Pismo Beach + San Luis Obispo, CA

Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo were a first for me, a California native who for most of his life spent time in Santa Monica and Venice beach in Southern California. We decided to go to Pismo primarily because for Valentines Day, I had gifted my girlfriend tickets to see one of her favorite comedians Iliza Shlesinger. I saw it as an opportunity for her to see Iliza for the first time and for me to visit Pismo and SLO for the first time! We spent a three day weekend there and enjoyed a romantic trip together! This is what the Of Rice and Cities team found!

Pro-tip#1: Thoroughly rub sun screen on your girlfriend's shoulders so she does not scold you and constantly remind you that you "do not care about her shoulders" for months!

Here is our trip itinerary outline:

---

Elder Millenial

We both became fans of Iliza from her specials on Netflix, and her appearances on podcasts that we listen to. We were excited about this, as we both had never seen her live! Shout out to Cal Poly who offered us free parking which is pretty rare these days. The comedy show started around 8 pm with opener Hunter Hill. Hunter was great, he had jokes about being overweight and jokes revolving getting engaged. He was on for 15-20 minutes and perfectly warmed up the crowd for Iliza. The show was in April 2019, so we were lucky to see one the last appearances by Blanche, Shlesinger's beloved, small and cute dog. Much like in her specials, Blanche took to the stage and the crowd went bananas! She walked around gracefully from one side of the stage to the other. Iliza came out to an excited crowd and blew us away for the next hour! Her show revolved around her recent wedding and despite having some technical/audio issues she did her best to ensure we had a good time!

Pismo Beach

The next day we headed to the beach! We grabbed some sandwiches from Chipwrecked and had a picnic in front of the waves! We relaxed in the sun and tanned for a few hours before we decided to go in the water. My girlfriend loves collecting sand dollars and sea shells to decorate her potted plants back home so we spent time walking along the shoreline. It was a beautiful day, it was a perfect 70 degrees (F) one of the first sunny days that teased the summer months to come! We spend the rest of the day relaxing, eating great food and drinking back in San Luis Obispo.

Pro-tip#2: Find free street parking in the neighborhoods near Scorpion Bay Coffee Co.

Shell Beach

We were advised to go to "Shell Beach" by one of the locals. Since we only had another day to explore we decided to head over there. To our surprise, Shell Beach was beautiful and picturesque no matter which way you looked! The beach is located near stunning beach homes, and you have to take a staircase down a small cliff. We spent some time here tanning, shell hunting, walking around and finding future picture-shoot sites for my girlfriend's fashion line. The sand at this beach was incredibly soft and the small crowd was a plus!

Pro-tip #3: Book your hotel room in advance to find the best rates especially before the summer months arrive!

Food + Interesting Finds

Pismo Beach is pretty limited in eating and drinking options, thankfully San Luis Obispo is nearby to satisfy our hunger for good food! I found three locations I want to praise. First, we had AMAZING sushi at "Goshi Japanese Restaurant". This place has 4.8 starts of Google Maps after 400+ reviews, and 4.5 stars on yelp after 800+ reviews! My favorite was the Fresh Water Eel Roll. The unagi in this restaurant is buttery fresh, the seaweed is top quality and the eel sauce is on point. My girlfriend, the vegetarian, had the peppers and avocado rolls. On the second visit the next day, I had an "omakase" roll, here the sushi chef took the liberty to create his own creation for me that was pretty tasty too!

Secondly, we had an amazing brunch at "Kreuzberg California" these guys pack a serious menu this satisfy your needs! we opted for the breakfast, we were excited to see they also served delicious coffee and mimosas! My girlfriend had the French toast and I had an omelette filled with vegetables topped with bacon and served with tater tots! The food here was amazing, we sat outside and enjoyed the awesome sea winds, and recharged for the rest of our day! This was a wholesome meal and we definitely needed to walk around and shop afterwards!

Yes Firestone is also nearby but were big fans of "SLO Brewing." They have multiple location in San Luis Obispo, we decided to to hit the location near the airport. They had a great set up there tap room with food available, they also had a fire pit and games laying around. We had a Beer flight each. Our favorite brews are the Hefe's the Mango-Squeeze, Cali-Squeeze and original Cali-Weisse!

Lastly, I would love to shout out "SLO Cider Bar", a really nice cider bar located near Goshi sushi. The owner himself walked up to us and helped us make our selections. The owner even let us try his own cider brews that were pretty tasty. Below you can see which menu items we tried. Cider also has numerous wine and beer options including my European favorites Triple Karmeliet, Delirium Tremens and Chimay. The customer service was great and we enjoyed the atmosphere in the plaza as our last night came to an end.

Email me at ofriceandcities@gmail.com if you enjoyed the article, if you went to SLO or Pismo and tried anything I mentioned or if you did something I totally missed!

Subscribe to my instagram page for announcements and stay up to date by subscribing to my email newsletter! Remember new articles drop every Thursday at noon. See you soon!