With stops in San Diego, North County, Orange County, and the San Gabriel Valley
It’s nice to hit the road sometimes—to stretch our legs, catch some sun, and, of course, eat incredible pozole, banh mi, Neapolitan-style pizza, and about 100 other spectacular bites. For these very special episodes, Visit California invited This Is TASTE cohosts Aliza Abarbanel and Matt Rodbard out of their New York City studio and over to the West Coast for a food-focused road trip around San Diego County – including Carlsbad and Oceanside, Orange County, and the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles County. This is the California road trip of our dreams, and it took the show’s hosts off the beaten path to some truly delicious spots.
We start our journey at the source at the legendary Chino Farm, where three generations of Japanese American Chinos have been growing incredible produce used by chefs throughout California. Our next stop is a visit with Jeff Lozano, a brand ambassador at San Diego’s Ballast Point Brewing, one of the foundational craft beer makers in a city famous for its great beer.
Our journey then heads up Interstate 5 to Carlsbad, where we catch up with Eric Bost, a prolific chef behind the newly opened Wildland and the soon-to-open tasting menu restaurant Lilo. To close, Aliza and Matt share many more discoveries from their road trip around Southern California.
On the second episode of our food-focused road trip, we take a drive around Orange County and the San Gabriel Valley. We start our journey at Mercado González at Northgate Market in Costa Mesa, where Aliza and Matt share an incredible afternoon walking around the mercado looking for pozole, churros, and many more surprises along the way.
We hit the road for our next stop, a visit with Sara Lezama, the owner of Rye Goods, an acclaimed sourdough bakery and deli with three locations throughout Orange County in Newport Beach, Tustin, and Laguna Beach.
Next on our road trip, we head to the San Gabriel Valley, where journalist Kristie Hang gives us a tour of some of her favorite new and under-the-radar restaurants, including Banh Mi Hoa Phat, Good Alley, and Bistro Na’s.
We stay in the SGV for a conversation with chef Chris Yang of Yang’s Kitchen, which has firmly become one of our favorite restaurants in all of California. To close, Aliza and Matt share many more discoveries from their road trip around Southern California.
More places we visited: Rare Society, City Tacos, Tribute Pizza, Wayfarer Bread, Aisu Creamery, Little Fox Cups and Cones, Wrench & Rodent, Folks Pizzeria, A&J Seafood Shack, Burritos La Palma.
And some great hotels to keep in mind for your southern California road trip: Catamaran Resort Hotel and Spa, Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, and the Hilton San Gabriel.
To donate to California wildfire relief, visit Restaurants Care.
This very special episode of This Is TASTE is supported by Visit California. While this episode was recorded before the LA wildfires in January, all of the restaurants featured are open for business, and we can’t think of a better time to pay California a visit for your own food-obsessed road trip. Dining out in LA is one way to help support the city, and these truly were some amazing places. Questions about visiting LA now?
