Welcome to the Honeysuckle Summer Series 🌊☀️✨🍉 where I take you out of the kitchen and onto the road! We’re exploring the beautiful towns of Montecito, Santa Barbara, and Ojai!
For our first meal in Montecito, we stopped by Bettina Montecito Country Mart. The menu is so representative of California, al-fresco dining. We ordered the Sugar Snap Pea Sala, Anchovy Bread, Meatballs, and Pizza, paired with a glass of Lambrusco.😋
Day 2 started off at Helena Avenue Bakery for a morning cup of coffee, a breakfast egg sandwich for Nate and I, and a biscuit with butter and blueberry lavender jam for the kids (it was a 10/10 from Sisi)!
Farmer’s Market Sandwich on Brioche from Helena Avenue Bakery
They take the coffee culture here in Southern California very seriously, and coffee shops are always trying to be innovative and interesting. So we checked out Cajé Coffee Roaster, recommended by a friend! It is definitely the boujiest coffee shop I’ve ever seen.
We ordered the Bella Rosa- a $12 Matcha Latte with pomegranate, maple, bitters, luxardo cherry, and smoking wood chips. The cup is painted with dried roses, dusted with strawberry powder, and garnished with a strawberry slice! If that doesn’t speak boujie 😆
But it doesn’t stop there . We also tried the Burnout- a breve latte with bourbon pecan syrup, and the Juniper- an iced oat latte with juniper berry, sage syrup, grapefruit zest, orchid, and edible gold…. i know i know!
The design and care of each drink is impeccable!
Ojai is all about health, natural foods, and wellness. So our next stop for lunch was at Farmer and the Cook. With all the food we’ve been eating, I opted for a fresh veggie sandwich and a quesadilla with apples for the kids. You can find my copycat version of their veggie sandwich here!
Instead of our typical stay at an Airbnb, we opted to stay at the Capri Hotel.
Dinner for the 2nd night was at The Dutchess. During the day, they’re a cafe serving coffee and pastries, but at night, it turns into a Burmese-inspired restaurant! This place is a great stop for families as they have a kid’s menu with great options and it also acts as a coloring sheet on the back!
Ojai is known for their citrus so I sipped on a gin and orange, it tasted like a creamsicle.
Here, we had their Crispy Rice Salad, Tea Leaf Salad, Lamb Kabob with condensed milk naan, and a Flat Iron Steak. For the kids- Crispy Smashed Potatoes and Orange Chicken with Rice. Everything was delicious and incredible!
Our final morning in Ojai started at Love Social Cafe with an avocado toast before heading back to the OC!
Where should we travel to next?! You can watch my Santa Barbara vlog/food tour down below :)
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