Rio Del Mar
Most great discoveries don’t announce themselves, and Annabelle’s Chocolate Lounge in El Dorado, California is proof that the best things are often the ones you have to go looking for. It’s a handcrafted chocolate lounge sitting quietly in the Sierra Nevada foothills, and it is absolutely worth the...
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...
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.
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...
The cult-favorite burger chain's billionaire owner dismissed speculation that the company could abandon California, branding the idea 'the dumbest business decision ever.'
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...
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...
I have a few beefs with In-N-Out Burger (bun intended), but I, like so many with ties to California, grew up eating here. Founded in Baldwin Park in 1948, the fast-food chain feels like it's woven into the fingerprint of the Golden State at this point. And with generations of my mom's side born and raised in Southern California, it should be no surprise that it was a family tradition to eat at In-N-Out when we were visiting our loved ones. With these meals marking our gatherings, reunions, and Disneyland trips with everybody, In-N-Out Burger has never just felt like some random fast-food joint to me. It feels personal.
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 .
A pilot program launched by CalFresh offers matching dollars to low-income California families on purchases of fruits and vegetables.
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...
(“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.
A California wine brand is writing a new playbook on getting Gen Z’s attention. But the wine industry might not like what it says.
A family bakery in California still sells a strawberry whipped cream cake first developed in the 1970s. The bakery itself opened in 1938. I can’t get over that. Some birthday traditions are older than the parents ordering the cake. That shop has plenty of good company on this list.
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.
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.
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.
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...
