Food & Drink

Lights, camera, auction! Hundreds of high-end wines and other coveted items will be auctioned off during an upcoming fundraiser at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank. This year’s edition of A Culinary Event with the California Winemasters will showcase about 75 different California-based vintners, as well as more than 50 international chefs—including a handful employed by […]

When setting out to renovate their family-owned tasting room, siblings Ashley Parker-Snyder and Eli Parker sought a redesign that felt fresh and contemporary—and simultaneously paid homage to the Parker family’s unique history. Parker-Snyder said the end result is something she hopes her folks, the late Fess and Marcy Parker, would be proud of. Her father, […]

Primarily open during the day for breakfast and lunch, One Room Escapes and Coffee is best known for its drinks, baked goods, and seemingly endless amount of board games available for patrons to play. All three of those offerings are about to extend into occasional evening hours at the Lompoc venue, along with a new […]

An upcoming one-night-only menu at Eye on I challenges diners to eat as much pizza “as you can stuff into your stoned face.” April 20 falls on a Wednesday this year, but that isn’t stopping the Lompoc eatery from celebrating its inaugural 4/20 dinner with an open-ended time frame, from 6 p.m. to “whenever you […]

Pizza, cocktails, live music, and a beginner-friendly bread-making class—all wrapped up in a two-night stay at a scenic roadside resort. This is just a handful of goodies and events that attendees of Cuyama Buckhorn’s Wild Flour Celebration can expect.  This year’s weekend-long celebration—which also includes a four-course farm-to-table dinner, mead tastings, and more—marks the second […]

Almost all the walls at Sear Steakhouse are adorned with at least one historic photograph or colorful artwork, minus one particular wall with a large bookshelf in front of it. Pressing hard on a specific side of the shelf reveals its true purpose—a secret door, straight out of a Scooby-Doo episode.  “It’s totally the Batcave,” […]

Craft beers from more than 40 breweries are set to be served during this year’s Lagerville Beer Fest in Buellton. The popular festival—which also features food vendors and live entertainment—takes place on Saturday, April 9, at Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co., where it originated in 2018.  To celebrate the return of the event, after its two-year […]

Garlic, onion, tomatoes, coconut milk, bell pepper, and red palm oil imbue mild white fish with tons of flavor in the classic Brazilian stew moqueca baiana.  “It has a redness base to it and it just gives the fish stew like an exotic color to it. It has a distinct taste to it, and it’s […]

More than 20 all-you-can-taste options await guests of the Buellton Wine and Chili Festival. Sampling every different chili will give festivalgoers more than their money’s worth, but nobody’s gonna stop anyone from going all-in on their favorite. “You get to walk around and try everyone’s chili. If you really like a chili, you can keep […]

As a kid, Jessica Foster loved to make mud pies—with real mud—while playing in the dirt. That’s the only memory she can confidently label as foreshadowing her career path.  “I liked candy, but I didn’t love chocolate,” the professional chocolatier said. “I was like the fruity candy kid. I was more into Skittles, Starbursts, stuff […]

As far as menu items go, Santa Maria-style barbecue is just the tri-tip of the iceberg at Alisal Ranch’s two on-site restaurants.  The resort’s new chef de cuisine, Adam Measurall, oversees both—River Grill and Ranch Grill—and often juggles different cooking techniques. But one consistency is fresh, locally sourced ingredients. “The style of food is pretty […]

Brace yourselves, foodies. There’s a seven-day sweet and savory storm heading to Lompoc in the form of the city’s seventh annual Restaurant Week.  In conjunction with this year’s festivities, several restaurant owners throughout Lompoc are offering exclusive deals for $20.22, the same price as participants of Santa Maria Valley’s Restaurant Month, albeit within a much […]