John's blog

Bonjour guests and friends!

After 4 years at this glorious establishment, my last day at Petit will be this Thursday, March 19.

Its a bittersweet time for me. I've grown so much while working here and have met some of the most memorable and amazing people. The Conners have treated me as their own. We've laughed, cried, and shared some of the best experiences Petit has ever seen altogether as one big funny family.

As some of you may know, we do have a sister B&B in the Normady region of France. Now, I have not yet experienced it (wink, wink, John and Dianne) but we just got a delightful email from someone who has. Sharon and her husband are currently residing in England, and formerly lived in Pismo Beach. She just stumbled onto our website and noticed the correlation of us and the B&B she stayed at in France! Sharon writes:

Bonjour y'all!

One of the many joys of working here is getting to experience the guests' special events right alongside them. From birthdays to anniversaries, engagements and honeymoons, and even family reunions are such a special treat. One of the most memorable was the Brown family that visited us this past summer. They made Petit their home for the weekend and were quite a blast to hang out with! Here are some of Casey Browns' kind words:

After breakfast this Thursday morning, I happened to glance outside to my dismay. A longer look sent me straight past the lace curtains, beyond the geraniums and into the dreary gray sky looming overhead. It was staring right back at me with a challenge, maybe even a little scoff. I mean, with all this soggy weather, what could we possibly do this weekend?!Quelle déception! My face must have looked crestfallen because a guest piped in, "Hey, its a good excuse to stay inside with a good book." True, that is an option for some, but I was looking for a little more "umph" this weekend. But what?

It was just six years ago that Petit Soleil opened its doors to introduce provence to the Central Coast! Six years of bustling breakfast hours, six years of jovial wine tastings, six years of Edith Piaf ballads, and six years of quiche recipes. Quel voyage! The journey has been sweet with a pinch of salt at times to keep it real. After all, we cannot subsist off the sweet alone, right?

I'm sure that reading the previous blog entry about January Foodie Month got you all worked up to come to SLO... Well don't worry because February has its fair share of enticing food features. The First Annual Culinary Carnival comes to SLO February 6-8 and will feature:

-An opening reception with a hot & feisty "Iron Chef" style cooking competition, featuring SLO County's most popular chefs, teamed with local celebrity "sous chefs"

- Three educational food/wine and food/bear pairing seminars

Partial it may seem, yes, that I think SLO is quite an epicurean delight. With food havens like NOVO, Blue, The Park, and a wide choice of Italian, Japanese, Indian, and Thai digs, how could one argue? We have access to top organic produce, grass-fed meats, local artisan breads, and local olive oils. The chefs here know exactly what to do with high quality products, and they do it well.

Many of you already know that we always do thing out of the ordinary here. And the latest Petit shirts are no different! Cute, huh? The staff are loving the new style...so far the guests are too!