California

Every town has that one table where the same group shows up each morning, orders the usual, and…

By Evan Cook · Nov 12

Cable cars clang up Powell Street all day, and most people ride right past a breakfast counter that…

By Evan Cook · Nov 11

California’s Gold Rush towns still have a few old saloons where you can grab a midday meal under…

By Evan Cook · Nov 11

Monterey fog has a way of sneaking in fast, turning a sunny harbor gray before lunch. On those…

By Evan Cook · Nov 11

In a lot of California homes, Christmas Eve does not start with presents. It starts with a cooler…

By Evan Cook · Nov 11

Out past the farm fields of the Central Coast, there is a town so small that cows seem…

By Evan Cook · Nov 11

Some of the best comfort food in California comes with the sound of pins in the next room.…

By Evan Cook · Nov 11

Far up the California coast, past the redwoods and the timber towns, sits a tiny harbor village called…

By Evan Cook · Nov 10

California’s highways are packed with fast food signs, but a few old diners still serve breakfast the way…

By Evan Cook · Nov 10

Some breakfast spots chase trends every season. Others just keep the griddle going and let the decades pile…

By Evan Cook · Nov 10

Some breakfast spots get one visit and a shrug. Others turn into a weekend habit that families plan…

By Evan Cook · Nov 10

Some families have been eating at the same restaurant in Dunsmuir, California, since the kids were small enough…

By Evan Cook · Nov 10

Some San Diego restaurants arrive with a splash and vanish before the paint dries. One spot on the…

By Evan Cook · Nov 10

Highway 1 has a way of tempting drivers to keep rolling past every small town. In Pescadero, one…

By Evan Cook · Nov 9

Turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing should not be locked away until late November. At a handful of classic…

By Evan Cook · Nov 9

Some neighborhoods have a welcome mat, and some have two full golf courses, waterfalls, and a summer concert…

By Evan Cook · Nov 9

When most of California is asleep, a whole other crowd is just clocking in or heading home. Nurses,…

By Evan Cook · Nov 9

Winter in California might not mean snowdrifts everywhere, but it still calls for a warm booth and a…

By Evan Cook · Nov 9

Some dinners chase trends, and some dinners refuse to budge an inch. In the middle of Los Angeles,…

By Evan Cook · Nov 9

Some meals are worth a 15-minute wait, and this one is fried to order while you sit. Tucked…

By Evan Cook · Nov 8

California has a Basque food tradition that many people have never heard about, and it is one of…

By Evan Cook · Nov 8

There is a small takeout counter on a busy Long Beach street where first-time customers keep making the…

By Evan Cook · Nov 8

Ask any Philadelphia transplant in Southern California about cheesesteaks, and you may get a long sigh. Plenty of…

By Evan Cook · Nov 8

Some kids grow up with a favorite ice cream truck. In one corner of Carson, California, a whole…

By Evan Cook · Nov 8

When the fog rolls in and the air turns crisp, a bowl of cioppino starts to make a…

By Evan Cook · Nov 8

Some people fly across the country and head straight for one bowl of soup. The bowl itself is…

By Evan Cook · Nov 7

Some childhood favorites fade away, and some are still standing on Firestone Boulevard with a big grin and…

By Evan Cook · Nov 7

Some of the best meals on the California coast come from a counter window, not a fancy dining…

By Evan Cook · Nov 7

Some sandwiches need two hands and a plan. In a quiet corner of Orange County, a New York-style…

By Evan Cook · Nov 7

Some San Francisco dinners get booked weeks ahead, and one of them has been drawing crowds since the…

By Evan Cook · Nov 7

Solvang is a small California town that looks like it was mailed over from Denmark, windmills and all.…

By Evan Cook · Nov 7

Some lunch spots chase trends, and some just keep the same counter running for more than a century.…

By Evan Cook · Nov 6

Somewhere along Highway 101, a run of roadside signs starts promising soup, and they keep it up mile…

By Evan Cook · Nov 6

Holiday shopping in California still comes with a lunch break worth planning for. Long before food courts, shoppers…

By Evan Cook · Nov 6

Gilroy has spent decades telling the world it is the Garlic Capital of the World, and the locals…

By Evan Cook · Nov 6

Highway 152 is a long, lonely ribbon of road between the Bay Area and the Central Valley, and…

By Evan Cook · Nov 6

Some California recipes have outlasted rotary phones, drive-in theaters, and a dozen food trends. The chili counters on…

By Evan Cook · Nov 6

Some places in Los Angeles chase trends every season, and some places simply refuse to change the recipe.…

By Evan Cook · Nov 5

Humboldt County winters bring gray skies, steady rain, and roads lined with dripping redwoods. On days like that,…

By Evan Cook · Nov 5