Eats

Slot machines. Poker tables. Bundt cakes.  Husband and wife Tom and Terre Downey hit the jackpot in one of these arenas during a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, when they were introduced to a hip bakery in town. It happened about two decades ago. The couple was visiting their son, who lived in Vegas at […]

I’ve spent a lot of time on San Luis Obispo County’s sparse number of buses. By the time they’re done slowly meandering, I’m always hungry but invariably stuffed with a little more information about this sliver of the Central Coast.  Golden Moon Chinese Restaurant revved up both my appetite and curiosity when I caught a […]

Before playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, Sasha Vujacic spent the early years of his professional basketball career in northern Italy, where he enjoyed bonding over regional wines with his father.  “At that time, my dad was exploring the local wines in the area and learning about the diverse practices, approaches, and traditions that determine […]

This year marked the return of the Santa Maria Wine Trolley, after the attraction’s two-year pause due to the pandemic.  The trolley resumed transportation services to local tasting rooms in May, and a recent boost in ticket sales inspired the program’s organizers to extend this season’s end date—originally in mid-October—to late November. “This is our […]

Wine. Cheese. Bocce ball. Set to open in late November, the Guadalupe Social Club will be home to many things—some with age restrictions, and others without.  The wine bar’s co-founders Brooks Van Wingerden and Lexie Bell, two mothers, both with three children of their own, aimed to create a unique space for wine tasting with […]

Fall is crush time for California’s wine industry. The Santa Barbara County Vintners Festival was Oct. 8 in Solvang. In San Luis Obispo County, the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance celebrates Harvest Wine Month throughout October, while its rising-star sister, the San Luis Obispo Coast Wine Collective, rolls out Harvest on the Coast in November. […]

It’s been in business for less than a year, and COLD Coast Brewing Company has already gained national recognition for one of its ales.  In early October, the Lompoc-based brewery’s co-founders flew to Denver, Colorado, to attend the Great American Beer Festival—the largest annual commercial beer competition in the U.S. More than 2,000 breweries from […]

There’s a new way to shake off the Monday blues in the Santa Ynez Valley. Thanks to a partnership with Santa Maria-based dance company Klein Dance Arts, Zaca Creek in Buellton is hosting salsa dance sessions twice a month.  Each event in the Mojito Monday series is paired with a selection of tropical cocktails and […]

This year marked the return of a unique gathering, formerly held at the Cuyama Buckhorn on a periodic basis before fading out more than five decades ago. “Back in the ’50s and ’60s, it was a regular thing at the Buckhorn to do a chuckwagon meal, and over the years it just kind of went […]

Darting between two places of work on a golf cart has become a daily occurrence for one pair of local restaurateurs. Luckily for business partners Anthony Carron and Steven Fretz, their new Mexican restaurant, Campo del Sol, is located just a few blocks away from their steakhouse, Coast Range, in downtown Solvang. “We bought a […]

The biggest difference between traditional Santa Barbara County wines and Italian ones is in the way they’re treated at the table.   Pinot noirs and chardonnays are often imbibed in a competitive way—measured against one another—said winemaker Steve Clifton. His longtime brand Palmina recently merged with Demetrios and Karen Loizides’ new Vega Vineyard and Farm […]

History has shown time and time again that bananas and ice cream work well as a team. Banana splits. Banana-flavored ice cream. Ice cream-flavored bananas.  As unreal as the latter sounds, the Blue Java banana—known for its ice cream-esque consistency and vanilla flavor—is just as real as any fruit grown at Dewlson Family Farm in […]