Dining

Cioppino and pinot noir is a winning culinary combo being celebrated in style at Leonard and Wendy Cohen’s new Ciopinot Seafood Grille in downtown San Luis Obispo.

It’s all the rage for chefs and restaurant staff to plant their own gardens. Joe and Debbie Thomas of Thomas Hill Organics Market Bistro and Wine Bar took the opposite route — they started with a farm.

As residents of the Railroad Square neighborhood, Jen and Brandon Manuele often “wished there was a place nearby where we could get lattes made with organic milk, or food made from local ingredients, or …”

Want to give your taste buds a treat? Then check out the fine fare at Fig Good Food in downtown Atascadero. Recently launched by Christina Dillow and Greg Perello, Fig offers everything from savory to sweet, appetizers to entrées, sides to dessert.

Sometimes the same old thing needs a change, and sometimes it absolutely doesn’t, as is the case with Pismo Beach Fish and Chips. Located on the corner of Cypress and Stimson, the iconic Pismo Beach eatery has been successfully doing it their way since 1963, ever since it was established by Ann and Jack Zechner.

Neighborhood markets like Lincoln Market and Deli used to be the hub of their communities, “but this is one of the last of a dying breed,” said proprietor Linda Derks.

Sometimes something very simple can be sublime. Take noodles for example, especially those being served up at Deedee Kwong’s Mee Heng Low Noodle House.

The Inn at Morro Bay may be one of the Central Coast’s best kept secrets. Perched serenely above the estuary, just steps away from a golf course and a state park, it offers both casual dining in the Bay Club and upscale dining in the Orchid Restaurant — not to mention a great place to watch the sunset!

Me and Z’s Restaurant in Arroyo Grande may be new to the county’s culinary scene, but owner Zenaida Stevens certainly isn’t.

There are times when a light bite will do, and there are times when you need a big plate of stick-to-your-ribs comfort food put in front of you. Though Tina’s Place in Santa Margarita can certainly serve up the former, it’s a perfect place for the latter.

Hush-Harbor Artisan Bakery and Café is well known throughout the county for its handcrafted breads, pastries and pies, but it’s also a great place for gourmet lunches and Saturday breakfast.

Rotisserie chickens may be everywhere these days, but those in the know still go to Popolo, the Monterey Street cafe that essentially introduced them to local palates 19 years ago.

You know those easy-access, pocket-size menus from local restaurants, the ones all neatly displayed in their own custom racks? Well, they're now available on the Web.

If you’re a steak lover in North County, you’ve likely been a fan of the Paso Robles Inn Steakhouse for a very long time.

Every day, hundreds of motorists enter southbound Highway 101 in Pismo Beach without noticing the culinary jewel that is Rosa’s Italian Restaurant.

Drive down Main Street in downtown Templeton any Sunday morning, and the streets are quiet, stores are closed and people are nowhere to be seen. Except, that is, at the corner of Seventh Street, where a small restaurant called Joe’s Place typically has a dozen or more people waiting outside for as long as 30 minutes to get a table and enjoy what owner Joe Ontiveros calls “the best breakfast in town.”

Dining Out

The reopening of The Galley restaurant on Morro Bay’s Embarcadero was a long-awaited highlight for many locals.

The little green house with the quaint picket fence on Spring Street in Paso Robles is a long way from Rome. But this is where Sicilianborn Gaetano Marsano decided to open his restaurant two years ago.

Those who miss the old Denny’s restaurant at Calle Joaquin Street and Los Osos Valley Road in San Luis Obispo can take comfort that a better diner has opened in its place.