I’ve done lots of hiking along Highway 1 this year with my wife. The western sides of San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties have gorgeous views of the sea, but also lots of pretty brussels sprout and artichokes farms to walk past. Food options vary in quality for grubby hikers. From North to South:
Surf spot (Pacifica) : http://www.chowhound.com/post/surf-spot-pacifica-opened-week-855037?commentId=9541312
Gherkins (Montara) : ok sandwiches, bloated, soggy, pickles (apparently not homemade).
Barbara’s fish trap (half moon bay) : Good fried fish, I’m not too keen on the chips. Odd seasoning on the clam chowder that veers away from seafood — too much sage and thyme, maybe.
Duarte’s (Pescadero): iconic place, owned for generations— skip the fool’s gold menu main dishes and go straight to the sheet of specials. Artichoke soup (with some warm sourdough bread from Moonside Bakery in Half Moon Bay), local fish such as petrale sole ($5 extra to have it sautéed or blackened instead of fried), ollalieberry pie (top notch filling, weak crust)
Mercado & Taqueria De Amigos (Pescadero) : $3 for one of the best fish tacos I’ve had in a while. Plump, sautéed (maybe grilled), red snapper topped with red salsa.
Downtown Local (Pescadero) : Sightglass coffee, funky vintage pop culture vibe
Highway 1 brewery (Pescadero): good beer, within walking distance to Costanoa (various lodging options from tent to lodge). Good housemade pickles, especially the jalapeños, and meaty hot wings. Hot sauce for the wings, which you can get naked or breaded, was very spicy.
Pie ranch (pescadero) : outer rim was best crust in this stretch of the 1— butter flavor and flaky. Something went wrong with the bottom crust, which was almost solid butter. Fillings were polarizing to our group. Lemon buttermilk pie was curdy and awesome (to me)— reminded me of farmer’s cheese. Chocolate was too eggy for my taste, others loved it.
Swanton Berry farm (Davenport) : jams to sample (Tayberry was my favorite), vegan vegetable curry soup which smelled really good. Pie crust was hard, but good ollalieberry filling.
Whale City (Davenport) : pastry window with some novelties like ollalieberry croissants (filling better than the dough) and a good carrot muffin. Artichoke omelette sounded overwrought (pesto, artichoke, goat cheese, etc.) but was generous with the artichokes and quite good. Solid burger at dinner time. Pie is unremarkable.
What else is good along this stretch?