I dropped in to the Los Olivos Cafe this weekend on my way to Santa Barbara. Featured in the movie “Sideways” – its a great place for a glass of wine, delicious food and friendly patrons. Los Olivos itself was packed. For the first time it was hard to find a place to park! We spoke to a local merchant who said wine sales are up 60% since the film was released. I believe it! It was Saturday at 4 – so getting a table at the cafe was possible, but just. We shared a generous portion of Butternut Squash and Cranberry Salad with roasted butternut squash, sundried cranberries, crumbled gorgonzola and toasted pumpkin seeds on a field of greens and molasses vinaigrette for $7. Yum. Followed by the colorful Mykonos pizza with basil pesto, oven dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, geta and garlic for $12. I had a glass of 2004 Firestone Vineyard Central Coast Riesling – light and subtle sweetness. Perfect for my meal. It’s lively and confortable and it was hard to pull ourselves away but the Santa Barbara sunset was calling.
