Eats

It’s a rare business that survives 50 years, run by the same family, in the same location, no less. And when it happens, it’s worthy of acknowledgment. This month, Santa Maria restaurant Casa Mañana is quietly celebrating its 50th anniversary. Casa Mañana’s founders, Robert Ontiveros, now 84 years old, and his wife Lydia, 81, opened […]

You know you’ve made it big when everyone knows you by just one name. Orcutt’s single-named icon is Kay. I recently sat down for a cup of coffee at the copper counter inside Kay’s Country Kitchen with Kay Flagg during a busy Friday morning breakfast rush, where we talked about food, love, and why life […]

Just a stone’s throw from Stearns Wharf is a soulful area of downtown Santa Barbara affectionately known as the Funk Zone, where “the ocean meets the streets.”   The formerly run-down industrial area between State Street, Garden Street, Montecito Street, and Cabrillo Boulevard has undergone a dramatic metamorphosis over the last decade. A small section […]

To celebrate my mom’s 70th birthday, I treated her to a mother/daughter weekend last month in beautiful Santa Barbara. We started our road trip the day after she flew in from Wisconsin, lunching at Bell Street Farm in Los Alamos, then wine tasting at Dierberg-Star Lane tasting room, which is tucked away in a scenic […]

On Aug. 16, a day that would have been Fess Parker’s 90th birthday, his family and more than 100 friends and fans gathered in the Fess Parker Winery VIP barrel room in Los Olivos, raising their wine glasses to toast the man who passed away in 2010. But the winery toasted its founder for more […]

For several years, Wil Fernandez crisscrossed the country in an RV, trying to figure out where he wanted to live. He returned to Santa Barbara County, intrigued by the landscape, the people, and the bountiful food and wine. “People ask me, ‘Where’s your favorite place?’ This is my favorite place. This is it. There’s nowhere […]

The Murphy Family knew they had something special when they planted the sustainably farmed 72-acre Presqu’ile Vineyard on their property off of Clark Avenue east of Orcutt. Their sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot noir, syrah, and nebbiolo vines are thriving on the sandy Santa Maria Valley hillsides where rows of gladiolas once bloomed. Because of warmer […]

Do you work 9 to 5 and want to try a local winery’s new releases, but don’t want to play tourist on the weekend? Most wine tasting rooms close by 5 p.m., so what’s a wine loving-weekday worker to do? Old Town Orcutt has several options after work. Any night of the week, there are […]

Growing up in Wisconsin, in an extended family full of dairy farmers, I fondly recall devouring a big bowl of ice cream just about every night for my bedtime snack. If we were feeling festive, we would drizzle chocolate syrup on top of a few scoops, and maybe toss some walnuts in the bowl. Our […]

Three summers ago, while all eyes were on Britain’s Prince William and his wife Catherine at the Santa Barbara Polo Club, sweating it out behind the scenes was burgeoning baker Bob Oswaks. As celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis prepared her sweet corn lasagna with blistered tomatoes for the VIP fundraiser luncheon in honor of the […]

Allan Hancock College’s viticulture and enology students have a lot to be excited about when they return to school in Santa Maria mid-August. Not only will they be harvesting chardonnay, pinot noir, and other wine varietals from the community college’s 4-acre vineyard, this year they will also have an impressive new campus winery at which […]

Got a hankerin’ for hog? Need to add some sizzle to your Saturday? Then look no further than Bacon & Barrels. The second annual event in Los Olivos—named one of the top five festivals in California by The Huffington Post—will be held at the Saarloos and Sons field July 18 through 20. The three-day outdoor […]