You know you’re in for a treat when the restaurant you’re going to has a line out the door and around the corner, while the neighboring joints are hosting no one but crickets.
We stumbled across Splash Café while walking in Pismo Beach on day four of a five-day jaunt from L.A. to San Francisco and back. We thought we were chowdered-out, after Pier 39 in San Francisco and the Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey—which is apparently involved in some kind of Chowder Wars, cause every single place along the pier has a guy ladling chowder from a giant metal soup tureen in an effort to lure them inside.
We’d had our fill. Literally. And then came Splash Café. This is the type of place where you scavenge for a seat, much like a seagull hovering overhead waiting for discarded scraps on the nearby pier, and wait with the other hungry folks to order at the counter. But get that steaming bread bowl full of chowder (or chili, if you must, along with burgers, tacos, and a bunch of fried stuff) in front of you, and it’s all worth it. It’s more than worth it. It’s chowder porn.]]>