Another one of the reasons for us returning to Cambria was to dine at Madeline's once again. We first dined here back in 2020 and enjoyed it so much that we returned a year later. I big plus is that the wine shop by day, restaurant by night has several outdoor tables and allowed dogs. I made sure to request our favorite, known as "patio 1".
After shopping and lunch, we drove over to El Colibri, it was before the published check in time, but our dog friendly room was ready! Lucky us. So we managed a short nap. When JJ woke, while the Missus relaxed and read, I took him for a stroll along the Moonstone Beach Boardwalk which I've posted on before. The boardwalk is basically right out the hotel's doors!
JJ enjoyed the walk and made some new "friends" and the view is just a lovely as I remembered.
And I don't recall seeing deer around here before!
I think that it is a "seasonal" thing?
After returning and freshening up; we were ready to head out for dinner a bit early.
Also close to the hotel, right down the road is Shamel Park. We love walking along the beach and the sunsets here are lovely, though on this evening we had to get to dinner.
We headed on back up Windsor Road and crossed over Highway One onto main street. West Main was very sedate on this evening.
As we passed Mushrooms on Main, this friendly gal popped up!
We gave her a treat and the friendly owner invited JJ in for a "play date". Unfortunately, we had to get to dinner, so we took a rain check. We'll definitely return here on our next trip.
We arrived at Madeline's and were directed to our table. The Server was quite friendly to JJ. The Missus looked over the wine list and immediately ordered a Sauvignon Blanc.
We looked over the menu which is seasonal and ever changing. It did have several items that we'd enjoyed on our previous visits.
And there seemed to be so many mushroom based dishes….it was our lucky day! We placed our order and then bread service arrived.
Sadly, the bread, while nice and warm was not ready for prime time. It had been smushed down and the middle was still wet. It was probably pulled out before it was ready.
In keeping with our usual ordering at Madeline's we went with all appetizers and a salad. This way we get a nice variety of dishes that tend to be more interesting.
The only real "clunker" of the meal arrived with the first three dishes; the Bruschetta ($20).
With the sweet balsamic glaze, the sour tower of goat cheese, this was a bit too much for this dish. You really couldn't make out the eggplant which had been breaded and fried, but got soggy quite quickly.
The ship was quickly "righted" as the Baby Spinach Salad ($13) arrived.
As I mentioned before, we love the Bacon Vinaigrette here! It adds a wonderful smoky-savory component to a salad.
Another item we've always enjoyed have been the scallop dishes, and the Scallops Saint Jacques ($20) was no exception.
I had thought that the duxelles would be a bit too much for this dish; but as usual, the scallops were perfectly cooked, perfectly rare the way we like it. The lemon buerre blanc added a nice refreshing note to the dish.
We ordered two additional mushroom appetizers, both of which were quite hearty.
The Duck and Wild Mushroom ($20) featured two of our favorite ingredients. But man, combined with the cream sauce it edged on being a bit too much!
And the Tartine Forestiere ($20), featuring both local and smoked mushrooms was a study in umami.
Even the goat cheese and balsamic glaze could not temper the wonderful flavors of the mushrooms!
I finished as always with a Tawny Port.
Overall, this was yet another wonderful meal at Madeline's. And since we can always bring JJ….and get "Patio 1", I'm sure we'll return again, Hopefully soon.
Madeline's Restaurant & Wine Tasting Room
788 Main St.
Cambria, CA 93428
The next morning, the Missus decided to sleep in, so I took JJ for a walk to Cambria Coffee which I've posted on a couple of times before and had a cold brew and just relaxed.
Cambria Coffee Roasting Company
761 Main St.
Cambria, CA 93428
And soon enough we headed back home.
This short road trip was a test to see how JJ would handle things. He always seemed to enjoy riding in the car. And he did enjoy Morro Bay and our stops in Ojai and Cayucos. He did well in Cambria and on the drive home. So, you could say he passed with flying colors. And since we can't really travel Internationally….we want to wait until JJ is a bit older before leaving him with his Aunty, this meant more road trips were in store!
Thanks for stopping by!
Soon enough my lomo saltado arrived. Quite a bit of onions and papas frita in this. The rice was fairly dry and chewy, but edible, and seemed to have been seasoned a bit.
The presentation was lovely; though the boiled egg was overcooked. The chicken was fairly bland, stringy, and there was a bit too much mayo. The potatoes were nicely done though.
Loved the crust of the empanadas. Even though it wasn't slightly flakey, it had a nice crunchy texture. I didn't care much for the dusting of sugar as I think it detracted from the overall flavor. Like I mentioned earlier, the sauce did well with the pastry, deflecting some of the sweetness and helping with the texture of the beef which was pretty chewy.
This was a lot less stuffed than the version at The Peruvian Spot. It had a drizzle of Mama G's sauce which did a pretty nice job of adding a creamy, mild spice to things. The ratio of camote and salsa criolla to meat was quite balanced.
The young lady working asked me if I wanted to try the spicy versions of Mama G's sauces and brought some over when I said yes. The verde was quite nice, not overly spicy to me. I added a tad more to the sandwich and used it to dip the very dry and limp fries.
It was too delicate; a bit over baked, the laminated exterior just falling off. You know what was going to happen when I actually bit into it, right? A certain song by the Rolling Stones came to mind:
First thing I noticed was how "clear" the broth was. Second thing was how the basil was starting to brown. Well, at least there was some ngo gai, a rarity these days it seems. I enjoy the more intense the peppery-cilantro-ish-slightly bitter flavor it provides. Even this leaf was starting to go south as well; I could use most of it. 
As for the broth…can you say MSG water? With a dose of that sweetness that has been pervading pho in San Diego over the last decade or so. The soup was quite thirst inducing; or perhaps I'm just more sensitive to the stuff as I get older?
There was a good amount of meat in this "small bowl". So perhaps that's the calling card?
The soup, while being a bit overly defatted had some beefiness, mild anise-oniony tones, while it still had that "San Diego" sweet flavor. It wasn't overly salty. This was better than I recall having on previous visits.
The proteins, while not as well prepared as "da cow" were fine, though there was no tendon to be found! The flank and brisket were cut a bit on thicker side, but the beefiness came through. The tripe was a bit more "hard" than crunchy.
The texture of the baozi dough was not as fluffy as I enjoy; but it had a hint of sweetness and was not bad. We enjoyed the pork version more….pork here is mighty tasty. There were hints of sesame oil, ginger, soy sauce….not sure how easy it is to get it in Genoa, but this was pretty good overall.
The portion of rice was quite large there was corn and edamame scattered about the hot plate. The beef, supposedly four ounces was topped with a small scoop of butter, which I thought wasn’t necessary.
This was interesting. The katsu had been sliced lengthwise and were as long as my fork. Rather unwieldy to eat.
The katsu sauce was very "local", being ketchup based, tangy and perhaps on the sweeter side of the scale. The mac salad was quite "local" tasting as well, having a touch of vinegar and some shredded carrots. The macaroni was nicely cooked, but unevenly coated. This was probably my favorite item on the plate.
One big minus was no mac salad, which I kinda liked on my previous visit. One big plus; they have Tabasco! Tabasco sauce has been the condiment I've used for loco mocos since small kid time!
First thing I noticed was how foamy the broth was, like it was kept at a rolling boil instead of a simmer. It was also on the thin side and seemed more like a thickened, slightly bitter, shoyu based broth. Like the tonkotsu I had here before, it also had a slight "metallic" tinge to it.
The chashu was a bit on the chewy side and lightly flavored, but not bad. The noodles were actually cooked decently and had a nice "springy pull" to them.
The pseudo tonkotsu bowl arrived seaming hot. There were some…well, interesting things about this bowl. My least favorite was the "impossible chicken karaage". It seemed to be sort of soybean based; but the texture was not to my liking; it was spongy and super chewy…think thick nylon sponge and had no flavor.
Not quite sure what to do with the slice of tomato? How much acidity, sweetness, will one slice of tomato provide for a bowl of ramen? The cabbage added a slight sweet-bitterness and was blanched. The corn also added some nice textural contrast and sweetness to the bowl.
