SLO Public Market’s newest restaurant serves up twin menus: ‘It’s all good’
What’s the food like at the latest restaurant to open at San Luis Obispo Public Market?
As owner and chef John MacKinnon says, “It’s all good.”
Located in upstairs in the SLO Public Market’s main hall, 3845 South Higuera St. in San Luis Obispo, Todo Bueno and The All Good Grill serves up California-influenced Mexican food and all-American fare from a walk-up order counter.
The restaurant had its soft opening on May 4, and the eatery is now fully open. A San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting is in the works for sometime in June or early July.
MacKinnon said the fast-casual restaurant’s approach is based on his love of both cuisines and the lack of eateries offering those options in the busy market’s main hall.
“We’re filling an empty hole” in terms of food offerings in the main building, he said, although Mexican restaurant California Tacos Cantina and Distillery recently opened in an adjacent structure.
MacKinnon has 30 years of experience as a managing partner of Moonstone Beach Bar & Grill in Cambria.
Todo Bueno represented a chance for MacKinnon and his wife Kernn to go it alone as restaurant owners and managers, John MacKinnon said. The majority partners in Moonstone Beach Bar & Grill are six of his in-laws, some of whom live in that community.
“Todo Bueno is a venture we were able to save up to do on our own,” he said, “a chance to do something special that’s just ours.”
What’s new SLO Public Market restaurant like?
Todo Bueno and The All Good Grill is situated in Suite 220 on an upstairs mezzanine that wraps around a skylight-lit, two-story atrium. There’s an elevator nearby.
The restaurant’s décor is a sleek, semi-industrial mix of yellow-gold, white, red, black and metal.
Up to 89 diners can sit inside, at banquettes, bistro tables, a bar and other seating options. More tables are located on an adjacent balcony overlooking part of the plaza,
MacKinnon said one indoor table that seats up to 10 people was custom made in a Lemoore woodshop, and it’s signed by the student artisans who created it.
What makes Todo Bueno’s food different?
MacKinnon’s cooking style at Todo Bueno requires a particular piece of equipment: an 18-inch-wide, 10-inch-deep wok set over a 125,000-BTU burner.
“It’s awesome,” MacKinnon said of his new tool. “It doesn’t lose its heat, but you have to be moving it all the time you’re using it.”
“My arms are getting very strong,” he added with a laugh.
He uses the wok because “when beef, chicken, pork, shrimp or fish are cooked on a barbecue or grill, in a fryer or braiser, some flavor can be lost,” he said.
“When you cook it in that wok and saute it fast and hot, the flavor of the meat and everything you’ve put on it stays with it, in a really cool glaze,” MacKinnon said. “You get a good chew, and it’s tender and juicy.”
Developing Todo Bueno’s richly seasoned fillings in a wok can be a lengthy, carefully choreographed process.
For example, MacKinnon takes nearly 15 minutes to prepare a beef filling.
As the meat browns, MacKinnon seasons it with garlic, herbs and what he calls the “John spice blend.” He then adds housemade beef-pork demi glace.
Next into the wok is a mirepoix-like blend of chopped vegetables and jalapenos seared in flavorful rendered fat deliberately left in the pan.
The vegetables sear, then simmer in their own juices. McKinnon then adds stewed tomatoes, more demi glace and a spicy hot sauce, resulting in a deeply savory, aromatic filling.
What’s on the menu?
The inspiration behind the restaurant’s twin menus began with MacKinnon’s love of spicy foods from the California-Mexico border.
“I could eat Mexican food seven days a week,” MacKinnon said, and he’s frequently fixed it at home.
Offering burgers and seafood as well as Mexican fare “seemed like a natural fit,” he said.
Todo Bueno serves up beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, fish, mushrooms and more enveloped in tacos, quesadillas and burritos in toasted flour tortillas, or in tortas on brioche rolls, although not all the proteins are available in all the iterations.
Some offerings are stuffed with jalapeno cream sauce slaw or roasted pineapple slaw, while the slaw is served on the side with other entrees.
The slaw is a key component of the Slammin’ Slaw Bowls. The Mexican-style riffs on popular bowl meals include layers of rice, cheese, beans and slaw, topped with the diner’s chosen protein.
On the café’s All Good Grill side, burger options include the Mile High with bacon and avocado, and the Fire! Burger, which adds jalapenos. Alaskan cod is lightly breaded and flash fried before being served with shoestring fries or tucked into a brioche bun.
Desserts include ice cream floats, sundaes and the Smores-a-dilla, a crisp cinnamon-spiced flour tortilla stuffed with Belgian chocolate, molten marshmallow and frosted grahams.
More about Todo Bueno and The All Good Grill
Todo Bueno and The All Good Grill is open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more, call 805-242-9100, go to todobuenoslo.com or follow Todo BuenoSLO on Facebook and Instagram.
