Where the wine grapes grow: TH Estate Wines, located in the Willow Creek AVA of Paso Robles, has ushered in a new assistant winemaker to craft its celebrated Rhone offerings. Phillip LaMontagne, a Cal Poly grad, has worked three full harvests with the winery, where he'll continue to work with estate fruit as well as fruit sourced from other iconic Central Coast vineyards (a little bird told me cool climate pinot noir is coming down the pike). For more information, or to stop in for a tasting, go to thestatewines.com ... Let's tip our hat to Bowl'd in downtown SLO, which offered up tasty acai and smoothies, and has closed its doors for good. You can still get your acai fix at Neighborhood Acai, Kreuzberg, Seeds, and Sally Loo's (SLO) as well as Krava Bowl (Avila Beach) and Seed and Vine Craft Juice Bar (Paso Robles), to name a few. Δ

Hayley Thomas Cain says to heck with controlled portion sizes (at least when it comes to Margie's hash browns). Send bites to [email protected].