Ruddell's Smokehouse (aka Lunch part 1)

When we last visited Cayucos in 2011, we remembered seeing the Smoked Fish sign of this establishment, Ruddell's...

Our stay was short back then but since we were here for a few days, we wanted to make sure to give Ruddell's a try...

I was looking forward to trying some smoked oysters as well as their smoked fish tacos. We soon found out that smoked oysters are no longer offered on their menu at all, so we ended up getting two tacos, one smoked salmon and the other, smoked albacore.  The guy working the counter was pretty friendly. It smelled pretty good in there. It is standing room only with only a few tables outside.





Our meaty fish tacos and TC's lemonade...

The smoked fish is underneath all that "salad"!  According to the video linked below, Both fish are seasoned with brown sugar and kosher salt but the salmon has an additional apricot glaze giving it a bit of sweetness. The albacore is from Oregon and the salmon from Alaska, It takes the owner six hours from start to finish to prep and smoke the fish. The portions were meaty but kind of inflated looking because of the salad "filler".

Of the two tacos, I enjoyed the salmon more because of the sweet glaze. Bert liked the albacore more because it was meatier and tastier and something we normally don't try.  These two tacos were shared by us three and was a prelude to our "second half" of lunch that we would have later in Morro Bay.

Here's a cool behind the scenes look at Ruddell's by a guy who does a series called "Pizza Quest" (even though they don't sell pizza at Ruddell's).

 Watching some of the scenic shots in this video was like reliving our vacation (but in better weather). they even had shots of the pier before they closed it off. I just wished I could mute the annoying music in the backgroud. Me no like reggae.

Ruddell's Smokehouse
101 D St.
Cayucos, CA 93430
(805) 995-5028
www.smokerjim.com plus their FB page

plus reviews from tripadvisor and that four lettered site

Note to Ruddell's - They should update their menu and website and remove the 'smoked oysters'. Grrrr! I was so looking forward to having some but was disappointed. Maybe our luck would be better in Morro Bay which was our next stop...