Monday, March 5, 2012

Succulent Cafe in Solvang

After a wonderful night camping at Jalama off Highway 1, we drove through Santa Barbara Wine Country on our road home. Succulent Cafe & Trading Company was our destination, right in downtown Solvang on Mission Drive. What a wonderful, little gem! Amidst the kitch and wrong restaurant choices one can make in Solvang, Succulent stands out in the best of ways. In addition to sandwiches, composed salads, and house cured meats and other goodies, they sell their own jams, pickled vegetables, pepper blends, salt blends, and all sorts of other treats.


The view from inside.
Glass of Triennes rose...not local, but perfect for an 80 degree day.
Creative number displays for your orders.
Fresh cracked pepper anyone?
We shared a charcuterie & cheese board. House made pancetta, coffee smoked duck prosciutto, and ham delighted the palate. The ham was outstanding and my favorite thing we ate. The flavors of thyme and herbs penetrated into the ham and created subtle herbal notes in every piece of the sliced ham. YUM. The Midnight Moon hard cheese with their fresh raspberry jam was stellar. The board came with a little pot of delicious baguette toasts lightly oiled, salted, and peppered.
The ham...mmmmmm...
The PBT hot sandwich. Grilled house cured pancetta, tomatoes, basil, smoked Gouda, and aged cheddar. Could have used a bit extra salt, otherwise quite deeelish! I also tried their iced tea and it was brewed perfectly.
The board was no match for us!
The view of Succulent Cafe from Mission Drive
Only open 5 months Succulent Cafe & Trading Post is already hoppin' and doing a fantastic job. I can't wait to go back already to eat and just to grab a few jars of jam and a pile of ham!

1 comment:

Jennifer {Twitter: MokumeDesign} said...

Love Succulent Cafe's use of the meat hooks to hang their chalk boards! Their retail display is quite effective.