Food & Drink

March gladness Birchwood Nipomo’s mac and cheese cookoff takes place on Saturday, March 2, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Rain postpones the event—visit birchwoodnipomo.com or call (805) 723-5102 for more info. The venue is located at 323 W. Tefft St., Nipomo. As a garden nursery and beer garden, Birchwood Nipomo is a haven for […]

One grape to rule them all For more info on World of Pinot Noir, visit worldofpinotnoir.com. The Santa Barbara program will include various events to highlight local and visiting wineries between Feb. 29 and March 2. World of Pinot Noir will take place at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, located at 8301 Hollister Ave., Santa Barbara. One […]

Nipomo promo Follow Cafe DeVille on social media for more info about the restaurant’s future opening and its outdoor pop-up events. Cafe DeVille is located at 133 S. Thompson Road, Nipomo. For additional details, visit cafedevillenipomo.com. Late night cravings are rarely insatiable at the DeBilzan family’s Nipomo home, thanks to its patriarch’s improvisation skills in […]

Wine wonderlands Call (805) 344-1900 or visit casadumetzwines.com for more info on Casa Dumetz Wines, located at 388 Bell St., Los Alamos. Tickets to Solvang’s 2024 Garagiste Wine Festival—Feb. 9 and 10—are available in advance at my805tix.com.  To find out more about this year’s Santa Barbara County Women Winemakers and Culinarians Celebration, which includes events […]

By the glass, flight, bottle Call (805) 699-5802 or visit donnachadh.com for more info on Donnachadh Family Wines and its new tasting room, located at 2938 San Marcos Ave., No. 101, Los Olivos. The venue is open Thursday through Monday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome. One mascot found in a new […]

Yearly tradition Visit santamariavalley.com for more info on Santa Maria Valley’s 2024 Restaurant Month and Craft Cocktail Contest. Sugar. Spice. Everything nice. Maybe a little gin, vodka, and vermouth. Shaken, of course. While recipes both classic and classified are available year round, there are far more than just three ingredients on display throughout this year’s […]

Blue Cuyama Blue Sky Center is located at 1000 Perkins Road, New Cuyama. Call (661) 413-3005 or visit blueskycenter.org for more info on the nonprofit.  A local nonprofit is ringing in the new year—and the following two years—with some new funds to support its unique gardening program. Near the end of 2023, Blue Sky Center […]

Boulevard of broken bread Call (805) 819-0915 for more info on Savory & Sweet Eats, located at 1412 Burton Mesa Blvd., Lompoc. The eatery posts frequent updates about its menu offerings on both Facebook and Instagram. Behind the tirades of F-bomb raids, Gordon Ramsay is less intimidating than his TV persona when the cameras aren’t […]

A grand addition to Grand Avenue Call (805) 904-6876 for more info on Hanna’s Mexican Fusion Restaurant, located at 1412 E. Grand Ave., Arroyo Grande. Follow the eatery’s Instagram page for updates on both its new brick-and-mortar and its food truck, @hannas.street._.tacos. When SLO local Cesar Cortes and his family embarked on running a taco […]

Ribbon cuttings for new eateries along the Central Coast weren’t in short supply over the past 12 months. When I looked back on the Sun’s food and wine stories of 2023, I was reminded of the contagious enthusiasm some of my interviewees exuded while gushing about their dreams of owning their own restaurant or tasting […]

Ice to meet you Visit orcutticecreamkitchen.com for more info on Orcutt Ice Cream Kitchen. The mobile business’s next pop-up event will be held on Friday, Dec. 29, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Naughty Oak Brewing Company, located at 165 Broadway St., suite 102, Orcutt. Chopped nuts. Chopped chocolate. Chopped marshmallows. Without this holy trinity […]

With the help of nearly $5 million in federal funding, a Santa Barbara County elderberry farming experiment kicked off in November, aiming to make the locally grown medicinal plant more widely available on the West Coast.  Spearheaded by the White Buffalo Land Trust, a regenerative farming-focused nonprofit founded in Summerland five years ago, the project […]