Chef/owner Rusty Quirk, Linnaea’s Cafe, SLO

CONSUMED with Jaime Lewis

Rusty Quirk is a chef and the owner of Linnaea’s Cafe in downtown San Luis Obispo. If you’ve spent any time in SLO since 1984, you probably remember the little cafe with the long walk to a leafy back patio with a koi pond. Linnaea’s is one of a rare breed of small, family-owned businesses in SLO that have retained their original charm for several decades. It’s a cozy, simple place where the focus falls more on fostering relationships and art than on getting esoteric with the coffee. And now with Rusty at the helm, it’s going to have even more delicious pastries, too. She has served as pastry chef at Hotel SLO, Bell’s in Los Alamos and Bar Le Cote in Los Olivos. (By the way, I butchered the pronunciation of that restaurant in our interview, and Rusty was gracious enough not to correct me. Anyway, mea culpa.) Here she talks about her experiences on the line in kitchens from New York to California, her background in graphic design, and how her musician husband is helping to boost the musical offerings at the cafe.

Website: linnaeascafe.com

Instagram: @linnaeascafe