Saturday, February 17, 2018
Breakfast at Back Porch Bakery aka Carlton Bakery and Cafe aka Pan d'Oro with Patrick: coffee with half and half, breakfast croissant with bacon and egg, biscuits and gravy with egg over medium. Reba at the counter was terrific. We enjoyed the art on the walls and Reba told us it was the owner's art. His name is Dan Berkeland. Patrick drove us to Hearst Castle. We arrived early for the first tour of the day. We got our wristband tickets, bought two bottles of water, and rode the tour bus 15 minutes to the top of the hill. It was Patrick's first time visiting, and my first time since I was a child. First was the Grand Rooms Tour. The Neptune Pool was empty and undergoing renovation. The entire property seemed in better condition that I recall when I was young. For our next tour we wandered the grounds and then waited in the assigned waiting area and used the nearby portapotties. Next was the Upstairs Rooms Tour. We rode the bus down the hill to break for lunch. We drove to Cambria seeing cattle and wild zebras along the way and lunched at Indigo Moon. We sat on the back patio enjoying a warm day. Drinks: clementine Izze for Patrick, pomegranate Izze for me, we shared fish and chips and a fried chicken cobb salad. Food and drink was delicious. Drove back to Hearst Castle. Waited at the visitor center awhile, missing the start of the film, so we browsed in the gift shop. Our third tour was called Designing the Dream. We thought this tour was going to be about architecture and Julia Morgan's process, but the tour guide didn't speak much about that at all. We got to see different rooms than we did before, so we didn't complain. This tour ended at the inside of the Indoor Pool. We had seen enough and were tired, so we decided to return to the bottom of the hill. Drove to The Carlton. Nap. Drove to dinner in Paso Robles at Thomas Hill Organics with Patrick: carafe of 2013, di bruno, sangiovese (santa barbara, ca); scallops with orange rum sauce; butternut squash and sunchoke soup du jour (too spicy for me), bread and oil. Everything so far was fine but the remainder of the meal was disappointing. We waited about an hour before the entrees arrived. We received a complimentary repour due to the wait. One adjacent table left without eating any entrees, and it was unclear to us if their appetizers and drinks were comped. When the food finally arrived, Patrick had bulgogi-style short ribs with creamy polenta, heirloom carrots, and pan jus. The polenta was underseasoned, the carrots were cold, parts of the short ribs were cold. I had a charred new york steak with confit shallots, green peppercorn jus, watercress, grilled king trumpets, chive-garlic potatoes with creme fraiche. I had ordered it medium but it arrived medium well. Dessert: triple chocolate espresso brownie with salted caramel gelato, two glasses of complimentary dessert wine, and two french-press coffees. As mentioned, alcohol and dessert were comped due to the unusually long wait. Drove to the hotel. To bed.