Bistro Laurent is a little cafe in down town Paso Robles CA that serves up Classic French Cuisine.

You have a choice of ordering a la carte or doing a multi course tasting where the server picks for you after you discuss with him allergies or dislikes. Most of the dishes that were served to us neither of us would have forking picked but I still had an amazing dinner.

The meal started with an amuse bouche. This was sweet breads with apple. Honestly I didn’t eat this so my husband ate two of them. I know it’s phycological and not logical since I do eat meat but I can’t stomach the thought of eating brains. SORRY!

Then the vichyssoise (cold potato leek) soup came.

Bistro Laurent’s version of this soup stared the leek more than the potato.

My next plate I wouldn’t have pick but was amazing.

It was this Tart with Tomato Basil and Cheese. It was divine! So light and tender just bursting with delicious flavors. I could happily eat one of these every day.

Next course were these tiny raviolis. They were prepared perfect and were very good but I needed my stomach room for the next three courses so my husband happily ate most of these along with his own plate of raviolis.

My main course was this well prepared filet.

The steak was tender with a nice flavorful crust and was prepared to a perfect medium rare. The potatoes were smooth and buttery topped with just the right amount of crisp onions for the just right accent.

Then came the cheese plate that was to die for….

It was simply the best selection of cheeses I ever tasted. I had to ask for a list of the cheeses we received. I never tasted cheeses that were that delicious before.

Tete De Moine

Etorki

Camembert

Comte

Reblochon

Ste Maure

Then came a dessert that really surprised me.

We received something called a Floating Island. It was meringue that sat in a thin but rich custard sauce with fruit and the meringue had a super crispy thin sugar crust. Never had anything like that it was forking interesting.

Much of what I received I wouldn’t have ordered but I enjoyed my meal very much and this dinner from Bistro Laurent was certainly Worth a Fork!

 

Most people go to Paso Robles to drink wine. I did a lot of wine tasting and also got to eat at several places.

My fist dinner was at Chico’s Cafe in downtown.

I had the local sand dabs special. The fish seemed fresh and was just a tad over cooked with slightly burnt tasting potatoes. I’ve been here several times before and usually the food is executed very well. This wasn’t bad it just wasn’t as great as usual. Oh well.

The food from Thai Classic was so good I ate here twice during my stay.

I had the Lime Fish Special. It was spicy, garlicky, limey with fresh tasting meaty mild white fish. It was very good and tasty.

For my second visit I had the Mango Eggplant Curry with Chicken.

This dish was executed far better than from many Thai Restaurants in my area. The flavors were a welcome slap in the face. The lemon grass flavor just popped and basil was infused into the dish with the other flavors. The sweet mango and coconut milk toned down the heat. This dish just had everything going on and was so forking delicious.

Went to a newly opened restaurant called Fish Gaucho.

Fish Gaucho is a casual Mexican Style Restaurant. They don’t bring you chips and salsa. If you want chips and salsa you have to order it for around $7.00 and they will bring you chips with several salsas. I tried the ahi tuna and watermelon salad.

The fish seemed fresh but only had a grey sear on the ends. For my taste this salad had too much acid and was too spicy for me. This salad was almost painful to eat. The peppers were hotter than jalapeños. The salad did taste much better in the few bites were I had watermelon to cool the heat and balance the acid. The salad might have been good if they gave me more than four forking small chunks of watermelon.

Another place that was special that I ate from twice was the Bless Your Heart Bakery.

In this little shop everything is diabetic friendly, gluten free and low glycemic. They don’t have much in the way of sweets on display but you can order nitrate free meat sandwiches on their special healthy fresh baked bread.

I had fresh roasted nitrate free turkey breast on that special rosemary bread. First bite was so different that it was strange to me. As I ate it it just got better and better. The meat was flavorful and natural. The bread didn’t leave a rock in my stomach like the way real bread does and it really was tasty. The rosemary bread went really well with the turkey.

I also went to the new Peruvian Restaurant called Mistura.

I had the escabeche. It was sea bass local root vegetables and three kinds of potatoes. Everything about the plate was fresh and tasty. I’ll probably revisit this place on my next trip to Paso.

My most special and favorite meal came from Bistro Laurent.

Bistro Laurent is French Classic Cuisine paired with local ingredients fueled by an experienced Michelin trained Chef. I had the multi course tasting menu paired with wine. They sort of don’t let you pick your dishes. They ask you what you won’t eat and pick plates for you. Wine pours were very generous and the parade of perfectly seasoned and executed foods marched to us paced in a timely manner. Every dish was memorable such as the best cheese plate I ever had.

The perfect steak.

A really great dessert.