Los Olivos Cafe
A Review of This Wine Country Restaurant with a Mediterranean Menu
Where: 2879 Grand Ave., (805) 688-7265, losolivoscafe.com
What: A Mediterranean-inspired menu that matches with many magnificent Santa Barbara and Paso Robles wines.
How much: Dinner starters $8-$15, pizzas $12-$14, mains $16-$28
The dish: Somehow this spot is most famous for where Myles in Sideways threw his merlot fit, and not for the clearly borderline orgiastic meal and wine fest the two couples actually have on their double date. They do have a Sideways fixed price menu, if you want to go that route, but why not pick and choose from the Mediterranean-inspired menu that offers everything from a Cafe Nicoise salad (sauteed wild fish, asparagus, cherry tomato, boiled egg, new potato, marinated whole olives, and tomato vinaigrette) to a Cafe pot roast (braised top round of grass-fed beef with whipped potatoes, market vegetables, yam chips, and natural gravy)? Then there’s that wine list, full of brilliant choices at relatively reasonable mark-ups, from that Hitching Post Highliner Pinot Noir for $63 to that Foxen Williamson-Dore Vineyard Syrah for $65. But that’s just two of too many possibilities (a L’Aventure Optimus for $67? a Denner Ditch Digger for $65?). If you’re in the valley, there’s no better spot to finish your wine tasting day.
