An investigative bite into the incredible California avocado.

The soup was already as succulent as it was simple: organic heirloom tomatoes from Serendipity Farms, slow roasted with garlic, brown sugar, homemade hot sauce and olive oil, then blended.

Yum ad infinitum.

But then, suddenly, miraculously, it got better, and not from the sprinkle of sea salt and little baby bloom of basil on top, but from the 100 percent California avocado oil from Bella Vado swapped in for most of the olive oil. The vibrantly seasonal soup emerged a touch smoother, a little rounder and even earthier than before. Then it disappeared, fast.

The avo oil, available online until SoCal-centered founder Corrine da Silva establishes accounts locally, also promises tasty payoffs in dressings, on fruit and in pans for a saute or grilled cheese.

“It’s simple and fun,” she says. “There’s a range of options with it – desserts, bruschetta, heirloom salads. One chef turned it into a powder and sprinkles it over dishes. It just melts in your mouth.”

It was also a revelation among several at last weekend’s Morro Bay Avocado and Margarita Festival. Avocado-margarita ice cream started off vaguely offensive and then got good as the avocado flavor opened up. Avocado lip balm proved a natural winner, and avocado lotions worked wonderfully too. Avocado egg rolls came off a little funny. A two-time cook-off winner brought its best again – and one that’s easy and affordable to replicate – a halved avocado stuffed with sustainably canned-and-caught albacore tuna, mayo, dry dill, chopped onion and celery, dill relish, Old Bay seasoning, garlic powder and lemon juice. (Check out recipes on the blog, www.mcweekly.com/edible.)

Festival-goers registered to win a year’s supply of the fruit. Avocado farmers from the region displayed a big range of breeds – bacon, Gwen, Zutano, Pinkerton, Reed, Lamb Hass, Hass and fuerte. People posed for pics with a 6-foot-tall avocado blimp. Growers celebrated the avocado’s 20 vitamins and minerals, fiber, good cholesterol, heart health and antioxidants.

This was evidence it wouldn’t be out of line to conduct a recall vote on the recent state food. Artichokes won – and artichoke artery Monterey County rightly rejoiced, as did this artichoke-growing fan – despite the fact most every California omelet, California roll and California sandwich rocks avocado, and the added fact guacamole is a godsend.

Ultimately, though, the margarita lines and limited arc of avocado dishes pushed us from the festival and into surrounding Morro Bay, which isn’t so bad since it offers a catalog of charms just down the coast from us – and in so doing, reminds me of a lesson put forth by legendary nature writer/modern-day Henry David Thoreau, E.O. Wilson.

He eschews the hunt for megafauna for the intricate systems of soils and bugs and everything else found beneath logs. He says to turn over the rocks close to our feet to discover eye-opening texture and tastiness well within geographic and budgetary reach. Like he told the New York Times, “When I go on a field trip, I usually don’t go more than a hundred yards or so in, because when I settle down immediately I start finding interesting stuff.” Stay close, but look closely.

Along Morro Bay’s waterside Embarcadero, we canvassed the selection of natural jewels at The Shell Shop – spiny, smooth, incandescent and incredible golden cowries, perfect sand dollars and exotic cypraea aurantiums, from 22 countries. At Stax Wine Bar & Bistro, local Mourvedre, Temperanillo, mushrooms and oysters entertained as much as Forever Stoked’s edgy art.

A dog beach to the north leads to the little surf town/Highway 1 hiccup Cayucos, where the best smoked salmon tacos on the coast – served with diced apple and locally made Cayucos hot sauce – await at tiny, old-school Ruddell’s Smokehouse, as do the pinch-me-I’m-dreaming cookies across the street at Brown Butter Cookie Company, and hard-to-find craft beers at new Old Creek Ale House.

The dog luxuriated in the pooch-friendly accommodations at high-value La Serena Inn – including a plush bed and big dog biscuit that swept away any whisker of new-place anxiety – and we dug the hotel’s view of towering Morro Rock as much as the marine science and taxidermy at Morro Bay Natural History Museum. Frankie and Lola’s Front Street Cafemade itself mandatory for future visits with a breakfast menu featuring a potato-zucchini “pancake” ($8.70), famous bruleed, souffléd and flambéd French toast ($6.20), fried green tomato Benedicts ($8.50) and Sasquach breakfast sandwiches ($8.70).

A couple handy alibis to explore come quickly. The Morro Bay Harbor Festival ($10 entry; $12 wine tasting) happens Oct. 5-6 with eight bands – including Tropo and the MotherHips – waves of local oysters, 30 wineries, craft beers, restaurant snacks, marine group info tables, tide pool interactive exhibits, a kids’ cove, chowder contests, plus oyster eating and Hawaiian shirt showdowns.

The Central Coast Oyster & Music Festival follows Oct. 19 ($24) with Burning Man shade structures, 40-plus food and retail vendors, beer-wine-cocktails, eight hours of live music (smallpools, Diego’s Umbrella and Vokab Kompany headline), best oyster chef awards and a shucking contest.

Explore away. Like Wilson says, “There is no better high than discovery.”

QUICKBITES

•Melissa Yeater opens a wrinkle in the taste universe with Cheesecake Dreamations (521-7600) out of Marina. Hers are lil’ delicacies too cute to eat if they weren’t so eminently edible. Each I tried ($19 a dozen) – key lime, caramel pecan, marble chocolate, raspberry swirl, strawberry and Oreo – enjoyed light, moist texture and an impressive balance of richness and zing. More on the blog.

• The groundbreaking jazz club/vegan deli Chai doesn’t look likely to happen. Dr. Amba Dryg says a tangle of drama over the lease and her (and her chef’s) increasing ties to S.F. mean it has an 80-percent chance of ending up there and not in P.G.. “It’s the Daoist way,” she says. “Go with the flow… ”

• A modern restaurant morality play just took place, as a Craigslist poster cheap-shotted Chopstix with some old photos and harsh accusations. Owner Mikey Nguyen responded admirably, voluntarily inviting the Health Department by the very next day. Get the lowdown – and his much-deserved redemption – on the blog.

• Salustiano “Shorty” Sanchez lived to 112 eating a banana a day. Jus’ sayin’.

• Inspired fundraiser at MEarth student kitchen/gardens Saturday-Sunday with 1,500 glass pumpkins and almost as many great local food purveyors – La Balena, Basil, Earthbound Farm Stand, Peppoli, AquaTerra Culinary, Pastries & Petals, Happy Girl Kitchen and Taylor Farms. www.mearth.org.

• Holman Ranch (659-2640) celebrates its 85th birthday 6-9pm Thursday, Sept. 26, with a party ($50 includes donation to the Alzheimer’s Association) befitting decades of Hollywood guests, storied horse shows and ambitious grape – and olive-growing – food trucks, wine tastings, music, photo booths, game tents.

• Scheid (626-9463) is official wine of Monterey Jazz Festival (see story, p. 18).

• Friday, Sept. 20, the annual harvest wine dinner ($85-$95) at Chateau Julien Wine Estate (624-2600) celebrates three decades of grapes with estate wines, hor d’oeuvres, entertainment and dinner by Tarpy’s Roadhouse.

• 1,030 tweets and counting. Follow @MontereyMCA in New York this week.

• “Destroying rainforest for economic gain,” E.O. Wilson said, “is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.”