Los Alamos
Santa Barbara, California, United States
Located in Santa Ynez Valley, Los Alamos is a rustic Cali town full of old western character - and a surprising number of acclaimed eateries. This is real rural America: fewer than 2,000 inhabitants call Los Alamos home and, as in most small towns, restaurants and bars are normally closed Monday to Thursday, so weekends are best for visits. Our advice? Make this a restaurant crawl. Start your day with a pastry from Bob's Well Bread (order the pain de mie toasts, served with house-made almond butter), then take a wander in the direction of Bell's Restaurant, whose plates of farm-to-table French cuisine are loved locally. Work your way through wild burgundy snails and grand steak tartare, then take your pick of the many wine bars on the main strip. Bodega, a well-curated natural wine shop showcasing rare and unique bottles, is our favourite. Stop by for a glass beside the fire pit in the back garden. Set beneath stretching California oaks and surrounded by aromatic rosemary plants, it's a Med-inspired experience night and day.
Where to stay: Skyview Los Alamos How to get there: Two-and-a-half-hour drive north from LA