WHY For date shakes, fresh dates and a big-ticket county fair to boot. WHAT Now folded into the large-scale Riverside County Fair, this 65-year-old week-long event has become more about the parades, concerts (with headliners like LeAnn Rimes), camel races and amusement-park fun than about food. But you can still learn a lot about dates, [...]
WHY To see the world’s largest vat of guacamole, of course. WHAT Now one of the state’s largest food-focused events, the Avocado Festival is free and fun. Contests include largest avocado, best guacamole recipe and best-dressed avocado; music comes from lots of good local bands; and the kids’ area includes an avocado rock-climbing wall. Early [...]
WHY Really good, really homemade tamales from church groups, home-based tamale businesses and larger regional tamale makers. WHAT This free 18-year-old festival is devoted to the humble but heavenly tamale, held during the traditional tamale month, December, which also happens to be the most pleasant time of year in the desert. Tamale booths galore, a [...]
WHY To celebrate the Central Coast’s most cherished fruit. WHAT Going strong for more than a quarter of a century, this is a fine way to celebrate one of California’s greatest products. Music ranges from the Oxnard High Marching Band to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and there’s a strawberry-focused recipe contest, a strawberry tart toss, [...]
WHY Tastings of some 50 salsas, amateur and professional recipe contests, great Latin music and salsa dancing—and all the chips you could ever hope to eat. WHAT You can dance the salsa and eat the salsas at this fun, free and friendly summertime fest in ocean-cooled Oxnard. The heart of the event is the huge [...]
WHY To wallow in the glory of bread, butter and cheese. WHAT Bread – Butter – Cheese – Victory! is the slogan of this fast-growing underground cheese-off that’s typically held in April (the 2009 one was chaos, but 2010 was better organized and much more fun). The location changes and is sometimes not announced until [...]
WHY Simple and satisfying sandwiches on homemade bread. WHAT Part bakery, part coffeehouse, part lunch purveyor, these spacious, friendly, order-at-the-counter cafés are fine places for lunchtime sandwiches. Generous and made on an array of homemade breads, they are thoughtfully offered in three sizes: regular, large and half. WHO Office workers flock to both locations. 921 [...]
WHY Ordering the Dianne salad marks you as a true Pasadenan. WHAT This institution does a brisk business in Cal-American cuisine. There’s a popular outdoor patio and a modern-coffee-shop interior, but wherever you choose to sit, the go-to dish is the Dianne salad, its ginormous take on Chinese chicken salad (for a more reasonable serving, [...]
WHY A chance to hang out with the local hipsters in a laid-back neighborhood café. WHAT This funky-cute cottage across the street from Virginia Park is emblematic of the gentrification of Santa Monica’s Pico neighborhood. Pull up a chair at one of the adorable little tiled tables on the ivy-shaded patio and enjoy one of [...]
WHY A little bit of heaven right on bustling Main Street. Delicious panini, a nice breakfast and lovely sweet crèpes. WHAT This modest café is a sleeper find on Main Street—a welcome alternative to the many overpriced and/or touristy eateries. Take your crisp, absolutely delicious panini to the hidden rear garden, where umbrellas shade the [...]
RSS Feed
Become a Fan
Follow Us