Weekend trip to the Central Coast

Friday, May 1st: we leave the LA area around 1:00 pm and head west on the 210, then north on the 5 through Valencia, then west on the 126 into Ventura where we catch the 101 north. We've decided to stop for lunch in Santa Barbara at a tiny hole in the wall Mexican place I've heard of but never tried. It's called La Super Rica Taqueria and is located on Milpas St. Supposedly Julia Child's considered this one of the best restaurants she'd ever been to even though it's a tiny little place. The online reviews are mostly very good, but there are some negative ones, so we aren't sure what to expect. There was a line, but we got in pretty quickly and I ordered one of the specials, chicken enchiladas with mushrooms and a cream sauce and Sean ordered a cheese and chorizo dish with corn tortillas. I also got a bottled orange soda drink and Sean got horchata, our bill was a little pricier than expected, $18 for the two of us. My enchiladas were good, their home made tortillas are really nice. Sean's dish was a little odd; a small bowl with melted cheese in it and chunks of chorizo floating in the cheese. He had three corn tortillas to make tacos out of, but it didn't come close to filling him up. All in all, it was decent, but we wouldn't go out of our way to eat there again.Friday night, approx. 8:30 pm, we are in Santa Maria and needing to get some dinner. We try to go to a pizza place in Orcutt I used to like on occasion; really deep dish and you could get a tri-tip pizza. Of course it's changed ownership by now, so we go to Olivia's Mexican restaurant around the corner. They close at 9:00 but when we go in they are friendly and tell us it's no problem (by then it was 8:45). I wasn't very hungry so I ordered a side salad and we shared a Mexican pizza and Sean ordered a chorizo burrito (it was his chorizo day). I thought the food was just ok; the "crispy" tortilla making up the bottom of the pizza was not crispy at all, but the toppings were good. The service was definitely above average, so I would go back and try something different to give them another chance.Saturday night we go into Pismo Beach to have drinks with a friend. We end up going to the SeaVenture Resort on Ocean View Ave. I had a specialty martini with citron vodka, champagne, lemon juice, and simple syrup, it was very nice and light. We also ordered their Rosemary Roasted Almonds and Mediterranean Crostini, they were a nice accompaniments to the drinks.Sunday we headed back towards LA but stopped at Fess Parkers winery in Los Olivos. For $10 you can taste 6 wines, three whites and three reds. They also threw in an extra port at the end for a sweet finish. I liked the reserve Syrah the best, it was very smooth and I would have bought it but I thought it was a little steeply priced at $45. The Pinot Noir was not nearly as good as many I've had, especially the ones from Oregon which I believe are superior to most Pinot's being made in California. We bought one bottle of the regular Syrah and some chocolate wine berry candies to take home. Then we stopped for lunch in Fillmore along the 126 freeway. We went to Diamond Dave's Cafe, which is only open till 2:00 for breakfast and lunch. I had the chicken salad sandwich and fruit while Sean had the chili size burger. My chicken salad was very good, with grapes and pecans in it, but Sean said his chili was definitely from a can and was only so/so. Again, decent food and the prices were fine also, but we wouldn't make an effort to stop again. That was our weekend, keep an eye out for a review of Russell Brand's new book "My Booky Wook" which I am currently reading.

The bar at the SeaVenture Resort gets 4 Monkees.


La Super Rica Taqueria, Olivia's Mexican Restaurant and Fess Parker's Winery all earn 3 Monkees.



Diamond Dave's Cafe only gets 2 Monkees.