Duarte's

Another discovery this trip was Duarte's Tavern, in Pescadero. (It’s pronounced DEWarts, which I never would have guessed.) Pescadero is also on the coast, about 7 miles south of San Gregorio, so we (my friend Wendy, her business-school friend Karen, and Karen’s daughter, Rebecca) went there for lunch. It’s a local institution, famous for its ollalieberry pie, which was delicious. I also had a grilled cheese sandwich with cream of green chili soup, which turned out to be exactly what I wanted after a windblown day on the beach. Their artichoke soup is also legendary. A local secret that Karen knew is that you can order a “swirl” of two soups. She did that and what arrived was a bowl of pale artichoke soup with chili soup stirred in like a foam design on a cappuccino. It looked beautiful and although I didn’t taste it, Karen seemed even happier than the rest of us with her meal.

(Speaking of local secrets, I’m pretty sure Duarte's was a Travelocity Local Secret pick one year when I worked there. It seems to have fallen off the current list, but don’t let that dissuade you.)