The Upper Crust in San Luis Obispo

TRAVEL THERE: THE UPPER CRUST TRATTORIA IN SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA

No, I’m not talking about the Central Coast‘s social elite. The Upper Crust is a great little Italian Restaurant on Los Osos Valley Road in San Luis Obispo.

LOVE AT FIRST BITE

One thing led to another.  After I moved to the San Luis Obispo area I researched churches and discovered Grace Church in SLO.  At Grace Church, I met Marilyn, who invited me to Bible Study.  After Bible Study we went to the Upper Crust.  All three of these were pivotal events.  Grace Church and Marilyn were foundational to my life in SLO and Upper Crust was my go-to restaurant.

When we wanted pasta, we’d go to Upper Crust.  When we wanted a pizza, we’d go to Upper Crust.  If we wanted a a salad, a quick bite, a romantic meal, a glass of wine, to entertain clients, to entertain guests…  The bottom line was, we went there a lot.  Since this was beach country, we went to seafood restaurants quite often too, but for everything else, it was Upper Crust.

THREE WORDS – RASPBERRY VINAIGRETTE SALAD

The pizza was good.  Their pasta was great.  The Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad – to die for.  Fresh greens, candied walnuts, out of this world dressing, add chicken if you need protein – OMG.  If a had a nickel for every time I ate it, I would at least have enough to buy several more.

I heartily recommend anything on the menu.  You can’t go wrong.  However, if you leave without someone at the table ordering a Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad, you’ve made a huge mistake.  My friend Marilyn always maintained that another place had a better Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad, but she was wrong.  In all other things, I thought Marilyn was one of the smartest people I ever had the opportunity to befriend, but she didn’t know her Raspberry Vinaigrette Salads.

CENTRALLY LOCATED

Wherever you live or visit in San Luis Obispo County, no one outside SLO county residents will recognize the name of it.  Mention Heart Castle or Cal Poly and some people might say, “Oh yeah” – or you might have to resort to explaining it’s halfway between LA and San Fran.  The whole county doesn’t have as many people in it as Garland, a suburb of Dallas.

When I lived there, I sold real estate all over the county and Highway One was the main thoroughfare.  The Upper Crust is right off Highway One on Los Osos Valley Road.  That was an intersection I passed almost daily for one reason or another, so that made eating there or meeting there that much easier.  It also means that wherever you go in the area, you won’t have any trouble including the restaurant in your itinerary.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Do not miss The Upper Crust!  If you’re driving between LA and San Fran, it is just about halfway and it is worth the stop.

From SLO we drove on to LA.  I’ll tell you about that next week.