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Santa Ynez Valley, CA October 2026

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O C TO B E R 2 02 6


805-691-1020 | 1584 Mission Drive | sangerwines.com


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LIFESTYLE LETTER

Food + Drink 2026 For our family, October means one thing before anything else: pumpkin patches. My kids have been asking about it since September, which means we’ve been talking about it since September too. There’s something about that first cold morning, pulling a hoodie out of the back of the closet, that makes the whole season feel like it’s actually starting. October in the Santa Ynez Valley isn’t decked out in lights yet, not for weeks still. It’s farm stands switching over to squash and gourds; it’s the first cocktail that actually calls for a jacket; it’s my middle child, Grant, counting down the days until my husband finally agrees it’s cool enough for a fire inside. Matt insists we’re both crazy, since the air conditioning could easily be running again by that same afternoon. He might be right. We playfully ask to light it anyway. Authentic. That’s probably the best word for our community, and this issue tries to pay homage to that. We found three farm stands that trust their community as much as their community trusts them for clean, organic produce. We sat with three chefs who each treat a steak completely different, and somehow all of them are right. We talked to a restaurant in Solvang that’d rather build its happy hour around its neighbors than the tourists driving through. And we caught up with Anna Vocino about her new cookbook and the surprising things hiding in the alcohol most of us drink without a second thought. None of these stories are really about food or drink, not underneath. They’re about trusting the people who grow it, make it, and serve it to you, and about how lucky we are to actually know most of them by name. So before the pumpkin patches turn into decorations, and the decorations turn into everything else, take a minute with those you cherish most. Pour something good in your cup. Eat something local. And enjoy the quiet part of the season while it lasts.

October 2026 PUBLISHER

Sara DeMarcus | sara.demarcus@citylifestyle.com P U B L I CAT I O N D I R E C TO R

Matt DeMarcus | matt.demarcus@citylifestyle.com E D I TO R

Lena Ibarra CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Matt DeMarcus, Sara DeMarcus, Grace Galloway C O N T R I B U T I N G P H OTO G R AP H E R S

Lena Ibarra, Talia Helvey, Matt DeMarcus

Corporate Team CEO Steven Schowengerdt President Matthew Perry CRO Jamie Pentz CoS Janeane Thompson AD DESIGNER Matthew Endersbe LAYOUT DESIGNER Adam Finley QUALITY CONTROL SPECIALIST Hannah Leimkuhler

SARA DEMARCUS, PUBLISHER @ S A N TAY N E Z VA L L E Y _ C I T Y L I F E S T Y L E

Learn how to start your own publication at citylifestyle.com//franchise. Proverbs 3:5-6 Santa Ynez Valley City Lifestyle™ is published monthly by Lifestyle Publications LLC. It is distributed via the US Postal Service to some of the Santa Ynez Valley area’s most affluent neighborhoods. Articles and advertisements do not necessarily reflect Lifestyle

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L I F E ST Y LE LE T T E R

Publications’ opinions. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without written consent. Lifestyle Publications does not assume responsibility for statements made by advertisers or editorial contributors. Information in Santa Ynez Valley City Lifestyle™ is gathered from sources considered to be reliable, but the accuracy of all information cannot be guaranteed.


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inside the issue OC TOB E R 2 02 6 | FOOD & D R I N K

28 Featured

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28 36

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Print Prestige Meets Digital Power.

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WHY CHOOSE BETWEEN PRESTIGE AND PLACEMENT?

Departments

No Sugar Added

Explore Anna Vocino’s cleaner side of cocktails, mocktails, and appetizers.

Raising the Steaks

Three Cuts, Three Stories, One Valley.

Happy Hour. Reclaimed.

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Lifestyle Letter

10

City Scene

12

Business Monthly

18

Farmers Market FOOD + BEVERAGE

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Eat Right LIFE + CULTURE

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Chef ’s Selection FOOD + BEVERAGE

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Happy Hour FOOD + BEVERAGE

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Events

Whiskey ‘N Rye gives Valley locals a better reason to come back to Solvang.

On the Cover A Brothers Restaurant at the Red Barn martini holding down the bar until the ribeye shows up. Photography: Lena Ibarra of Lena Britt Photography

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OCTOBER 2026

city scene WHERE NEIGHBORS CAN SEE AND BE SEEN

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1: The 2025-2026 class of interns at the Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center. 2: Keith Saarloos taking future winemakers through his vineyard tour. 3 – 7: Alamo Pintado Equine Center’s summer intern, Ella Bramsen, wrapping up for the summer. Photography by @alamopintadoequine

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C I T Y SC E N E


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OCTOBER 2026

business monthly A ROUNDUP OF NEWS F R O M LO C A L B U S I N E S S E S

Westmont Launches Graduate Nursing Program Westmont College is expanding its downtown nursing program with its first graduate-level offerings. The newly accredited Master’s Entry Program in Nursing and Master of Science in Nursing build on Westmont’s existing accelerated nursing program, creating new pathways for aspiring and practicing nurses. Based at Westmont Downtown, the programs emphasize clinical training, leadership, and service within the Santa Barbara healthcare community. Learn more at westmont.edu/nursing or email nursing@westmont.edu.

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Renew Intimate Wellness Changes from menopause, hormonal shifts, or childbirth can affect comfort, sexual wellness, and confidence—but effective solutions are available.

Montecito Med Spa Opening in Santa Ynez Montecito Med Spa is opening its doors in Santa Ynez this October. Owned by Karen Neary, MSN, RN, former Clinical Director at Santa Barbara Surgery Center, the spa offers non-invasive aesthetic services, including Botox, skin treatments, and body sculpting. Learn more at montecitomedspa.com. 1090 Edison Street, Santa Ynez. Photography by @montecitomedspa

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CONTINUED >

At Ramos Women’s Wellness Center, we offer MonaLisa Touch®, a gentle, non-surgical laser treatment designed to restore vaginal health by stimulating collagen. This innovative treatment can help relieve symptoms like vaginal dryness, declining sexual wellness, and certain urinary concerns—often with little to no downtime. Expert women’s healthcare. Advanced solutions for intimate wellness. Call us to make an appointment 805-898-4443.

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business monthly

LOCAL. LOVEABLE. DELECTABLE.

CONTINUED

Downtown Dental Solvang Moves to New Location Downtown Dental Solvang has moved to a new home at 2027 Village Lane, Suite 201. The practice, known for comprehensive, conservative dentistry, is led by Dr. Robert Brugnone. With Halloween candy season approaching, now is a good time to schedule that checkup. Call (805) 688-6495 or visit downtowndentalsolvang.com. Photography by downtowndentalsolvang.com

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REFUGIO RANCH POKE HARVEST BOWL At REFUGIO RANCH we celebrate the bounty of the Central Coast. Our Poke Harvest Bowl combines the freshest ingredients from local purveyors. Pair it with a glass of sauv blanc and let your taste buds soar! Or choose from the variety of locally-inspired dishes on our menu! FOOD SERVED FRI, SAT & SUN

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Fresh from the farm, close to home, and good for the community.

The Honor System Buying food close to where it grew has its own particular pleasure: tomatoes warm from the sun, walnuts trucked in from just a few miles away. Some of the Valley’s best food still comes with no cashier, just a stand, a payment box, and trust.

ARTICLE BY SARA DEMARCUS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT DEMARCUS

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FAR M E R S M A R K E T | FO OD + BE VE RAGE


FINLEY FARMS Chris and Johanna Finley run their honor stand open daily from 10 a.m. to sunset, selling fresh produce grown right on the property. What’s stocked shifts with the season, which is part of the appeal: what you find in October won’t be what you find in May. The farm has built a reputation on that rhythm, supplying its own stand with whatever happens to be ready that week rather than what a grocery store schedule expects. It’s a small operation running on its own clock, season by season.

1702 N. Refugio Road

ROBLAR The farm stand sits just steps from the tasting room, stocked with fresh vegetables pulled from the same soil that feeds the restaurant’s kitchen next door. About five acres are cultivated here, with three to four in production at any given time, all grown organically. That’s the real difference at this particular stand: the produce isn’t just sold here; it’s also what the chefs are actively cooking with that same afternoon. Order lunch inside, and you’re eating from the same rows the stand outside is stocked from, harvested that same morning, not trucked in from somewhere else entirely.

3010 Roblar Avenue

BALLARD WALNUT GROVE Four generations of the same family have grown Chandler walnuts, and 2026 marks fifty years on this stretch of land. They’ve been official growers for Diamond Walnuts for nearly all of it, one of the southernmost farms in California still supplying the brand. The terms at the stand are simple: honor box, cash or Venmo, five dollars a bag. What makes this one different isn’t the payment method; it’s the fifty years standing behind it: the very same family tending the very same trees since the farm’s earliest days on this exact piece of land.

1646 Alamo Pintado Road OCTOB ER 2 0 2 6 | C I TYL I FE STYL E . C OM/SA N TAY N E Z VA L L E Y

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NO S UG A R A DDE D EXPLORE ANNA VOCINO’S CLEANER SIDE OF COCKTAILS, MOCKTAILS, AND APPETIZERS.

ARTICLE BY GRACE GALLOWAY PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED

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EAT R IGH T | L I FE + C ULTU RE

Anna Vocino has spent close to a decade educating people on quitting sugar and grains, one podcast episode at a time. She co-hosts Fitness Confidential, a health podcast with trainer Vinnie Tortorich, has written three bestselling cookbooks, and has voiced characters in hundreds of commercials most of us have heard without knowing it, most recently Mrs. Potato Head in Toy


Story 5. She also happens to live right here in Santa Ynez. Her fourth cookbook, Eat Happy Cocktail Hour, arrives on shelves October 13. Her first three books, Eat Happy, Eat Happy Too, and Eat Happy Italian, were built around meals: dinners, sides, food that gets a family through a weekday. This one is built around the happiest, and sometimes most stressful, hour before dinner. Eat Happy Cocktail Hour runs 240 pages and holds 72 recipes for cocktails, mocktails, and small plates, all gluten-free, grain-free, and lowcarb, the same rules Vocino applies to every dish she publishes. Vocino was diagnosed with celiac disease at 28, which forced her off gluten for good and reshaped how she cooks entirely. That diagnosis also led her to co-host the podcast, built around a philosophy Tortorich calls NSNG: no sugar, no grains. The rules are simple: cut both, skip the calorie counting, and treat it as a lifestyle, not a diet with an end date. The idea took root gradually as she wrote her earlier books. Like many Valley locals, she kept getting pulled toward the drink side of the kitchen: fresh juice, real fruit, something more interesting than a syrup-based mixer. A cocktail or a glass of wine before dinner is close to a local custom, and Vocino wanted a version of that custom without the hidden sugar. That turns out to be a real, hidden problem. Alcohol sold in the United States is not required to carry an ingredient label the way packaged food is. A bottle of wine or tequila can legally contain added sugar, including high fructose corn syrup, without anything on the label telling you so.

This is where living in the Valley works in Vocino’s favor. She points to friends like Sunshine Doench Stricker, winemaker behind Future Perfect Wine in Los Olivos, as proof of what a small producer can do differently: small-batch, sustainably farmed, without the shortcuts a mass-market label can hide. Most of the country lacks this kind of access; someone buying wine at a big box store elsewhere is usually choosing between mass-produced bottles from a handful of massive producers. Here, the good stuff is a short drive away. Farmers markets, working farms, and high-quality wine within reach of nearly everyone are not abstractions here. They are a daily blessing. As a fun sneak preview of the book, here are two of Anna’s recipes. The dill pickle ranch dip leans into a flavor with real roots here: ranch dressing was invented at a dude ranch above Santa Barbara in the 1950s, long before it went national. Vocino’s version keeps the tang and drops the processed ingredients. The BCC, a blackberry cocktail built on her infused vodka, applies that same idea to the glass, real fruit doing the work a bottled syrup usually would. CONTINUED >

More from Eat Happy Cocktail Hour: Caprese Martini

Also in the book: Pigs in a Blanket

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THE BCC YIELD: 1 COCKTAIL Blackberry-infused vodka solves all problems, especially when shaken with citrus and coconut cream. The vodka needs about two weeks to infuse, so start it well ahead of your next happy hour: pack fresh blackberries into a mason jar, cover with vodka, seal, and store somewhere cool and dark, shaking every few days. Strain out the fruit before using. Store-bought infused spirits often carry more sugar and flavoring than the label lets on, since producers aren’t required to disclose it. Infusing your own is easy, and the method works well beyond blackberries: swap in citrus peel, fresh herbs, whole spices, sliced jalapeños, or even coffee beans. Citrus and herbs take two to four weeks; jalapeños and coffee beans need just a day or two.

INGREDIENTS • • • • • •

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Ice cubes 2 ounces blackberry-infused vodka 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon canned full-fat unsweetened coconut cream Plain soda water, to float Mint sprig and/or lemon slice, for garnish (optional)

EAT R IGH T | L I FE + C ULTU RE

DIRECTIONS Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour in the vodka, lemon juice, and coconut cream. Shake for 30 to 45 seconds, until ice cold and the coconut cream is fully pulverized. Strain into a coupe or cocktail glass. Float soda water to fill the glass. Garnish with a mint sprig and/or lemon slice.

Reprinted with permission from Eat Happy Cocktail Hour by Anna Vocino (BenBella Books, October 2026).


DILL PICKLE RANCH DIP YIELD: 1½ CUPS We are ‘murican. We love ranch. We love pickles. We love them all together. When I make this, I save a few steps and use Eat Happy Kitchen Ranch Dust in place of the onion powder, garlic powder, dried dill, salt, and pepper. The dip is delish with cut raw veggies or Sour Cream Ranch Crackers (see recipe in Eat Happy Cocktail Hour).

DIRECTIONS In a mixing bowl, stir together the sour cream, goat cheese, dill pickle juice, lemon juice, onion powder, garlic powder, fresh dill, dried dill, salt, and pepper until well mixed and smooth. Fold in the chopped dill pickles. Transfer the dip to a serving bowl. Garnish with additional fresh dill.

Reprinted with permission from Eat Happy Cocktail Hour by Anna Vocino (BenBella Books, October 2026).

INGREDIENTS • • • • • • • • • • •

1 cup sour cream 3 tablespoons goat cheese 2 tablespoons dill pickle juice 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon onion powder 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon minced fresh dill, plus more for garnish 1/2 teaspoon dried dill 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 2 dill pickles, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)

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THE STEAKS

RAISING

THREE CUTS, THREE S T O R I E S , O N E VA L L E Y.

ARTICLE BY MATT DEMARCUS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY LENA IBARRA & TALIA HELVEY

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C HE F ’S SE LE CT ION | FOOD + BE VE RAGE


Steak makes sense in the Santa Ynez Valley. Ranching is in our history, winegrowing is all around us, and plenty of restaurants know their way around the grill. This fall, the SYVCL team set out to find the top steaks in the Valley. We didn’t get far before the question changed, from which steak is best to why each chef swears by the one they serve. We were not looking for a winner or trying to settle the ribeye-versus-filet argument. We wanted to see what each restaurant does well, what each chef cares about, and why these steaks have a place on Valley tables. The answers turned out to be very different in practice. When most people think of steak in the Santa Ynez Valley, three names come up: Brothers Restaurant at the Red Barn, Hitching Post, and Coast Range. So we went to those three. Brothers put forward the ribeye. Hitching Post picked the filet mignon. At Coast Range, we asked chef Ryan Foley to cook us the tomahawk.

“THERE ARE TWO TRAINS OF THOUGHT WITH STEAK. SOME PEOPLE LOVE THE LEAN, TENDER FILET. FOR ME, FAT IS FLAVOR.” For Matt Nichols, the reasoning is simple. “There are two trains of thought with steak,” he says. “Some people love the lean, tender filet. For me, fat is flavor.” That is the whole idea behind the prime ribeye at Brothers: the marbling, and what happens to it over mesquite. Their charcoal burns hot, and that is intentional. The heat gives the outside of the steak the crust Nichols wants while the fat inside keeps it rich. “The combination of the marbling and the high temperature of our mesquite grill creates this perfect crust,” he says. “It’s just the way that steak cooks on our grill.” The martini is the most popular drink on the menu, so we asked a simpler question: if you’re coming into Brothers, what should you order? A ribeye, and a martini or two. CONTINUED >

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Photo by Talia Helvey of Sister B Studios

Photo by Talia Helvey of Sister B Studios

“THE FIRE GETS THE SAME TREATMENT. AT NIGHT, THE CREW BANKS THE COALS UNDER ASH RATHER THAN LETTING THE FIRE GO OUT, THEN REBUILDS IT FRESH THE NEXT MORNING.”

Brothers uses Prime, the highest quality grade of beef available. The ribeye is hot, rich, and heavily marbled. The martini is cold and clean. Neither needs explanation, but both are delicious. Wine is still a big part of the restaurant. Nichols says about 95 percent of the list is local, something he and his brother, chef Jeff Nichols, care about. A Prime ribeye and a glass poured from a few miles down the road is about as close to a Valley signature as steak night gets. On the other side of the Valley, Hitching Post II tells a different story. There, the filet mignon starts as a whole tenderloin, trimmed and cut by hand in-house every day. It’s a different philosophy than Brothers’ Prime ribeye. Hitching Post II builds its filet on Choice grade beef and more than 30 years with the same meat supplier, a relationship as much a part of the dish as the cut itself. The fire gets the same treatment. At night, the crew banks the coals under ash rather than letting the fire go out, then rebuilds it fresh the next morning. It’s a small ritual, repeated every day, and Ostini treats it like part of the job.

Spend time with Frank Ostini and those long relationships come up again and again. Hitching Post II has been in Buellton for 40 years, and some of the people there have almost matched it. Ostini says six employees have worked there more than 30 years. It’s the kind of thing Ostini says he still hears from longtime staff: “I want to work. I don’t want this place to go away. I want to be here.” That kind of loyalty means something in this Valley. Forty years in, Ostini has started letting go of the day-today, calling himself more advisor than boss, giving longtime employees room to decide things themselves. Some things don’t need reinventing. The youngest restaurant in this roundup, Coast Range opened in Solvang in 2021 and has evolved since. The focus these days is on serving the Valley, not just visitors passing through. Chef Ryan Foley and the team lean into that. No need for a production. The goal is simpler: cook well, take care of the details, give people a reason to come back. With community front and center, the tomahawk makes a good showstopper. CONTINUED >

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C HE F ’S SE LE CT ION | FOOD + BE VE RAGE


Photo by Talia Helvey of Sister B Studios

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Coast Range also cooks with Prime, same as Brothers, which makes the ribeye and the tomahawk a study in two kitchens doing different things with the same grade of beef. It’s a big steak and looks like one. But after that, it comes down to the same things any steak does: the quality of the beef, the sear, the temperature, and whether the cook knows when to leave it alone. Foley’s approach is straightforward. Start with good ingredients and do not cover them up. Seasoning, heat, timing, and rest all matter, but none should become the point. The steak should still taste like beef. The tomahawk also works because it’s naturally meant to be shared. Put it in the middle of the table, pour some wine, and let everyone dig in. That part feels right for Coast Range and right for the Valley. The steak doesn’t need to make a grand statement. It just needs to be well seared, properly cooked, and worth ordering again. For a restaurant in its next chapter, that’s a solid place to start. Three restaurants. Three cuts. Three very different reasons to order them. Maybe you like the marbling and hard sear of the ribeye. Maybe you are a filet person. Maybe the tomahawk in the center of the table is more your speed.

“THE STEAK DOESN’T NEED TO MAKE A GRAND STATEMENT. IT JUST NEEDS TO BE WELL SEARED, PROPERLY COOKED, AND WORTH ORDERING AGAIN.” 32

C HE F ’S SE LE CT ION | FOOD + BE VE RAGE


Go find out. Order the steak. Get the martini. Open a bottle or three of local wine. Bring someone you want to share a meal with. We have a lot of good food in this Valley. The best way to appreciate it is the simplest: just show up hungry. When it comes to the steak scene of the SYV, we feel bad for the vegans of the Valley.

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BALANCE IS EVERYTHING

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Happy Hour. Reclaimed. Photo by Lena Britt Photography

Photo by Lena Britt Photography

WHISKEY ‘N RYE GIVES VALLEY LOCALS A BETTER REASON TO COME BACK TO SOLVANG. ARTICLE BY MATT DEMARCUS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY LENA BRITT PHOTOGRAPHY & PROVIDED

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H AP PY H OU R | FO O D + BE VE RAGE


There was a time when happy hour actually felt like a deal. You could wrap up at work, head to a restaurant, order something you probably wouldn’t have ordered at full price, and walk away feeling like you’d beaten the system. Somewhere along the way, a lot of happy hours lost that appeal. The discounts got smaller, the menus got shorter, and the “special” started looking suspiciously similar to the regular price. Whiskey ‘N Rye in Solvang has gone the other direction. Monday through Friday from 3 to 5:30 p.m., the restaurant offers half off its shareable appetizers and all 16 of its signature cocktails. More importantly, these aren’t scaled-down dishes

created to fill a discount menu. They are the same food and drink items people already come to Whiskey ‘N Rye for, including the peach Old Fashioned. The filet mignon steak tips might be the best example. Ten ounces of filet mignon, chopped and served with toasted French bread bites and three dipping sauces, for $17 during happy hour. In 2026, there aren’t many restaurant prices that make you stop and look at the menu again. That one does. The cornbread comes out hot. That’s a low bar until you’ve had the version that sat around long enough to cool before it reached the table. CONTINUED >

Photo by Lena Britt Photography

“We just want locals to be able to come in, enjoy what we do, and feel like they’re getting a really great value. That’s what happy hour should be.”

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Photo by Lena Britt Photography

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H AP PY H OU R | FO O D + BE VE RAGE


“This gives locals a reason to come in during the week, have some great food and drinks, and enjoy the restaurant at a price you can’t say no to.”

It would be easy for a restaurant in Solvang to build its whole business around tourism: price for the once-a-year visitor, plan the week around the bus tours, let the dining room go quiet the moment the day-trippers leave. Don has pointed Whiskey ‘N Rye the other way. “We just want locals to be able to come in, enjoy what we do, and feel like they’re getting a really great value,” he says. “That’s what happy hour should be.” It shows up outside the restaurant, too. Don’s crew donates their time as a vendor for Solvang Theaterfest, one of the Valley’s longest-running summer traditions, because, as he puts it, “if you’re going to own a business here, you should be part of the community. We live here too.” “We know people have a lot of choices about where they spend their time and their money,” Don says. “This gives locals a reason to come in during the week, have some great food and drinks, and enjoy the restaurant at a price you can’t say no to.” It’s a strange time to be scaling up while still leading with a locals discount, but that’s where Whiskey ‘N Rye is. Don opened ‘Que, a fast-casual offshoot, at the Santa Barbara Public Market in late 2025, and a second full-service location is set to open at Goleta’s Camino Real Marketplace as early as January 2027. Solvang stays the flagship. Happy hour stays the same. It’s a simple formula: grab a table, order a few things to share, and enjoy Solvang at a slower pace.

That holds up even when the table includes an eightyear-old, a five-year-old, and a one-year-old. The baby barely eats off a plate. The other two eat like they’ve been splitting firewood all day, and they can empty a plate of loaded mac and cheese before we finish counting to five. I order the jumbo wings every time without fail. Getting everyone fed, plus a cocktail for the adults, for under $100 has always felt like it should be impossible, but during happy hour at Whiskey ‘N Rye, it isn’t. Order enough shareables and nobody at the table feels like the restaurant got picked because it was cheap. It got picked because it’s good, and it happens to also be affordable on a Tuesday. There’s something kind of great about turning 4:30 into dinner instead of an errand. Order too much, let the older two fight over the last steak tip, and call it an early night. It’s not the happy hour anyone pictured in their twenties. In this phase of life, it’s better. None of this is treated as a campaign or something that needs its own slogan. It’s just part of doing business here, and maybe that’s why the happy hour feels different. Yes, half-off sharables and cocktails will get your attention. It should. But the better part is that the offer feels like it was created with the people who actually live here in mind. Whiskey ‘N Rye has taken something as familiar as happy hour and made it feel worthwhile again. For locals, that’s a pretty good reason to head into Solvang.

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OCTOBER 2026

events A S E L E C T I O N O F U P C O M I N G LO C A L E V E N T S O C TOBE R 1 ST – 4 T H

Taste of the Santa Ynez Valley Various Times and Locations | 4:00 PM Taste of the Santa Ynez Valley returns for four days of food, wine and exploration across all six Valley communities. Signature dinners, tastings, demonstrations and outdoor experiences highlight the people, farms, restaurants and producers shaping the region’s culinary identity. Individual events are ticketed separately, with schedules and reservations available at TasteSYV.com. O C TOBE R 3 RD – 4 T H

Chumash Intertribal Powwow Highway 246 & Meadowvale Rd, Santa Ynez | 10:00 AM The Chumash Intertribal Pow-Wow brings Native American dancers, singers, drummers and artisans to Santa Ynez for a weekend of cultural celebration and community. Guests can experience traditional and competitive dancing, music, food and Native American arts and crafts. The event is open to the public, with $5 admission and free parking. O C TOBE R 1 0 T H

Los Olivos Day in the Country Downtown Los Olivos | 10:00 AM Los Olivos celebrates one of its favorite traditions with a full day of small-town festivities. Day in the Country brings a morning parade, local vendors, food, wine and beer, family activities and the annual pie contest to downtown. Shops, galleries and tasting rooms join in throughout the day, making the entire village part of the celebration. O C TOBE R 1 1 T H

SYV Foundation: 31st Annual Champions of the Valley Camp Carmina: 5009 Zaca Station Road, Los Olivos | 4:00 PM The Santa Ynez Valley Foundation’s 31st annual Champions of the Valley honors local volunteers whose time, talent and generosity strengthen the community. Held at Camp Carmina in Los Olivos, the celebration recognizes individuals nominated by their neighbors and highlights the often-quiet work that keeps the Valley connected. Learn more at SYValleyFoundation.org. CONTINUED >

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events

CONTINUED

O C TOBE R 2 4 T H

Concert in the Vines with Fleetwood Mask Gainey Vineyard: 3950 E Highway 246, Santa Ynez | 6:00 PM Fleetwood Mask brings the music of Fleetwood Mac to Gainey Vineyard for an evening under the oaks. The tribute band performs the group’s best-known songs using original-style stage gear and wardrobe. General admission begins before the 6 p.m. show, while VIP and wine club guests receive early entry, reserved seating and additional hospitality. O C TOBE R 3 0 T H

People Helping People: Legacies of Hope Dinner Mattei’s Tavern: 2350 Railway Ave, Los Olivos | 5:30 PM People Helping People’s Legacies of Hope Dinner gathers supporters at Mattei’s Tavern for an evening centered on generosity, community, and the organization’s work throughout the Santa Ynez Valley. Held on the Hartley Lawn, the event culminates in a candle-lighting tradition symbolizing 100% participation in support of local individuals and families.

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Santa Ynez Valley, CA October 2026 by City Lifestyle - Issuu