The Brief

For Angelenos daydreaming about a food- and wine-fueled getaway this fall, one of California’s most dynamic gastronomical destinations is just two hours northwest of Los Angeles in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Tucked amid the rolling hills of Santa Barbara County, the Central Coast wine region is home to the communities of Los Alamos, Solvang, Los Olivos, Buellton, Ballard and Santa Ynez.

Each place boasts its own look and feel, combining small-town charm with sprawling vistas and a laid-back vibe. The local restaurant scene brings together superb ingredients, confident cooking and tremendous wines — all served without pretense.

While the local population numbers just 20,000, the area’s popularity among road-tripping Angelenos and Bay Area residents — coupled with recent Michelin attention — has propelled an influx of new and notable restaurant openings. Helmed by talented chefs, some of whom have a longtime connection to the community, the latest newcomers capture the valley’s warm spirit and generous hospitality.

It can be tempting for weekenders to stick to the region’s tried-and-true stalwarts, like the timeless Santa Maria-style barbecue temple Hitching Post 2 in Buellton or Los Alamos’ Michelin-starred Bell’s. But the latest batch of openings — a mix of finer-dining establishments and more casual options ideal for in-between meals while visiting local wineries — makes a compelling case for going off the beaten path.

With cooler days and crisp nights ahead, now is the ideal time to plan a jaunt up the 101. While visiting the area, here are five terrific newer dining options worth checking out in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Highway Tacos

Highway Tacos on Route 246. Order food at the trailer, then settle into one of the many tables on site to eat.

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Cesar Miranda’s mobile Mexican food operation, Highway Tacos, located off Highway 246, debuted in April 2024 and has become an easy favorite among locals and visitors alike. Set on a gravelly patch between a gas station and a carwash, the gleaming Airstream prepares a succinct menu of tacos, gorditas, burros and quesadillas.

The recipes are a blend of chef Cesar Miranda’s know-how and family traditions.

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Familiar fillings like al pastor, lengua, tripas and mushrooms are tucked into homemade corn and flour tortillas. The recipes are a blend of Miranda’s know-how and family traditions — his mother spent 20 years selling burritos in nearby Carpinteria, he says. It all adds up to a deeply satisfying “backyard eating” experience. Order food at the trailer, then settle into one of the many tables on site to eat.

Highway Tacos is open for lunch and dinner. And though it’s never a bad time for tacos, once the sun sets and the string lights are switched on, the evening ambiance can’t be beat. Heat lamps provide warmth during cooler months.

The Gathering Table

The Gathering Table in Solvang from chef Budi Kazali

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Locals waited with baited breath for chef Budi Kazali to reopen his Ballard restaurant, The Gathering Table, when it closed inside the Ballard Inn in 2022. The second iteration of the widely respected restaurant reopened in Solvang in July 2024, taking cues from the original while making its own distinct mark on the Valley’s growing dining scene.

Reserve a table in the elegant but comfortable indoor dining room or on the sprawling patio overlooking the Danish town. Asian and French influences, along with locally sourced produce, seafood and meats, feature heavily on Kazali’s menu.

The charred cabbage at The Gathering Table in Solvang.

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Nearly every table starts with a shared order of Kazali’s “new style” hamachi, thick slices of raw yellowtail layered atop a soy-yuzu vinaigrette with avocado and shiitake. The sesame Caesar salad and roasted garlic noodles also have been carried over from the Ballard Inn days. New menu additions, like the charred cabbage served with a sweet-spicy Indonesian peanut sauce, are worth making room for, along with desserts from pastry chef Alicia Valencia.

Gandolfo Family Market and Deli

The Santa Maria-style tri-tip sandwich available only on Fridays and Saturdays

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Find picnicking provisions and a memorable tri-tip sandwich at Gandolfo Family Market and Deli in Los Olivos. While the Grand Avenue building has been in the Gandolfo family for 50 years, it wasn’t until May 2024 that the longtime business changed hands, with a member of the Gandolfo family operating the store for the first time. Managing the popular outpost is the granddaughter of the building’s owner, Carly Gandolfo.

While the grocery store selection is varied, with plenty of beer, wine and pantry staples, it’s the Santa Maria-style tri-tip sandwich available only on Fridays and Saturdays that is most enticing. Served on a toasted French roll slathered with garlicky butter, the tri-tip steak, prepared by grill master Tommy Palmer, is thinly sliced and generously portioned. The smoky essence of red oak permeates each bite. A choice of salsa or housemade barbecue sauce is available on the side. Dig into the sandwich on-site at one of the tables inside or outside the store.

Stica

Pinse (Roman-style pizzas) are heated until golden-crisp before landing on the table.

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The newly opened Stica in Santa Ynez is a well-appointed counter-service restaurant and market from the team behind S.Y. Kitchen in Santa Ynez and Los Olivos’ Nella Kitchen & Bar. The array of pinse, a kind of Roman-style pizza with an impressively airy crust, lines the glass case, making it easy to see which toppings are available and worth one’s while. From the porchetta with fresh rosemary and thinly sliced potatoes to the mortadella with crushed pistachios — it’s hard to go wrong under chef Luca Crestanelli’s care.

Upon ordering, pinse and sandwiches are heated until crisp-golden before landing on the table. Rounding out the menu are made-to-order pizzas and grab-and-go salads and grain bowls. Imported Italian olive oils, wines, pastas, coffee, snacks and the like line the store’s limited shelves.

Pony Cocktails + Kitchen 

Snag a seat at sunset on the patio for cocktails and small bites from chef Johnny McDermott

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Alberto Battaglini, the owner and barman behind Pony Cocktails + Kitchen, always intended to open a restaurant. However, when COVID-19 hit, he settled for a coffee shop instead. In December 2024, after nearly five years of patience and persistence, Battaglini finally flipped his popular Pony Espresso coffee operation into the all-day spot of his dreams.

The move is to snag a seat at sunset on the patio for cocktails and small bites from chef Johnny McDermott. Order a dozen or so fresh oysters and a plate of savory porcini doughnuts paired with a fontina cheese dip (a nod to the region’s beloved Danish aebleskiver). To sip, classics like an old fashioned are well prepared, but for those feeling bolder, the “Duck Attack” with chile-infused vodka and mint scratches the itch.

As Los Angeles homeowners grapple with the expense of rebuilding after last year’s devastating fires, an L.A. City Councilmember is putting forward an idea that could lower some costs.

Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades, has introduced a motion to explore waiving part of the city’s portion of the local sales tax for fire victims who purchase rebuilding materials in the city.

The 1% of the local 9.75% sales tax that goes into the city’s general fund would be given back to consumers under the proposal. The waiver could apply to lumber, appliances and other rebuilding goods purchased within the city.

The motion, introduced Friday by Park and seconded by Councilmember John Lee, says: “The City should do everything within its power to alleviate the financial burden for these residents and businesses in order to facilitate their return and stabilize the Pacific Palisades community.”

Would it make much of a difference? 

Economists told LAist the proposal could help many homeowners mitigate the high cost of rebuilding, but likely wouldn’t tip the scales for under-insured, under-resourced property owners.

“It wouldn't hurt if it's very well designed and easy to use,” said Alexander Meeks, a director at the Santa Monica-based Milken Institute. “But I'm not sure if it's really going to tackle the scale of the financial challenge that survivors are facing.”

Meeks noted that the tax waiver wouldn’t lower up-front costs such as environmental testing, architectural design and permitting. And it may not help homeowners sourcing raw materials from outside the city.

Zhiyun Li, a UCLA Anderson School of Management economist, said the waiver could help some homeowners justify the additional cost of rebuilding more fire-safe structures.

“Homeowners must typically pay out of pocket to upgrade to IBHS+ standards, which are more stringent,” Li said. “The tax waiver could encourage upgrading to IBHS+ standards or investing more in mitigation, thereby reducing future risk and improving the likelihood of maintaining insurance coverage.”

What’s next for the proposal? 

The proposed tax relief would not be available to properties that have been sold since the fires started in January 2025.

The motion has been sent to the City Council’s budget and fire recovery committees. If approved by the full council, it would require the city administrative officer, the Office of Finance and the city attorney to report back to the council within 60 days on options for crafting a tax relief plan.

The motion calls for the report to consider factors such as how to minimize the burden of administering the tax relief, what documentation homeowners would have to submit and what it would cost the city to oversee the program.

Senate and House Republican leadership have resurrected a stalled plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security after a record 47-day funding lapse.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the House will take up a measure passed by the Senate last week to fund most of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of September.

Republicans would then attempt to fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years using a party-line budget reconciliation bill that would not require support from Democrats.

"In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited," Thune and Johnson wrote.

The agreement comes nearly a week after House Republicans dismissed an identical plan, refusing to take up the Senate-passed measure and instead passing a 60-day short term funding bill for all of DHS that had little chance of overcoming Democratic opposition in the Senate.

Johnson called the agreement a "joke" and President Donald Trump declined to publicly endorse the deal. Trump had previously resisted any package that did not include his push to overhaul federal elections known as the Save America Act.

"I think any deal they make, I'm pretty much not happy with it," Trump told reporters last week.

Democrats welcomed the agreement as in line with their pledge not to give ICE any more money without reforms after immigration enforcement agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. But the deal does not include any of the policy demands Democrats are pressing for, such as a ban on masks for immigration enforcement officers and requiring warrants issued by a judge, not just the agency, to enter homes.

"For days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement Wednesday. "Throughout this fight, Senate Democrats never wavered."

Trump seemed to bless the revived plan earlier Wednesday, writing on social media that he wants a party-line bill to fund immigration enforcement on his desk by June 1.

"We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won't be able to stop us," Trump wrote.

Despite the shutdown, ICE has been minimally impacted because Republican lawmakers approved $75 billion for ICE through another party-line budget reconciliation bill last year.

Congress is on a two-week recess, but the Senate and House could move to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP as early as Thursday using a procedure known as unanimous consent that allows the chambers to circumvent formal voting as long as no member objects.

Even during a recess when most members are not in Washington, this could be unpredictable, especially in the House, where many hard-line conservatives oppose a deal that does not fully fund DHS.

"Let's make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again," Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote on X. "If that's the vote, I'm a NO."

If a member does object, that could require waiting for another vote when all members are back from recess.

Claudia Grisales contributed reporting.
Copyright 2026 NPR

California clocked its second-worst snowpack on record Wednesday, a potentially troubling signal ahead for fire season.

It’s an alarming end to a winter that saw abnormally dry conditions briefly wiped from California’s drought map in January, for the first time in a quarter-century.

Though precipitation to date has been near average, much of it fell as rain rather than snow. Then March’s record-breaking heat melted most of the snow that remains. The state’s major reservoirs are nevertheless brimming above historic averages and are flirting with capacity, and a smattering of snow, rain and thunderstorms are dousing last month’s heat wave.

But experts now warn that California’s case of the missing snowpack could herald an early fire season in the mountains.

On Wednesday, state engineers conducting the symbolic April 1 snowpack measurement at Phillips Station south of Lake Tahoe found no measurable snow in patches of white dotting the grassy field.

“I want to welcome you call to probably one of the quickest snow surveys we’ve had — maybe one where people could actually use an umbrella,” joked Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “We’re getting a lot of questions about are we heading into a hydrologic drought? The answer is, I don’t know.”

State data reports that California’s snowpack is closing out the season at an alarming 18% of average statewide, and an even more abysmal 6% of average in the northern mountains that feed California’s major reservoirs.

Only the extreme drought year of 2015 beat this year’s snowpack for the worst on record, measuring in at just 5% of average on April 1st, when the snow historically is at its deepest.

“I think everyone's anticipating that it will be a long, busy fire season,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network.

“Without a snowpack, and with an early spring, it just means that there’s much more time for something like that to happen.”

‘It’s pretty bizarre up here’ 

In the city of South Lake Tahoe, which survived the massive Caldor Fire in the fall of 2021 without losing any structures, fire chief Jim Drennan said his department is already ramping up prevention efforts.

“It's pretty bizarre up here right now. It really seems like June conditions more than March,” Drennan said. “People are already turning the sprinklers on for their lawns.”

Without more precipitation, an early spring may complicate prescribed burning efforts. But Drennan said fire agencies in the Tahoe basin can start mechanically clearing fuels from forest areas earlier than usual.

“That means we can get more work done,” he said.

It also means homeowners need to start hardening their homes now, said Martin Goldberg, battalion chief and fuels management officer for the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, which protects unincorporated communities in the Lake Tahoe Basin’s south shore.

Goldberg urges residents to scour their yards for burnable materials, create defensible space and reach out to local fire departments with questions. The risks are widespread — from firewood, wooden fences, gas cans, plants, pine needles — even lawn furniture stacked against a house.

“In years past, I wouldn't even think of raking and clearing until May,” Goldberg said. “But my yard's completely cleared of snowpack, and it has been for a couple weeks now.”

‘A haystack fire’

Battalion chief David Acuña, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, said fire season is shaped by more than just one year’s snowpack.

Climate change has been remaking California’s fire seasons into fire years. And California’s recent average to abundant water years have fueled what Acuña called “bumper crops of vegetation and brush.”

“Most of California is like a haystack. And if you’ve ever seen a haystack fire, they burn very intensely because there's layers of fuel,” Acuña said.

Like Quinn-Davidson, Acuña wasn’t ready to make specific predictions about fires to come.

But John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at UC Merced, said the temperatures and snowpack conditions this year offer a glimpse of California in the latter decades of this century, as fossil fuel use continues to drive global temperatures higher.

How this year’s fires will play out will depend on when, where and how wind, heat, fuel and ignitions combine. But it foreshadows the consequences of a warmer California for water and fire under climate change.

“This,” Abatzoglou said, “is yet another stress test for the future in the state.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.