If you find yourself in the Paso Robles area and are looking for some amazing restaurants, then we’ve got you covered!
You can find a wide range of different cuisine throughout the city, and because Paso Robles is wine country, you know these restaurants are going to have great wine selections. In addition to that, the food and wine pairing options are almost unlimited, and these restaurants will always make great recommendations on which wines will pair well with certain dishes they offer.
Hope Family Wines has been in the Paso Robles region for over 30 years so you know we’ve had our share of restaurant meals. We’ve seen many restaurants come and go, but there is always something delicious for everyone.
While it was extremely hard to determine which restaurants we would call the best, these three stand out in our minds as 3 of our favorite restaurants in Paso Robles. They have excellent food, excellent wine (even if they don’t all stock Austin Hope) and extremely friendly service.
We highly recommend checking out all the different restaurant options that Paso Robles has to offer, but if you’re looking for recommendations on restaurants, as well as which menu items pair well with which wines, then you’ll want to continue reading our thoughts below.
Paso Robles Restaurants and Wine Pairings
Whether you’re looking for a nice steak, pasta, or a delectable fish entrée, we’ve come up with the three perfect restaurants as well as three dishes from each restaurant and an appropriate wine pairing for them.
Les Petites Canailles
Located in downtown Paso Robles, Les Petites Canailles is a French restaurant headed by chef Julien Asseo and his wife Courtney. You’ll find an ever evolving menu that features locally sourced ingredients of the highest quality.
This farm-to-table restaurant has a sophisticated yet casual menu that you are sure to enjoy. Here are a few of our favorite menu items, as well as some great wines that would pair well with them.
Steak Tartare
The steak tartare consists of prime hanger steak, traditional condiment, confit egg yolk and fresh horseradish. If you’re a fan of steak tartare, this is one of the best we’ve ever tasted.
This dish pairs extremely well with a bottle of Failla Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Coast, California 2021.
Alaskan Halibut
If you’re looking for an amazing fish entrée, we suggest the Alaskan Halibut. This dish features Alaskan halibut with creamy saffron nage, smoked roe, and chive.
And while this would pair exceptionally well with an Austin Hope Cellar Select Chardonnay, they unfortunately do not stock it. However, they do have a Kongsgaard, Albarino 2020 from Napa Valley which is exquisite and pairs very well with this dish.
Steak Au Poivre
This steak entrée is absolutely incredible and you won’t be disappointed. The steak comes simply with homemade frites and a green peppercorn sauce, which really helps amplify the flavors of the steak.
Outside of our Austin Hope GSM (which they don’t have on the shelf), we recommend the Booker, “Oublié” Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah 2018, which is absolutely delicious and will pair very well with this entrée.
IL Cortile
If Italian food is what you’re looking for, then look no further than IL Cortile in downtown Paso Robles. In 2009 chef Santos MacDonal and his wife Carole, opened IL Cortile Ristorante.
This fine dining Italian restaurant serves up fresh, from-scratch Italian dishes such as homemade pastas, braised osso bucco and grilled seafood.
This is one of our favorite restaurants in Paso Robles, hands down. All of the dishes are handmade right down to the pasta sauces and it clearly shows. Chef MacDonal really brough the flavors of Italy to the central coast of California, and we’re here for it.
Risotto al mare
The Risotto al mare is an incredible pasta that features risotto with shrimp, clams, mussels, and calamari with fresh tomato basil.
Unfortunately they do not carry our Treana Sauvignon Blanc wine, however if you’re looking for a great wine to pair with this dish (that they do serve) we highly recommend the 2020 Bruno Giacosa Arneis from Northern Italy.
Pappardelle al cinghiale
Another pasta dish that we can’t recommend enough from Il Cortile is the Pappardelle al cinghiale. This dish features homemade pappardelle with a wild boar ragu.
This dish pairs perfectly with our Austin Hope Cabernet, which they do have on their shelf. This is probably one of our favorite food and wine pairings from any restaurant in Paso Robles.
Branzino
If you’re looking for something other than pasta dishes, we recommend the Branzino. This dish consists of a grilled filet of branzino over a potato leek puree, with market veggies.
If they carried our Austin Hope Cellar Select Pinot Noir 2021, it would pair perfectly, but unfortunately they don’t. Fortunately for you, they do carry a Pino Noir 2019 Tablas Creek “Full Circle”, which pairs extremely well with this delicious dish.
BL Brasserie
BL Brasserie (formerly known as Bistro Laurent) is another French restaurant located in downtown Paso Robles. This restaurant offers a delightful blend of classic brasserie cuisine in a relaxed ambiance within a sophisticated environment. BL Brasserie proudly showcases a menu crafted from locally sourced ingredients, expertly complemented by an exceptional selection of both local and French wines.
Mushroom Raviolis with Beurre Blanc
This mushroom ravioli dish pairs exceptionally well with a Chablis Albert Bichot 2018 wine.
Roasted Chicken & Frites
This roasted chicken dish features incredible organic chicken and crispy fries that are simple, yet absolutely delicious. Pair this dish with a Deovlet Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir 2019 and see what you’ve been missing!
Sautéed Salmon with Braised Lentils
The sauteed salmon with braised lentils from BL Brasserie is an incredible fish dish that will pair very well with a Sancerre Domaine Delaporte 2019 wine.
Eat and Drink Well in Paso Robles
There is no shortage of incredible dishes and beautiful restaurants in the Paso Robles area, so it was hard for us to choose just three to feature in this article. However, we find ourselves revisiting these establishments more than some of the others in town.
Our wine and food pairing suggestions will help bring out the best in these dishes at each of these restaurants, but we always recommend talking with the servers to see what they might recommend as well.
As much as we like to think we’ve tried all the wines there are to try, we haven’t, so there are always different wines available that may pair well with a dish, but unless you ask, you’ll never know!