The Winepress Magazine - Summer 2014 - 19

8am
Home on the Range:

COWGIRL
CAFE

By Jamie Relth
ith a bronze statue of a cowgirl greeting
you at the door and horseshoes, handsaws
and horns hanging on every square foot
of wall space, the Cowgirl Café fits right in with the countrywestern spirit of Paso Robles.
But if you come in on a Saturday morning, you soon
see a better reason why this downtown diner is a perfect
match for this town. A husband and wife in their 70s walk
in the door, skip past the line of
guests waiting to be seated and
plop down at the bar as they
might do in their own living
room. The pair enjoys a happy
banter with the staff as they
wait: Yes, someone appears
to be sitting at their table. No,
they'll wait for it to open up.
On the other side of the room, a
patron inquires about her waitress's
family. Behind, another server can be overheard saying,
"The usual?" before nodding with a smile and buzzing off to
the kitchen.
The climate at Cowgirl Café is bustling, and though
there are surely many new visitors streaming in, you get
the sense that everyone knows one another. The service is
friendly, down-to-earth.
"We're a lot like Cheers," says Manager Beverly "Bev"
Henshaw with a warm smile. She has been working with
some of her staff for 26 years, 15 of them at Cowgirl Café.
And many of their guests are just as familiar. "We have so
many returning customers, it's like a family. Some people
come every day."
She sets down a plate filled to the brim with fried eggs,
crispy hash browns, thick bacon, and biscuits with gravy, and
it's clear: whether it's your first time or
your hundredth time, one bite of
Cowgirl Café's country cooking
will take you home.

The
service is
very...
Paso Robles

Cowgirl Café
1316 Pine Street
Call
805-238-6403
Visit
CowgirlCafe.net

10am

CLAYHOUSE WINES

By Ana Korgan

teeped deep in Paso
Robles history is
Clayhouse Wines.
The moniker hails from the
100 year old adobe structure
that gazes over the vineyard
like a sheepdog over his flock.
The tasting room is housed in
what was once Grangers Union
mercantile, built in 1901. The
bottom story of the building
was repaired after a fire and
modernized with stuccoon-brick construction. The
original brick is exposed inside
Clayhouse's tasting room and
is just one component of the
tiny space's big character. The
Middleton family, who owns the
vineyard, are multi-generational
agricultural entrepreneurs. Their
initiation into winemaking was
by way of crates; the family was
manufacturing the crates used
for shipping grapes, and thus
augmented upon that which
came so naturally to them.
The tasting room offers an
intimate atmosphere. Set on the

corner of 13th and Pine St., the
large display-style windows offer
almost-180 degrees of people
watching. Or, grab a glass and
sip it by the toasty fireplace.
Of course there is always the
bar, where staff will be glad
to share with you the stories
behind the wines. Clayhouse
grapes are grown at Red Cedar
Vineyard, located approximately
18 miles east of Paso Robles.
Clayhouse bottles their wines
under three labels: the Estate
line showcases the best fruit
from their particular vineyard
block; the Vineyard line captures
vibrant vintage consistency; and
the Adobe line yields drinkable
art, blending Red Cedar fruit
with that from other regional
vineyards. If you love their
wines, be sure to inquire about
vineyard events - like wine club
pickup parties - where you can
tour the adobe and take in the
beauty of the vines.

Clayhouse Wines
849 13th Street
Call
805 238-7055
Visit
ClayhouseWines.com

SUMMER 2014 THE WINEPRESS MAGAZINE

The Winepress Magazine - Summer 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Winepress Magazine - Summer 2014