The Cambrian Explosion

We drove on the edge of a cliff as darkness slowly began to surround us. We were driving to LA on California's Highway 1, which we had picked based on its beauty. We hadn't considered the reason why it was beautiful was because, to repeat, the highway is on the edge of a cliff. The day had started off leisurely, with a drive from a San Jose suburb to Monterey where we had some delicious Mexican food for lunch. The lunch special was two items accompanied by beans, rice and a salad. Honestly, the accompaniments would have been a big enough lunch – but there were also, in my case, a burrito and a quesadilla. We hadn't gone to Monterey for its food though, we went to see its aquarium. There were some truly stunning creatures on display.

No, that's not seaweed: that's a Leafy Sea Dragon. As in it's an actual living animal that looks like that. All the interesting things to see caused us to tarry perhaps a little too long. It was already four pm by the time we started heading on down Highway 1. We realized three facts early on:
1) The aforementioned cliff-edge-thingy
2) That this necessitated a low speed limit, especially around curves
3) There weren't any big population centres that could be stopped at when night hit.

We decided that we should set a goal of arriving at the town of Cambria, knowing nothing about it only other than the fact that it was the next thing that had an "over 1000 people" icon on the map. As the hours ticked past conventional dinner time, I was very happy lunch had been so big. Just when it seemed we might have to sleep in the car or at any random roadside motel, we hit a patch of non-crooked road and made it into Cambria.

Cambria was, in a word, charming. We stayed at the White Water Inn, where the office has homemade cookies and a movie lending library (VHS, natch). While there, the proprietor recommended Robin's Restaurant as vegetarian-friendly and booked us a reservation.

We were seated outside, in a semi-enclosed area. There were plenty of choices on the menu and I ended up going with the Wanton “Ravioli”.

The ravioli was stuffed with arugula and tofu feta and was quite nice and subtle. Once again though, my mom outdid me with her order of the Pan Seared Furikake Tofu. The tofu was absolutely excellent: crisp without being rough on the outside, succulent on the inside and topped with a delicious sauce.

The next morning, the Inn had washed our car's windows for us as is their custom. We drove away to LA, with strong feelings of good will for the little town of Cambria.

Robin's Restaurant
4095 Burton Drive, Cambria, California, USA