Food & Drink

A train barrels by just one block from Paso Underground, obscuring the sound of drizzling rain. I’m sipping one of Orion Stang’s ultra-small-batch Dilecta label releases, his 2013 “Match” blend of grenache, syrah, and mourvedre sourced from three Paso vineyards. The wine—like the nearby locomotive—boasts a lingering finish that haunts the senses long after the […]

New Year’s Eve was a mellow dining experience for me. As people everywhere enjoyed swanky dinner places or visited loud noisy bars, my family and I decided to ring in the new year in an atmosphere that was quiet, familiar, and to adopt an overused phrase: where everybody knows our names. We ate at the […]

As we ring in a new year, it’s also a time to reflect on the good things we enjoyed in 2015 here on the Central Coast, good things like outstanding locally crafted wine, cutting-edge beer, fresh produce grown year round, excellent cuisine, new restaurants, and the creative artisans working so hard to bring us the […]

As I look back at my wine country wanderings over the past year and through the hundreds of photographs that I’ve taken along the way, I realized how many experiences and wines that I have yet to write about in this column. So, before the year is up, I want to share with you a […]

She captured the hearts of television viewers nationwide earlier this year on the Food Network’s cooking competition show, All-Star Academy, a rigorous cooking contest that she survived through the finale, placing first runner-up. Solvang native Vanessa Craig, took the newfound fame after the TV show aired and started her catering business, Vanessa Loves Food.  “I’ve […]

You typically don’t expect to find fine dining in an industrial strip. Especially not in an industrial strip on a street called Industrial Way. However in Buellton, there sits an exception to the expectation. Or should I say, a pleasant surprise? Terravant doesn’t just sit in an industrial complex, it’s literally tucked away at the […]

Many of the finest restaurants in the United States and Canada count on Santa Maria’s Babé Farms for year-round, high-end produce. This isn’t where you’ll find the ordinary.  Babé Farms grows and hand-harvests 80 unique vegetable varieties—some almost too beautiful to eat.  We’re talking nine different colored radishes, including slim white icicles, red-and-white finger-shaped French […]

At The Spoon Trade American Eatery, the first thing you’ll notice is the cluster of antique spoons dangling in the foyer. They’re silver, gunmetal, slate, battleship—and all hues in-between. Some capture the Grover Beach light and throw it back with dazzling intensity. Others have seen better days. All are special if you ask Chef Jacob […]

You would be hard pressed to find a better cheerleader for the Santa Maria Valley than James Ontiveros.  The cowboy-turned-respected-viticulturist and vintner feels right at home here, and with good reason. On St. Mary’s Day, 1855, it was his great, great, great, great grandfather, Don Juan Pacifico Ontiveros, who set foot on Rancho Tepusquet, an […]

There’s a gentle winding road that exits Orcutt and twists its way through the hills and farm fields toward the coast. The road eventually meets Highway 1 and rolls slowly through the city of Guadalupe. The street has a retro feel with building facades that harken to the past. I can’t imagine Guadalupe looks much […]

Ali Saleh had good reason to be confident when he opened his new restaurant in Santa Maria—he had a built-in following. For years, he noticed that many of his Mediterranean cuisine-seeking customers at Jaffa Café in the Village of Arroyo Grande, were making the trip from the Santa Maria Valley, particularly at lunchtime. “Santa Maria […]

I used to love to go grocery shopping with Mom while growing up in Spokane, Wash. We always shopped at the local grocer, Rosauers market. She also took me to her cousin’s fruit stand for huge, sweet apples and produce. We lived down the street from a small mom-and-pop shop that had the best candy! […]