Two restaurants, one beloved local couple, and an 13th Street block that changed downtown Paso Robles forever.
There’s a particular kind of magic that happens on 13th Street in downtown Paso Robles on a Friday evening. Tasting room doors are swinging shut, the oak trees are casting long shadows over the town square, and somewhere between the live music and the clinking of glasses, we all have the same question: The Hatch or Della’s?
The good news? You don’t have to choose. Sitting side by side at 835 and 831 13th Street, The Hatch is a simple rotisserie and bar located just off the town square, fueled by wood fire, small batch whiskey, and a bustling atmosphere full of mingling locals and visitors — while Della’s, its next-door sister, takes things in a decidedly different direction: wood-fired pizza, California cocktails, and an expansive Gin Bar consisting of 50+ local, domestic and international gins. Same ownership. Same warmth. Two completely distinct personalities, and together, they form one of the most compelling dining duos on the entire Central Coast.
A Love Story in the Heart of Wine Country
Known for their wood-fired comfort food, extensive whiskey selection, and friendly vibe at The Hatch Rotisserie & Bar, owners Maggie Cameron and Eric Connolly built Della’s Wood-Fired Pizza & Cocktails on the same warm foundation, blended with a contemporary take on blistered-crust pizza and a novel focus on gin.
The Hatch and Della’s were born from a romance. Owners Maggie Cameron and Eric Connolly met while working in the wine industry — Cameron had arrived in California on her 24th birthday and eventually made her way to JUSTIN Winery, where she rose to wine club and e-commerce manager. That’s where she met Eric, and that’s where they fell for each other. Two wine-country veterans, deeply rooted in Paso Robles, who looked at the downtown dining landscape and saw a gap. Not fine dining, not pub grub — something in between. A proper local’s joint. The Hatch was designed as a gathering place for friends to enjoy simple foods, classic and craft cocktails, and beautiful wines, and when it opened in June of 2015, it was an immediate hit.
Della’s followed next door — a bold leap into wood-fired pizza and a serious gin program, launched right in the middle of pandemic uncertainty. That leap paid off beautifully. Both restaurants became anchor institutions in Paso’s dining scene, beloved not just for their food and drinks but for the genuine community warmth that Cameron and Connolly wove into every corner of them.
And now, those corners belong to someone who has loved them from the very beginning.
Passing the Torch — to Family
When Maggie and Eric announced they were ready to pass the baton, they weren’t looking for a buyer. They were looking for the right people. As they put it in their announcement: “We have found the absolutely perfect people to steward our restaurants into their next chapter.”
Those people are Rustle and Lisa — and their story with The Hatch is as warm and full-circle as it gets. Rustle and Lisa have been part of the Hatch family since the very beginning, early supporters who spread the word about the fledgling restaurant before most of Paso Robles had heard of it. They were so devoted, in fact, that on their wedding night they took over The Hatch bar with their entire wedding party — Lisa still in her full wedding dress — toasting their new marriage in the place they already loved like a second home.
Rustle joined the team officially last summer as dining room manager, and from day one he brought an extraordinary work ethic alongside a deep respect for the staff and the traditions that make both restaurants what they are. When the time came to find new stewards, the answer was already in the room.
“With love, purpose, and enthusiasm,” Maggie and Eric wrote, “we’re thrilled to announce that the new owners of The Hatch and Della’s are our dining room manager Rustle, and his amazing wife Lisa.”
For regulars, this isn’t a changing of the guard so much as a homecoming. The soul of these restaurants — the scratch cooking, the local wines on tap, the gin bar that doubles as a neighborhood living room — is in hands that have always cherished it.
The Hatch: All Hail the Bird
Step inside The Hatch and the first thing you’ll notice is the smell — wood smoke, caramelized onion, something savory and deeply comforting threading through the air. The restaurant is small and bustling. A full dinner menu is served at the 15-seat bar, and the dining room includes an assortment of banquette seating and high top tables. It is, as advertised, intimate. Reservations are strongly recommended.
The Hatch reveres the rotisserie, and roasted chicken is indeed the must-order. Brined and smoky, the half organic chicken is sided by a vanilla-maple slaw, buttermilk dip and Hatch hot sauce, and its perfectly salty skin coupled with flavorful meat gives an expensive steak a run for its money. The skillet cornbread, finished with brown butter, flaky salt and honey, is a worthy sidekick. It earned a spot in the 2025 MICHELIN Guide — and rightly so.
The current dinner menu reads like a greatest-hits album of comforting, ingredient-forward cooking. Shrimp & Grits comes in a tomato broth with white cheddar grits and braised greens; the braised pork shoulder is plated over a masa cake with escabeche and verde sauce; and the Mushroom Stroganoff features Etto fettuccine pasta and Mighty Cap Mushrooms—local Paso-grown fungi that appear throughout both restaurant menus. The skirt steak gets a bourbon-espresso shallot treatment and a knob of gorgonzola butter. For dessert, the Sea Salt Butterscotch Pie delivers butterscotch pudding and sea salt caramel in a coconut-graham crust with vanilla whip. Yum!
The sourcing philosophy is meticulous, from Marsh Hen Mill in South Carolina for the grits, to Etto Pastificio who makes the pasta right in Paso Robles, to California-raised Jidori chicken. These items are kissed with a little wood fire and Hatch magic, plated simply, and delivered Then devoured!
The Whiskey & Wine Bar at The Hatch
The bar at The Hatch is a destination in its own right. Artful craft cocktails, an extensive whiskey list, and rotating selections of local wine, beer, and cider all provide refreshing complement to the wood-fired comfort food. The farmers market-inspired cocktail list features fresh produce, juices, and homegrown garnishes, along with specialty items from The Hatch kitchen like house-pickled fruits and vegetables, jams, and even smoked meats.
Current seasonal cocktails include the Chai Me a River — Wineshine fig brandy, chai syrup, lemon, and a cinnamon-sugar rim — and the stirred, smoky Knock on Wood, which marries mezcal with Ancho Reyes, Averna, chocolate bitters, and lemon. For whiskey purists, the Upper East Manhattan uses a WhistlePig rye aged in a Hatch barrel, and the showstopper Goodfellow is a 50-dollar journey through High West rye, fig, wormwood bitters, pecan wood smoke, and an absinthe rinse.
On the wine side, The Hatch works with winemaker friends and neighbors to offer unique wines and Hatch-focused blends rarely found outside the restaurant. The on-tap list is a love letter to Paso Robles wine country: McPrice Myers pours a Hatch-exclusive Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre blend, Linne Calodo contributes a Syrah-Grenache called “Computer Geek,” Emercy Wines brings a Cabernet-Zinfandel-Petite Sirah “Hatch Blend,” and Lone Madrone offers their beautiful Chenin Blanc. Every glass is served at the proper temperature from sealed kegs — the last pour as perfect as the first.
Della’s: Gin Joint, Pizzeria, and the Best Negroni in Town
If The Hatch is whiskey, Della’s is gin — and it wears that distinction with considerable style. This modern wine country pizzeria and gin joint in downtown Paso Robles serves up ingredient-driven rustic dishes and California cocktails in a swanky-casual atmosphere that encourages the sharing of blistered wood-fired pizzas, savory sides and entrées, as well as lively conversation.
The room has a warmth that’s different from its neighbor — a little more candlelit, a little more date-night. Locals and wine country visitors mingle at the bar over a menu of 50+ gins, while the open kitchen turns out pizzas in an authentic Fiero Forni wood-burning oven imported from Italy. A few serious factors deliver extraordinary contrasts of texture and flavor in every pie: 72-hour cold-fermented dough, deliciously playful topping combos, and that Italian wood-burning oven together.
The pizza names alone deserve a standing ovation. The Girl Crush layers mozzarella, tomato sauce, pepperoni, jalapeño, and hot honey. The Main Squeeze tops garlic oil and mozzarella with spicy fried chicken, pickled red onion, Della’s ranch, and herbs. The New-New Haven goes white — garlic cream, confit potato, melted leek, and rosemary sea salt — and the All Choked Up is a smoky masterpiece of smoked mozzarella, garlic cream, house-smoked bacon, artichoke heart, caramelized onion, and chive.
Beyond pizza, Della’s dinner menu rewards a table of sharers. The fried lasagne — made with Etto pasta, ricotta, mozzarella, Grana, basil pesto, and spicy marinara — is the kind of dish you’ll think about for weeks. The braised beef rigatoni features a slow-cooked beef cheek sugo over Etto mezzi rigatoni. Fried artichokes with Meyer lemon aioli and gremolata are a perennial. And dessert brings two tiramisus — the classic, made with Paso Robles Coffee Co. cold brew, and a pistachio version that is decidedly worth the extra stretch.
The Gin Bar and Cocktail Culture at Della’s
Featuring bright California-style cocktails, vibrant G&Ts, a not-to-be-missed signature amphora-aged negroni, and martinis sure to up anyone’s game, Della’s is Paso’s gin joint. That amphora-aged negroni deserves special mention — the use of a traditional clay vessel to age the cocktail lends it a rounded, almost wine-like depth that you simply don’t find at most bars. It’s a deliberate wink at the wine country surrounding them.
Many of California’s most captivating spirits producers are included alongside some of the hottest brewers and winemakers of Paso Robles and the Central Coast — making the drinks list feel as locally rooted as the food. The wine list leans into Paso’s strength in Rhône varieties and bold reds, with plenty of options by the glass to pair with a bubbling pizza straight from the wood-fired oven.
Two Doors, One Block, One Beloved Community Institution
The practical genius of The Hatch and Della’s being next door to each other is something regulars know well: if the restaurant is full, you’re welcome to add your name to the waitlist and go enjoy the downtown Paso Robles nightlife for a bit — they’ll shoot you a text when your seats become available. In practice, many guests end up starting with a Negroni at Della’s bar and finishing with rotisserie chicken next door, or doing the whole evening in one spot and letting the other remain a reason to come back.
Both restaurants are open daily starting at 4:30 PM and accept reservations through Yelp. Walk-ins are welcome as available, and the bar at each spot is always first-come, first-served for those who prefer a spontaneous evening.
In Paso Robles, where wine country glamour often gets top billing, The Hatch and Della’s quietly remind us that the best dining experiences are really about people — the ones who cook, the ones who pour, and the ones who keep coming back. This pair of downtown neighbors isn’t just part of the Paso Robles story. They’re some of its best chapters.
The Hatch Rotisserie & Bar | 835 13th Street, Paso Robles, CA
Della’s Wood-Fired Pizza & Cocktails | 831 13th Street, Paso Robles, CA
Both open daily at 4:30 PM
Central Coast California’s Best Sparkling Wineries
You must be logged in to post a comment.