Dinner in Cambria
On the drive home from Sonoma/Napa, Kim and I stopped for a night in Cambria, along the Central California coast. The cool ocean breeze rejuvenated us during a weeklong heat wave in California. We spent the day walking on the boardwalk overlooking the ocean, and took the 30-minute drive inland to Paso Robles. Paso is another fun wine destination in Southern CA. It’s about three hours from our home, so we often come here for weekend getaways and wine tasting. This time, we stopped at a winery called Peachy Canyon, along route 46W before entering Paso Robles proper.
At Peachy Canyon, they specialize in Zinfandel, a big, bold, fruity red wine. We sat on Adirondack chairs, under a big shade tree on the grounds behind the tasting room. We tasted through quite a few different wines and relaxed on a hot summer day. As the sun sank in the late afternoon, we headed back to Cambria to get cleaned up before dinner.
We took the five-minute drive from our hotel to Madeline’s Restaurant & Wine Cellar on Main Street in Cambria. It was a busy day, but our table was ready and we were seated in about five minutes. We ordered some wine (Pinot Noir for Kim, and a crisp Pinot Gris for me) and ordered our food.
Kim enjoyed her appetizer of Spanish Octopus, slow cooked with roasted tomato, saffron, paprika, garlic and lemon over a crispy risotto cake. My appetizer of Diver Scallops seared and served over a mushroom duxelles with a beurre blanc went very well with my wine.
For our main courses, Kim had a chicken breast stuffed with candied walnuts, brie and spinach, with a sage brown butter sauce, scalloped potatoes, and roasted asparagus. I was thrilled to find one of my all-time favorites on the menu: grilled Venison Chops, which was served with mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. The sommelier recommended their house-label Petite Verdot red wine to pair with the venison, and I could not have been happier! There couldn’t have been a better way to end our relaxing vacation than this meal. We will definitely be visiting Cambria and Madeline’s Restaurant again in the future.