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!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

World Famous Jalama Burger

Off of Highway 1 down a windy oak lined road you will find yourself in a most wonderful spot in California known as Jalama. This spot right on the ocean boasts a stunning coastline, amazing surf, great wind conditions for kite boarding, and the Jalama burger. I had heard of this famous sandwich but had not tried it yet and was excited to do so. In the little general store off the camping area, we ordered our burgers. We waited for our number to be called and sat in the small indoor dining area staring out at the view.

82 was called and we raced to the window to get our grub. We opted to sit outside at a picnic table as it was uncharacteristically not windy (hurray!). I dove into my burger and found the bun to be super fresh, the meat tasty, the veggies crunchy, and their homemade special sauce a great addition. All in all it satisfied the craving for a somewhat greasy burger and you sure couldn't beat the view!