Olde Port Inn
Port San Luis, Avila Beach California

Water water everywhere, lots of fish in the deep blue sea, they are jumping up and landing on the plate right in front of me. I am a seafood lover from way back. As a kid, annual summer trips to the Maritimes to visit the aunts and uncles were customary. We would eat seafood at the K-mart, seafood at the shacks, and listen to it hum as it cooked in the caldrons bigger than me, at my aunt's lobster farm in New Brunswick.

Back then Eastern seafood was lobster in sandwiches, steamed with butter, fried clams, chowder and occasionally small crab served up with a smashing club. My dad would drive anywhere to get fresh seafood. Can never find any fried clams anymore; they are always steamed, so it seems on the West Coast.

Lobster has gone by the wayside. Too upscale for my wallet since it now has to be flown to where I live. I had it last in Las Vegas for $80.00 US with sides of vegetables bringing my portion of the company bill up to $150.00 Canadian. Luckily I got along well with the salesman who was picking up the tab and all the other employees had already left for the airport.

Fish and chips - now that is something I would never eat out as youngster. At home maybe from a Highliner box. So fish and chips it was at the Olde Port Inn, Rock Cod with fries and tartar sauce for $8.95 US dollars. The menu stated lightly breaded and so it was. So fine, that I must enquire if the recipe is available?

Rudolph ordered Fish Tacos, fish sautéed with fresh cilantro, white wine and garlic served on corn tortillas with jack cheese, guacamole, sour cream and salsa. That was a brand-spanking new fish idea to me. It was a huge portion of food, not for the faint of heart, tasty and satisfying. Even getting down the pier via car required some guts. Speed limit is 5 miles per hour and the drive is long.

We sat at the back of the restaurant, with a panoramic view of the water in high-legged chairs on a wooden deck. At the front section, underneath the tables, you can actually look straight down through the dock and see the water. Thought that would be a great place to play a joke on someone with the mechanical Jaws coming up for a breath of air.

We returned a second time and this time I splurged and ordered the Scallops and Chips with a substitute salad instead of fries. We were saving room for a dessert that Rudolph had been raving about from Sonoma to LA. The Butterfinger Ice Cream Pie is the thing for you if you've had a bad day or not. We had ours with hot caramel sauce instead of fudge. At $5.95 one dessert is enough for two. And it is blissful!

Mains, if you include the Burger, run from $5.95 US dollars to $25.95 with a few items priced at Market Price. Others items on the menu include Porterhouse Steak, Ribeye Steak, Pasta Pesca, a seafood with marinara sauce topped with feta cheese. The wine list is extensive with California vintages. Service was good. Judging by the crowds the second time around, reservations are a good idea.

Venture out and drink up life!

The Sipping Chef
Email: chefsusan@wineries.ca