It’s been almost two weeks since we’ve left SLO, but I’ve been saving this restaurant review for a little SLO nostalgia post. On our very last night in town, we went to one of the newer restaurants in town, a small place called Sidecar that took over Broad St. Tavern‘s spot that I reviewed when I first started the blog.
Sidecar is definitely the hipster scene come to SLO. The decor is an eclectic mix of mismatched tables, chairs, and black and white candid photographs. It’s also owned by the same owners as local college student favorite coffee shop Kreuzberg and focuses on bringing local, farm fresh food to the dining table–right up my alley!
According to their website,
We offer a farm-to-table seasonal menu created by chef Michael. We support SLO County farmers, ranchers, and growers by buying almost everything we use direct . We think awesome food doesn’t need a white tablecloth to taste good. About 1/3rd of our menu is vegetarian and we’ve worked hard to offer incredible food for all tastes and all budgets.
Instead of the usual bread and dipping sauces, the meal began with truffled, seasoned popcorn. An interesting but not unwelcome touch. It’s amazing how truffle oil has become so popular!
For dinner, we ordered stuffed piquillo peppers with bechemel & manchego cheese, spanish olives, romesco sauce and crostini.
Kale salad with black tahini, pistachio, radish, kumquat, pink peppercorn and mandarin vinaigrette. The tahini was a nice touch, but the kale was served in long strips instead of cut into small chunks like I’m used t0.
Ensalata Tres Mares with mexican white shrimp, local dungeness crab, manila clams, local lettuces, avocado, castelvetrano olives, radish, jicama, and a lime vinaigrette .
All American Burger with house smoked cheddar, tomato, and red onion.
Fried Chicken with vermont cheddar mashed potatoes & gravy, braised greens, and a house buttermilk biscuit.
Overall, the food was good, but nothing too out of the ordinary despite the unique menu. Also, for some reason, our food took forever to come out after ordering, but our waitress was beyond apologetic about the wait and even offered us free drink vouchers to apologize.
I think the restaurant is a nice edition to the downtown scene, but sometimes the flavors got a little lost in the ambitiousness of the creations.
You can check out more information about Sidecar on their website here.
