The important stuff

Now I know that most of you started coming around here for the food. And there just hasn't been much food here lately. So I decided to put together the food highlights of my trip this past weekend into one post. I'll just warn you. You might only want to proceed if your belly is full.


By the time I finished checking out the butterflies on Friday morning, it was lunch time. So I headed on over to a place that Fluffycat had recommended to me -- Cracked Crab. Things were looking good when the really nice server brought out my condiment selection and tools.


I went with their specialty -- The Bucket. Potatoes, corn and Cajun sausage steamed up with my selections of Dungeness crab and mussels. And then all dumped out onto the butcher paper on the table. I ate it all. Except for the potatoes. Loved this place so much that I wanted to eat all my meals there.


For Saturday's hike I had to park near the San Luis Pier. It's a working pier.


Complete with pelicans waiting for a morsel.

At the end of the pier sits Olde Port Inn. I figured that any restaurant in this close of proximity of fresh seafood had to be mighty good. And I love a place that lists dessert first on the menu -- "It's never too soon to plan for dessert."


On my server's recommendations, I ordered one of their specials for the day, crab cakes. Her selling point was that they never use bread/filler in their crab cakes. Just pure crabmeat.


And of course I had to try the above which is probably all kinds of artery clogging but so good. Shrimp stuffed with Monterey Jack cheese, lightly breaded, wrapped in bacon and then fried up. Served with cocktail sauce. I will have to attempt these at home because I don't think that I can wait until my next trip down that way to have them again.


Before hitting the road home on Sunday, I drive another hour south to the town of Solvang. If I am on 101 and have traveled as far south as Pismo, then a trip to Solvang is always a must. So what if it's only about an hour north of Santa Barbara and I had to drive home from there?


My main reason to go to Solvang these days is to stop at Mortensen's Danish Bakery. Pictured are the cookies I brought into the office after my return. They were quickly consumed. And one person asked if I had more stashed at home. Because yes, they are that good. I mean I did go two hours out of my way just for the cookies. That should tell you something. And look? Now they have shipping.


Finally, no California road trip is complete without a stop at In-N-Out, in my opinion. In an effort to be "good," I got the cheeseburger instead of my usual double double. But I always have to have it animal style.