The Best Restaurant in My World

I'm finally getting around to putting up pictures from my trip to California this past fall. The weather was hot, the wine was great, the scenery was beautiful, but the trip was MADE by getting three meals at Chef Rick's. I was with hard core foodies from BC, but by meal 3 (in a row!) they were hatching plans to kidnap Chef Rick and bring him to Vancouver claiming that he's needed there. That's no small thing, given Vancouver's large number of fine dining establishments.

Imagine the fusion of tastes from New Orleans to the southwest and Asia and you have my idea of heaven.

We had: GEORGIA FRIED GREEN TOMATO SALAD WITH GREEN ONION DRESSING; GRILLED SHRIMP AND SCALLOP BURRITO WITH SPICY SEAFOOD RICE, MONTEREY CHEESE, AND TOMATILLO SALSA; GRILLED HALIBUT, SHRIMP AND SCALLOP TACOS WITH JICAMA GUACAMOLE AND SALSA RANCHERA (that's what's still on the menu since we visited, it's changed since then) and truly memorable braised lamb shanks, one of my all time favorite dishes.


It's a small place located in a strip mall in Santa Maria. I never would have known about it unless our traveling companions hadn't insisted that we go there. Once we had lunch, we had to come two more consecutive days. The service was very relaxed and personal, but efficient - even when the power went out for a while and the kitchen was pitch black. Chef Rick came out to visit us - probably curious about a group attempting to lure him from sunny Santa Maria to the rain soaked BC coast.