People Are Driving an Hour From San Francisco for This California Grocery Store

A tiny town of about 600 residents, two miles inland off scenic Highway 1,  Pescadero is home to two destination food stops that people often drive over an hour south of San Francisco, or north from San Jose, to visit: a restaurant and a grocery store. I drive along a pristine stretch of Pacific Ocean coast in a rural corner of San Mateo County that will forever be protected from development, thanks to open-space advocates who fought to save it, 14 miles south of Half Moon Bay, then turn left at the “Historic Pescadero” sign, that notes the town was founded in 1856. I arrive on Stage Road (which takes five minutes to walk, past houses from the 1860s-70s and a few shops) and find two extra stops worth making.

Duarte's Tavern

Opened in 1894 by Frank Duarte, an immigrant from the Azores, islands 900 miles west of Portugal’s mainland, Duarte's Tavern is a casual, old-fashioned seafood eatery of knotty-pine-paneled rooms. A steadfast beacon utterly unmoved by trends, winner of the 2003 James Beard Award for America's Classics, it’s famous for artichoke soup, green chile soup, cioppino, and olalliberry pie. I order the half-artichoke, half-green chile soup, rich and creamy, which comes adorned with a leafy design worthy of a barista, plus the crab melt sandwich, the pie, and an olalliberry Margarita. My cocktail has a vivid purplish-red tint from a house syrup made with olallieberry, a hybrid between the loganberry and the youngberry (each a blackberry cross) that grows on California’s Central Coast. The petrale sole sandwich my companions order is big enough for two, they attest.

“When I first came to Silicon Valley in 1983, people said I must go to Duarte’s. Pescadero was just a little village in the middle of nowhere, totally undiscovered,” says Bathsheba Malsheen, a former serial technology chief executive officer in San Francisco. “I had the artichoke soup. I’ve come many times since, both to Duarte’s and Arcangeli Grocery.”

Called Guy Fieri's favorite restaurant in California, Duarte’s also serves cioppino, a seafood stew packed with Dungeness crab, shrimp, and clams in a cumin-accented tomato sauce bathed in white wine. The favorite dish of the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives host, cioppino — invented by Italian fishermen in San Francisco in the late 1800s — is served on weekends year-round and daily in Dungeness crab season (November and December). I am, sadly, not here during either time. Owner Timothy Duarte, Frank’s great-grandson, says Portuguese touches include the cumin in the cioppino, linguica (pork sausage) at Sunday breakfast, and the mussels style. 

Arcangeli Grocery Company

Opened in 1929 by an Italian immigrant, Arcangeli is famed for one main thing: artichoke bread. Filled with whole artichoke quarters, topped with a buttery garlic herb mix with a crispy crust, it’s baked continuously all day long at the bakery. The family’s fifth generation, Chris Benedetti, now runs Arcangeli Grocery Company, across the street from Duarte’s, which bakes many other breads, like cheddar artichoke and Parmesan and truffle sourdough. The grocery store sells a big line of the family’s specialty foods, from spreads like artichoke pesto, green olive, and fig/olive tapenade, to pasta sauces, like artichoke walnut and tomato pine nut Parmesan, and mustards, like jalapeño whiskey. The photo on the label is founder Sante Arcangeli holding his baby grandson, Norm Benedetti, the same black-and-white photo displayed on the wall.

Other local farm products are available, including honey — some made from avocado blossoms (dark-colored, rich buttery taste), alfalfa (white or very light amber, delicate taste), or orange blossoms (also light but with a distinctive scent and taste) — olallieberry jam, and wines (from Sante Arcangeli Family Wines and Half Moon Bay Winery). You can eat sandwiches from the deli, like salami, mortadella, prosciutto, provolone, and pepperoncini on focaccia or Cajun Seafood Salad (shrimp, crab, scallions, and dill with Cajun seasonings and mayo), behind the store by Pescadero Creek. 

Harley Farms Goat Dairy

I am lucky to visit in "kidding" season in spring and admire the cute baby goats. Up to 200 babies are born each year (a sign displaying the total is continually updated). I thoroughly enjoy the farm shop and buy goat cheese charmingly festooned with flower petals (one flavored with honey from the farm's hives and lavender, another bathed in herb-flecked olive oil). The shop also sells goat milk soap and lotions. Harley Farms offers guided tours where guests can meet the goats, the Anatolian shepherd dogs who guard them, peacocks, and cows. The property serves three-course meals and hosts art and photography workshops, plus singles events. Owner Dee Harley, an English expatriate and American Cheese Society award winner, is married to Timothy Duarte.

Cascade

A 20-minute drive south of town off Highway 1, Cascade is a rustic fine-dining restaurant serving produce from its organic garden and foods from local and sustainable producers. My clam chowder with mushrooms, thyme, and eucalyptus, and roasted brussels sprouts with pomegranate balsamic, were rich and tasty, and companions enjoyed their seared scallops and crab with squid ink pasta and grilled artichokes with goat cheese puree and greens. The cabin-like setting with two wood-burning fireplaces is in Costanoa, an eco-adventure resort surrounded by forests and hills, where guestrooms span the main lodge, wood cabins, and tented bungalows for “glamping.”