Big Sky Cafe

I love the small town of SLO and all the traditions. I also adore the big Fremont Theater for seeing new epic releases. In keeping in the theme of Star Trek, we ventured to the much-ballyhooed Fresh Market Cuisine of Big Sky Café. Gary put up a fuss, believing they only severed wheat grass shakes and tofu steaks. He was pleasantly surprised to view the luscious dessert board and instantly ordered a stack of beignets. These New Orleans delights are light French bread pastry smothered in sugar and cinnamon, chocolate, or fresh berries and made a great appetizer for the pastry king. I ordered a glass of Zinfandel (we get our sugars in different ways), a spicy blend of Zinfandel that was a pleasure and paired perfectly with my chickpea hummus appetizer. Hot and fresh grilled flat bread accompanied my favorite Mediterranean dish of puréed chickpeas with olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic that is simple to make, but only tastes good in the hand of a skilled chef. I search the world over for good hummus and Big Sky Café in now on my list. 

I immediately was drawn to the Catfish, as it is my favorite, if done correctly and farm raised. I asked the waiter where it came from and he went so far as to pull the invoices to answer my request. The catfish was grilled and served over sautéed vegetables all basking in a sweet and hot Thai sauce that was superb. Along the sides were Sushi balls that consisted of sushi rice, rolled in sesame seeds and then flash fried-delicious! 

Gary went for the Mediterranean salad medley, for he loves beets and does not ever get them at home. It was a savory combination of delights including baba ghanouj (a spicy eggplant and tahini sesame seed paste), Italian white bean and tuna salad (simply scrumptious), cucumber tzatzki (a yogurt crème over freshly cut cucumbers), Adriatic beer and potato salad (better than German), beets with a crème sauce and hummus all served with grilled flat bread. He ate every bite and made me try the beets.

We split the Caribbean pork roast with yam risotto and peach chutney, all the while feeling like we were back on the island of Grenada and listening to a steel drum band. We shared the Braised Lamb Shank, a recipe from Buenos Aires, that included
cabernet braised lamb shank, simmered with parsnips, onions, dried apricots, garlic, serrano chiles, tomatoes, cumin & other mild Latin spices. It was served over potato-zucchini latkes. The food was fresh, perfectly prepared, and wonderfully different for our California palettes.

Big Sky Café serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, seven days a week. I cannot wait to try some more of their dishes including the Portobello mushroom Benedict and the Portuguese piri piri chicken with grilled polenta.

This is my new favorite place to bring people with stilted palettes and claim Mac and Cheese as their favorite meal. Located in downtown San Luis on Broad street, there is parking a plenty across the street and a specials board that keeps college professors to die hard meat and potato guys, coming back to try something new. See the whole menu at www.bigskycafe.com. Or just come in for the Chile Chocolate desert that Gary gets drunk on chocolate at 1121 Broad Street in San Luis Obispo, call at (805) 545-5401.