Sliders, Ostrich medallions on black rice with a sweet spicy sauce, Kimchi Chicken Wraps, and the fantastic Tuna Tartare tacos with Avocado Tempura. The Tuna Tacos were the best of the entrees and the avocado was so surprisingly good I don’t understand why more restaurants don’t do it. The Ostrich was cooked just right and spicy enough even for a chili fiend like myself. I was most unimpressed by the Meatloaf sliders, and the Duck empanadas were a little sparing on the duck although still delicious. For dessert Charles brought out Petron Chocolate Expresso Granites which were sweet, sexy, and the best way to end a meal.

Then there are the drinks. Native like most clubs and restaurants makes most of its money from the drink menu and do they have some fantastic drinks. All the mojitos are first rate, I tried a strawberry mojito and it ws stunning. My favourite drinks they offer are made with Dry sodas and the rhubarb soda based drink is as good as any classy club’s. And lest I forget, Native has a hibiscus champagne with a whole edible flower that’s to die for. The negative is the drinks are small and expensive so bring a big wallet if you’re planning on drinking a lot because they are dear.

Native was fun for a long time bringing big city djs to a town devoid of good club music. After establishing a good name for themselves, Native hired some local djs that unfortunately had the effect of ruining the good music and replacing it with crap top 40 hip-hop and R&B hits that play at every other bar in town. Now I primarily go for the food and only return on friends’ requests during my downtown sojourns. On occasion they bring in out of town djs and those are always parties worth attending. More information on special nights can be found at their website.

Fig & Olive
808 Lexington Ave
New York, NY 10065
(212) 207-4555

I haven’t eaten at one restaurant in New York more than this amazing destination on the Upper East Side. After working at an Olive Oil store as a taster for a year I’ve become quite the evoo connoisseur and pretty much tried everything that olives can produce. My personal cooking usually revolves around which olive oils I have in stock since I usually have a variety of at least five to choose from. Not only is it healthy to cook with olive oil, but the taste is unbeatable. I’ve had many a friend tell me I should go into the cheffing business, although I’m not that great of a cook, I just know when and which olive oils to use to make food amazing and stand out like none other. Let me just say that no restaurant can cook with olive oil like Fig & Olive. It’s not greasy as some would think, but the right flavoured oil in the right amount can take a good Mediterranean dish and turn it into a delicacy par excellence, and it takes only a mild understanding of the differences in olive oils to achieve.

Fig & Olive is quietly hidden behind three large potted cypress trees on Lexington with a fantastic double sided bar that stretches from the front of the restaurant to the center. Small candle lit tables adorn the walls and a shelf display of Fig & Olive’s olive oils stands at the back of the restaurant for all to see. The dining room has a quiet cozy romantic atmosphere toward the back while the wine bar is great for a night out with a bunch of friends. Everything on the menu at Fig & Olive, not surprisingly, has either figs or olives in it and is it amazing what versatility those two ingredients have. Best of all is the olive oil tasting menus, of which there are three to choose from. Crostini, cheese, or vegetable accompaniments go with choice olive oils and the pairings are nothing but enlightened. I’ve not once gone and been disappointed and even after my first visit when it took 40 minutes to get our food did I think, after eating of course, of not returning. In fact it’s always on my to do restaurant list when I visit the East Coast.

My last visit to Fig & Olive started with the Fig Jamon Goat Cheese Carpaccio paired with the delectable Arbosana Olive Oil from Spain. The strong flavour of the ham and goat cheese is a perfect match for a strong green, vegetal, peppery varietal oil like the Arbosana. Following I had a set of three Crostini oil pairings which were all delicious and done just right. If you do visit at least give one of the tasting menus a go, it’ll make you realise the possibilities of a good bottle of olive oil even on simple dishes. For my main I tried the grilled lamb skewers with fig and scallion couscous. This dish was paired with a fresh, green, fruity Koroneiki oil from Greece that especially stood out in the couscous. Prices at Fig & Olive are also quite reasonable for New York and the caliber of food with entrees in the mid-twenties and appetizers from $10-15.

Fig & Olive’s website has a few recipes worth repeating for sake of delicious food. I have tried making the zucchini carpaccio and had wonderful results with a fruity, green tomato Ascolano from Robbins Family Farm in California. But nothing compares to visiting this fantastic restaurant. Even the wait staff are considerate and well mannered. Whatever is ordered, the dish is always prepared just right, and not once have I felt the food too oily or rich. As I said before, Fig & Olive is an amazing restaurant with an enlightened approach to cooking with olive oil and I can’t applaud them enough for it.

Spire Restaurant
90 Tremont St
(617) 772-0232‎

I celebrated my one year anniversary at this restaurant located in the very cool Nine Zero boutique hotel where I was also staying and it was one hell of a night. Spire is almost one of those trendy contemporary Nouveau-French cuisine restaurants with great decor, music, tasty weak drinks, and poor food. The almost is for the food. Spire has amazing food and I will say I’ve never been so full in my entire life. Not even close. And to top it off we ordered a four course meal that somehow turned into a full on seven course food fest. I sat in amazement as plate after plate of amazing eye-popping belt busting delicacies kept on coming. Perhaps they made a mistake and gave us the seven course instead but I wasn’t complaining a bit.

Nine Zero is located just off the Boston Commons and my room was situated on the 18th of 19 floors. For the big price tag, the room was very small, just a big queen bed, a little desk, and regular sized bathroom with a fashionable shower. What I was paying for I expect was the great view of the Boston Commons and the Courthouse steps from the big picture window. I wanted to get the Cloud Nine suite one story above my room with a full living room and all modern decor, but for more than double I had to settle for the almost penthouse view and not the grand shabang. Beggars can’t be choosers I suppose.

Spire is located on the second floor of the hotel and it’s beautiful. Dark woods and tall ceilings gave the restaurant a grand hall kind of feeling and the dim lights and well spaced tables were perfect for a romantic evening. The menu consisted of a couple prix fixe options, a four course and seven course meal. The menu changes seasonally so repeat visits aren’t an issue and someday I wish to return to happily force down the seven course with a few bottles of wine. Spire was also the first restaurant I tried my favourite sparkling water, Voss. Yes I know it’s incredibly trendy, but tall bottle of glass and tiny micro-bubbles that tickle the tongue are just my style, and it was definitely fitting of Spire’s style to use Voss.

The first plate to arrive was a kumquat and scallop palate cleanser. Delicate in flavour, the scallop was tender and moist and the citrus did the job of clearing the way for the army of food to come. My first appetizer was a Halibut tartare with creme fraiche and caviar. A brilliant dish with complete balance in flavour from the slightly sweet creme fraiche and salty caviar over the neutral fleshy halibut. I’m salivating just thinking about it. Next came a Thai basil and spinach salad with a sour blood orange vinaigrette that worked hard at freeing the stomach while filling it up. The strong flavours of the Basil and blood orange created a complexity that somehow made the dish quite light left me wanting more. My fourth plate arrived in the form of a salad that I will never ever forget and one that I try to emulate almost weekly. An arugula and bitter greens salad with persimmons coated with black truffle oil and a balsamic vinaigrette over razor thin Serrano ham all topped with a poached egg. There has never been a better salad ever created and I question whether there ever will be. The persimmon and black truffle oil duo is extremely intense in flavour with persimmons and stone fruit being my optimum choice for pairing with truffles. The fifth plate was the final entree and consisted of braised short ribs over a bed of spinach resting happily on a layer of grits and black truffle oil. Since truffles are my favourite thing in the world you can expect how easily this went down for me. Around this time I was pretty stuffed. Unlike French restaurants where each course is delicate to the point that you only get one bite per plate, Spire believed that a full plate was the American way and not one plate was not copious in amount. And then came the desserts. To clear the palate a ginger tangerine sorbet arrived followed quickly by a ginger souffle topped with sweet cream and kumquat marmalade made just right and not too sweet.

The service throughout the entire meal was attentive and we were never lacking in anything. Despite being the youngest diners in the restaurant I never felt as though we were treated differently by our wonderful waiter who complimented us constantly throughout the night. Perhaps he was a romantic. The food was great, the setting was great, and the only improvement I can think of is a wheelbarrow service to get you out of the restaurant when you’re done eating because you will be in pain, a sweet blissful, satisfied pain that I will never forget or love more. Bring your stretchy pants and an empty stomach because you won’t want to leave a scrap on any plate.

Jin Patisserie
1202 Abbot Kinney Blvd
(310) 399-8801‎

This is my gem of Los Angeles. The one and only place that I would consider a MUST go for any visitor to my favourite city. I consider Los Angeles my hometown even though I only went to high school there for three years, but I spent a lot of time prowling the streets of LA for the best places to go and without a doubt Jin is the place to go. Located in one of my favourite neighborhoods in the world, Abbot Kinney in Venice Beach, the little cafe and tea room is charming, delicious, and the epitome of what LA is about.

Los Angeles for most people is a confusing maze of freeways, bad traffic, and impossible to find places. What makes LA special to me is the secret stashes of bliss that dot the almost unlimited diverse neighborhoods around the city, and Venice holds the best kept secret in the whole county, Abbot Kinney. A three block stretch of modern design, California bungalows turned stores, and boutiques lies completely hidden from the outsider, but is home to many celebrities including Julia Roberts and Dennis Hopper, and more modern architecture homes than any other city in California. My favourite leather goods store, Daisy Arts, and one of my favourite shoe makers, Toms, are both located in this tiny stretch.

Jin Patisserie is located near the north end of Abbot Kinney in a fantastic California bungalow home. The entire house is the kitchen where the world’s best cakes are made and the front yard has been turned into a dreamy Asian-inspired modern garden surrounded by bamboo and reeds closed off from the rest of the world. In the garden is a small collection of chairs and tables creating a very quiet cozy eating place but it’s difficult to get large parties seated and calling ahead can definitely be a life saver.

Jin Patisserie was started by a Singaporean dessert chef trained in Singapore and France and the specialty of the house is the most beautiful and delicious cakes in the whole world. A selection of almost 15 varieties of cake spans the whole French and Asian palette, from dark chocolate and lavender to green tea and passion fruit. My most notable favourites are the Desire and the Passion Fruit. The Desire is a complex mousse cake hidden in a soft chocolate shell with a raspberry or cherry on top and feuilletine, creme brulee, and sponge cake at the base. The flavour mix is staggering and each ingredient holds its own as the cake melts in your mouth. The Passion is slightly more simple but no less intriguing, a passion fruit, mango, mascarpone cake that is sweet and pleasing to any tongue. Every other cake on the menu is absolutely mind blowing in flavour and delicate intricacy and there’s no wrong choice. Even the house cake served with the lunch special, the Tropical - a blend of mango and coconut usually served in a shapeless tumble, is fantastic.

The tea selection at Jin focuses on Green’s and Black’s from China and the Near East and is the perfect compliment to the cakes and sandwiches. My usual choices are the The de Loup and The du Hammam, strong greens with hints of nuts and flowers. The sandwich selection rounds out the menu items with traditional egg salad, tuna salad, and my favourite, the chicken salad. The sandwiches are made from fresh meats and ingredients and are luscious and creamy. I always got the fresh olive bread, a healthy whole grain Italian style bread with chewy crust and large slices of Kalamata olive in the large pockets and a dab of olive oil. The sandwiches are accompanied by a mesclun salad with an extremely light salty dressing that brings out the natural flavour in the fresh greens and I still have never been able to replicate the dressing to this day no matter how hard I try.

Jin Patisserie is one of the best tea rooms in the world, my favourite cake maker, and their take home chocolates, cookies, and teas make good gifts for the more discerning taster. As a cafe, the atmosphere is charming and dreamy, appealing to all the senses at once and closing off the diner from the rest of the world. Time stands still while eating at Jin. I can remember exactly the way the cakes tickled my taste buds, melted on my tongue, and smelled fragrant of flowers and fruit - even from the first time I visited five years ago. Yes it’s that amazing and if you don’t visit while in Los Angeles you won’t even begin to understand why it’s my favourite city.

One last note, the hours the cafe is open are very limited and so is the seating. Like most bakeries, the cakes are usually best about one hour after opening and often run out of the more tantalizing selections before closing time. Call ahead if you have a large party and don’t forget to stroll the street before or after your meal. It was a journey just writing about Jin. Enjoy.