WENDY THIES SELL

Sunday, Feb. 10, marks the Chinese New Year, a time when at least a billion people will gather with family and friends to celebrate with good food. If delicious Chinese cuisine is what you’re craving, then head to the corner of Broadway and Main, and enter North China Restaurant, celebrating 31 years in the same […]

Clarissa Nagy might be the most approachable, genuinely nice winemaker I have ever met. She’s just a good person. And it rubs off in the winery, where all the guys think twice before letting curse words fly when Nagy is near. “I think I keep the shop talk a lot cleaner than it would be. […]

She’s been the head winemaker at one of the largest wineries on the Central Coast for a decade, and yet there are people who are surprised to learn a winery could be led by a woman.  Denise Shurtleff, Cambria Winery’s winemaker, recently shared with me this astonishing conversation that unfortunately she’s had on more than […]

The Santa Maria Valley is home to approximately a dozen wineries with local tasting rooms, three of which have a female winemaker: Lane Tanner at Sierra Madre Vineyards, Denise Shurtleff at Cambria Winery, and Clarissa Nagy of Riverbench Vineyard and her own Nagy Wines. A couple of smaller wineries based in Santa Maria are owned […]

January is California Restaurant Month, a month-long, statewide celebration promoted by the state’s division of tourism. Hundreds of restaurants across California are offering special multi-course menus at incredible prices. The Central Coast is no exception: Dine Out Santa Maria Style is Jan. 13 through 20; Santa Ynez Valley Restaurant Week is Jan. 20 through 26; […]

The first time I walked into Woody’s Butcher Block, the new upscale meat market and deli counter that opened in Santa Maria in November, I wasn’t sure if I had the right place. Stepping onto the hardwood floors and looking around at the warm décor and tidy provisions displays, I thought this had to be […]

Another vintage has been “put to bed” in barrels and tanks in Central Coast wineries. The winter months give winemakers, vineyard managers, and workers time to catch up on rest after the grueling harvest months during the fall. Expectations for the ’12 wines are high as the weather cooperated better this year than in years […]

If you prefer to shop local and subscribe to the notion that fresh is best, then look no further than Ingeborg’s Danish Chocolate Factory to finish your Christmas shopping this year. The colorful and cheery chocolate shop, in the heart of delightfully decorated Solvang, is not just a feast for the eyes; it’s filled with […]

Just 14 days after first tasting the splendid 2010 Hilliard Bruce Chardonnay, I was riding through the gorgeous 101-acre estate in the passenger seat of the co-owner’s golf cart. I met John Hilliard at the fabulous Wine and Fire event at La Purisima Mission in August. Two weeks later, Hilliard gave me a personal tour […]

Two uber-talented winemakers, making wines at different Santa Barbara County wineries, grew up in South Africa, attending the same college. But it wasn’t until they moved 10,000 miles across the globe to California that their paths finally crossed and they quickly became friends. Ernst Storm is Curtis Winery’s winemaker, and he has his own label, […]

It’s as if she discovered a four-leaf clover, but people familiar with Heather Lee Henry’s culinary talents know there’s much more than luck behind her landing the job as new head chef at Rooney’s Irish Pub in Orcutt.   In September, well-liked Chef Anthony Endy left Rooney’s to accept a position as chef at Paul […]