I’d never had abalone before last week, but now I want to have it all the time. That’s probably not gonna happen since apparently it’s kind of rare and sort of expensive from what I heard from the people drooling over the pictures I was posting. So at least I had it at the Ocean Rose Abalone Farm as one of our many fun stops in Paso Robles.

Brad manages the place. He’s awesome. He took us around to see how they’re grown in different stages all over the farm.

baby abalone

When they get bigger they move on to tanks.

Then we got to hold them. You hold it by the shell but they move all over the place like aliens trying to suck in your hand. It’s pretty freaky and we basically then just devolved into 13-year-olds.

More fun with…abalone vine.co/v/bdvPBp0WH5H

— grapefriend (@grapefriend) March 14, 2013

“This guy’s active!” #abalone vine.co/v/bdvPWKezPEF

— grapefriend (@grapefriend) March 14, 2013

OK, so on to the eating (and drinking).

After cutting the abalone out of the shell, Brad got all Jiro Dreams of Sushi on it and massaged it with a ton of salt for 5 minutes or so. Then he rinsed it, sliced it up, and served it with a spritz of lemon. Phenomenal! It’s not gross and blobby like scallops, it’s much firmer and completely delicious.

We paired that up with some Derby Wine Estates 2007 Sparkling Brut Rosé Pinot Noir and also their 2011 Pinot Gris which I loved!

I like it au naturel best but we also had it grilled in butter and panko and that was pretty insane too. We had some Cayucos Cellars 2007 Pinot Noir which was yummy, some Chronic Cellars 2011 Sofa King Suite (say it out loud fast and you’ll realize why my 10-year-old nephew thinks it’s hilarious and why I’m an inappropriate aunt) which is all Riesling, and Chronic’s 2011 Stone Fox which is a white-Rhone blend.

Definitely recommend hitting up an abalone farm if you can. This one’s not open to the public but I think you can call and set up private tours. Enjoy, and obviously bring some good wine!