Never mind the price. This California winery meal was otherworldly. | Mike Strange

The text pinged on my phone months ago. Alice, my daughter, wondered if I was game for a premier dining opportunity on our September trip to California.

She and my son-in-law, Rick, wanted to make reservations at a Michelin-star winery restaurant in Paso Robles. I’m no hardcore foodie but I wanted to tag along, never mind the price. What else was I going to do, have them drop me at In-N-Out Burger?

So that’s how I recently found myself seated with Alice and Rick at JUSTIN Vineyards and Winery for an otherworldly food and drink evening.

I’ve enjoyed some exceptional meals. A visit to J.C. Holdway here in Knoxville ranks high. So does a dinner canal cruise in Amsterdam last year. This, though, was a new universe for me.

My buddy Dan Fleser and I enjoy the Netflix food/travel series “Somebody Feed Phil.’’ Host Phil Rosenthal roams the world getting fed. Sometimes it’s a pizza or a plate of pulled pork. But Phil also drops in on the world’s acclaimed chefs.

When Dan and I see the big plates come out with petite, artistically prepared portions, we cite the rule: the smaller and prettier the food, the bigger the bill.

While that was the case at JUSTIN, I was all in. At my age, unique experiences are to be seized. A Michelin-star meal was more appealing than, say, parasailing in Santa Cruz.

We were seated on a patio with just a few other tables. I lost track of the exact number of delicacies that arrived. I kept the menu, but it doesn’t account for the oyster from Baja California or several other “surprises from the kitchen,’’ as Lisa, our lead server, called them.

Lisa and her team would swoop in with an offering, during which she would announce the ingredients. I wish I had recorded her descriptions.

There was a bite of local halibut (pickled watermelon rind and quinoa were also involved). A serving of Monterey Bay abalone included, among other things, squash filled with ratatouille.

The steak course offered an option. I stuck with the Prime Creekstone Ribeye that came with several adornments, including bone marrow, bordelaise sauce and blackberry. Alice and Rick upgraded to the Japanese A5 Wagyu Ribeye. Both were sublime.

We declined an add-on caviar offering but wisely included the challerhocker soufflé, made with “complex but approachable’’ cellar-aged cheese from the Swiss Alps. One of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth.

We washed all this down with two bottles of JUSTIN’s acclaimed Isosceles Reserve, the 2016 and 2019 vintages if you keep score. Like the food, the vino was elite.

My initial small-portion concerns about leaving hungry were put to delicious rest. Lisa arrived with the finishing touch, a wooden chest of exquisite sweets. I considered stuffing my pockets, but a sense of decorum prevailed.

This old sportswriter from Tennessee will probably never again step so far out of his culinary league. But I’m glad I did it this time.

And we didn’t go hungry the rest of the trip, either.

Nepenthe, in Big Sur, is possibly my favorite eatery on earth. On this, my fourth visit, the broiled shrimp BLT on French roll complemented the spectacular cliffside vista. On the wharf in Monterey, linguine with clams were consumed to an obnoxious serenade of barking sea lions.

All adventures must end. When I walked in my condo at 4 a.m., hungry after a prolonged ordeal of flight delays, the only thing to be found was a sad pack of ramen noodles.

I would have killed for even a spoonful of that challerhocker soufflé.

Mike Strange is a former writer for the News Sentinel. He currently writes a weekly sports column for Shopper News.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: JUSTIN Vineyards and Winery: A meal worth the price in California