Castroville
If someone told you that the best fish tacos in California were inside a gas station, you’d probably smile politely and then quietly make other plans for lunch. But the Whoa Nellie Deli in Lee Vining, California is the kind of place that exists specifically to make you feel bad about your assumptions, and it does that job extremely well.
When most of California is asleep, a whole other crowd is just clocking in or heading home. Nurses, bakers, airport crews, and delivery drivers all need fuel, and for generations a lot of them have found it in a pink box. The shops on this list keep the fryers going...
California tri-tip has a funny habit of vanishing early. At some of the best barbecue counters in the state, the smokers start before sunrise and the doors close by mid-afternoon, so a late lunch can turn into a missed lunch. This list covers six spots from the Central Coast to...
One Thanksgiving feast on my list takes place inside a replica farmhouse beside an airport, complete with a military theme. Another restaurant has served roasted duck and whole lobster alongside traditional turkey. I love that kind of holiday plot twist. California restaurants clearly don’t treat Thanksgiving as a one-bird show....
California’s Gold Rush towns still have a few old saloons where you can grab a midday meal under the same roof miners once knew. Some of these buildings date back to the 1850s, and they still open their doors for lunch today. This list covers six of them, from...
In-N-Out is almost every California resident’s favorite fast food chain, and for good reason. The chain’s consistency in serving up juicy burgers combined with stellar customer service ensures that any In-N-Out will be at least semi-packed with people at all hours of the day. One thing In-N-Out has...
Some of the best food finds in California hide behind plain signs, gravel lots, and humming deli cases that look like they have not changed in decades. Step inside one of these old-school butcher shops and you start to understand why so many families skip the big grocery chains. The...
The cult-favorite burger chain's billionaire owner dismissed speculation that the company could abandon California, branding the idea 'the dumbest business decision ever.'
Pass the cranberry sauce as Thanksgiving dinner in Northern California is serving up something for every kind of table. The post Thanksgiving Dining in Northern California 2026 appeared first on Fabulous California .
Nov. 10, 2026—Owner Dania Alvarez was blown away by the response to the opening of Con Azúcar Café (“with sugar” in Spanish) in Santa Cruz this past weekend. For weeks, people had been knocking on the door to ask when it would open. On soft-opening day, a line stretched down the block, including people who traveled from Watsonville.
Every November, a lot of Californians quietly accept that their turkey is negotiable but the pie is not. The trouble is that the best pies in the state often come from tiny towns, mountain hamlets, and roadside farm stands, and those places run out fast once Thanksgiving week arrives. This...
A pilot program launched by CalFresh offers matching dollars to low-income California families on purchases of fruits and vegetables.
When the first star appears in the sky on Christmas Eve, Polish people sit down to an elaborate 12-dish dinner that contains no meat dishes, but somehow manages to include several types of herring. The fish, the cabbage, wild mushrooms, pierogi and beet roots – these are the foods and flavors very dear to the hearts of Matt and Heather Zimny, owners of Gromada in Carmel Valley.
Inspectors sent to check on California prison kitchens found rotten tomatoes, moldy peppers, spiderwebs and bug-covered fly traps at Corcoran, and moldy ceilings at Corcoran and California State Prison, Sacramento, along with equipment failures and missing utensils serious enough to raise security concerns. The findings come from an audit by the state's Office of the Inspector General, which examined food programs and services inside California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation facilities.
(“Value what you have instead of what you want!”) It was Christmas; the year was 1949 and I was an excited 14-year-old girl with a bus ticket from Washington state to California, and I had never been more than 40 miles from the Catholic convent where I lived. Twenty-four hours later, the driver hollered out, “Hollister, everyone out,” and so my adventure with tamales began.
Every town has that one table where the same group shows up each morning, orders the usual, and settles the news of the day before most people are awake. In California, some of those tables have been claimed for so long that the regulars outlasted the menus, the paint jobs, and a few of the coffee machines.
Leading Smoothie, Açai Bowl and Raw Juice Chain Steepens Growth Trajectory and Increases Nontraditional Store Count with Recent Openings in California and Arizona. , one of the nation’s leading açai bowl, handcrafted smoothie and raw juice chains for over 30 years, is thoughtfully investing in nontraditional growth opportunities. With a flexible footprint and streamlined operating model that accommodates a range of spaces, the brand is expanding access to its popular menu through travel centers, university campuses, convenience stores, military bases and other high-traffic venues. With many new locations under consideration and others already in development, including a planned location at one of the largest Air Force bases in California, Juice It Up! is leveraging a model designed for compact footprints, efficient preparation and a range of guest occasions.
Some of the best meals in California hide behind doors you would walk right past. You expect a quick plate of fried fish, and instead you find crispy snapper, warm hush puppies, and a family that treats you like a cousin who finally came home. When a beloved little kitchen...
