Eats

When Matt Dockstader and his friends Raymond Williams and BJ Anadon entered their first official barbecue contest at the Santa Maria Elks lodge, things didn’t really go as planned. “We lost miserably,” Dockstader said, laughing over the phone. “We went down in a big ball of flames. It definitely made us go back to the […]

The first thing I noticed about Alisha Taff was her electric smile and bright, glowing skin. Even under the less than flattering fluorescent lights of the SLO Guild Hall, the farmer flaunted an inner radiance that belied her age. Amid the commotion of local food purveyors at the Slow Money SLO meeting, her product—a mysterious […]

I can’t wait for the beer version of Sideways to come out. It will feature two women traversing the back roads of the Central Coast, looking for the best breweries, lamenting about the woes of middle age, and of course drinking a lot of local beers. Just like we have some of the world’s most […]

When John Stankis first walked into Tony’s Burgers in Santa Maria, he had no idea the impact it would have on his life. He was just there to grab a quick bite to eat. He always tries new burger joints, Stankis told the Sun, for a very good reason. Stankis grew up in Compton with […]

Not to brag, but one of the great things about writing on our region’s food and wines is it is literally my job to spend time eating and drinking. It’s hard to complain, especially when that means getting to spend some time at a place like Santa Maria’s own Foxen Vineyard and Winery. Among the […]

Aside from my native Southern food, there is no better comfort food in the world than Thai. Whether it’s platefuls of pad thai smelling of freshly squeezed lime and lightly toasted peanuts or big pots of tom kha gai, there is something inherently warm and inviting about the region’s cuisine. And Thai Hut in Orcutt […]

When Bill Ostini returned after time away from the family and asked his father for a job, the restaurateur had one request of his son. “Dad gave me a steak, said, ‘Cook it medium rare,’” Bill said. So he put the meat on the grill at The Hitching Post in Casmalia and seared it off. […]

Ever since I started writing about food and wine in Santa Maria, I’ve had Las Comadres on my list of “must visit” locations. A quiet, unassuming spot near the intersection of Broadway and Main, the venue doesn’t cry out for attention as a hotspot for foodie circulation. But it has one thing the hipster food […]

Sing it from the mountaintops, fellow residents. Santa Maria finally has its very own barbecue festival. On the weekend of April 22, visitors filled Pioneer Park for the first ever Santa Maria Barbecue Festival and Brews and Cue. Started by the Santa Maria Kiwanis Club as a fundraiser for Kiwanis for Kids, the event featured […]

On a warm Tuesday night in April, Chef John Cox nervously moved from room to room as crowds of well-dressed diners, well-wishers, and food critics flooded into the Fess Parker Wine Country Inn in Los Olivos. The crowd who filled the space was there to welcome The Bear and Star, Eli and Ashley Parker’s new […]

At 29, Owen Hanavan has managed to create a menu of dishes that many chefs twice his age would kill for. “I look at my brain like a tackle box,” Hanavan said. “There’s all sorts of different baits and tackles a fisherman has for his day of fishing. In my brain, there is this tackle […]

Inside Plenty on Bell on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, chef and new co-owner Alec Roehl makes small talk with a pair of customers. They tell him how much they love the food and ask him questions about his family. They’re more like visiting relatives than fussy diners, which is the norm inside the Los Alamos […]