North American eateries
Ratings are on a scale of 0 to 24.
The scale used to be 0 to 10, so restaurants written about
before 2012 may have only had their ratings adjusted by formula and
not by hand (hence all the 2s, 5s, 8s, etc.)
The scale works as follows:
PRO 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 |
pro 15 14 13 12 11 10 |
mixed 9 8 7 6 5 4 |
con 3 2 1 |
CON 0 |
An asymmetrical 0 to 24 scale may not be intuitive, I
realize.
But as a rule of thumb: a double-digit score means I liked it, while a
single-digit score… less so.
Also, as you might expect, scores from many years ago may not be very
reliable, so do check the dates.
CA Central Coast
San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties.
(The underlying theme of this section: Is there a reason
to take the 101 instead of the 5?)
Click on the column titles to sort the entries!
Name |
Cuisine |
Address |
Last update |
Score | |
Birkholm's Bakery | Bakery | Alisal near Mission, Solvang | 2015-02-12 | 12 |
I figured that if you're going to go to California's recreation of a Danish village, you should probably get a danish. Here I got a gigantic cherry/cheese danish. It was tasty. Good job, Danes. |
Coffee Express | Cafe | Grand near Brisco, Arroyo Grande | 2015-02-12 | 8 |
Unnervingly nice service, but the breakfast wrap I got here was not the unparalleled triumph I had been led to expect. It was okay but it's in the middle of the pack as breakfast burritos go. |
Old West Cinnamon Rolls | Cinnamon rolls | Dolliver & Pismo, Pismo Beach | 2021-08-08 | 14 |
Very good cinnamon rolls with a variety of toppings; my favorite was probably the one with cream cheese (apparently a dairy supplies the shop with 300 pounds of cream cheese every week) and cherries. |
Doc Burnstein's Ice Cream Lab | Dessert (ice cream) | Branch btw Wesley/Nevada, Arroyo Grande | 2007-02-19 | 14 |
Good ice cream and a
charming establishment. Apparently they create new flavors on Wednesday night in
performances open to the public. |
La Super-Rica | Mexican | Milpas & Alphonse, Santa Barbara | 2015-02-12 | 15 |
This is basically a taco shack, and most dishes are very simple. Rajas: peppers, onions, cheese and herbs on a pair of corn tortillas. Queso de cazuela: melted cheese in a bowl of tomato sauce, served with three corn tortillas. Gordita frijol: corn tortilla stuffed with spiced pintos. Simple and yet very good. The exceptions have been the specials: chilaquiles were above average but not great, and the tamal de verduras was bland. Still, a must-visit. |
Chinelo | Mexican | Broad btw Marsh/Higuera, San Luis Obispo | 2021-08-05 | 11 |
Here Ellie and I split a huge “California burrito” (i.e., one with french fries in it). It tasted more like eating a plate of fries with sour cream and salsa than like a burrito, but that ain’t a bad lunch. |
Full of Life Flatbread | Pizza | Bell btw Den/St. Joseph, Los Alamos | 2021-08-08 | 14 |
I stopped by this place, in a tiny hilltown ten miles from anywhere, many years ago, back when it was called American Flatbread—apparently there was a schism between the west coast and east coast factions—and wound up being seated almost directly in front of the blazing hot pizza oven. By the end of the meal I felt pretty well done myself. This time around, the covids made takeout seem like a better choice. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the pizza was better than it was back in the Bush years! |
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