19 must-try diners and restaurants for your next California road trip

Los Angeles Times

15-05-2025

A restorative meal can be a powerful motivator when the miles of a road trip stretch into a long, semideserted landscape. Just 45 more minutes until I can sip that cold, creamy date shake. Another two hours and I'll be wiping barbecue sauce from my fingers.
In California, popular roadside restaurants often act as markers along our highways. The yellow Hadley Fruit Orchards sign off Interstate 10 is a call to pause for date shakes, a sandwich and a few bags of trail mix for the rest of the ride. The gargantuan EddieWorld ice cream sundae visible from Interstate 15 beckons with the promise of candy, burgers, pizza and beef jerky. The smell of Santa Maria barbecue wafting from a stand off the 101 highway means a quick stop for tri-tip is in your future.
It's a state crowded with nationally recognized restaurants in the largest and tiniest of towns, boasting cuisines from all over the world. A Michelin-starred French cafe in Los Alamos. A Punjabi dhaba serving curries and potato-filled samosas in Bakersfield. A plate of pupusas and curtido at a pupuseria in Buttonwillow.
The following is a collection of our favorite roadside meals and restaurants worthy of becoming your next destination, listed from north to south. — Jenn Harris
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Marin County Seafood $
By Betty Hallock
The oysters from Tomales Bay Oyster Co. in Marin County are highly coveted by shellfish lovers across California (and beyond). The oysters are hard to come by outside of the Bay Area, but if you're anywhere in the vicinity of the Marshall Store, owned by the same family — located a few miles north of their oyster farm on Highway 1 — it is a must-stop destination. The Marshall Store is the quintessential California oyster shack, set along the water on the edge of a long, narrow Pacific Ocean inlet with stunning views of the bay. Outdoor tables line the shore, and the menu features raw, grilled and smoked oysters such as the Preston Point, Tomasini Point and Golden Nugget that Tomales Bay is known for. The drive along the 1 is gorgeous and as you wind your way toward the Marshall Store, anticipation mounts. You're rewarded with oysters Rockefeller galore.
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Mexican Salvadoran $
If you watch 'Severance,' you know that the hours-long, mind-numbing stretches between major cities along I-5 could make you wish you were a severed employee of Lumon Industries. Such drives are an ideal job for your innie. Tita's Pupuseria Lonchera in Buttonwillow — right off exit 257 traveling north on I-5, about 120 miles from downtown Los Angeles — is a stop that will make you feel whole again. The blue-sky truck, founded in 1999 by Gonzalo and Bertha 'Tita' Sandoval and still run by their family, sets up in a lot with plenty of parking spaces. Tacos, burritos and quesadillas round out the menu, but home in on the namesake pupusas. Generous in size and tattooed with handsome griddled splotches, they ooze molten cheese with options for classic fillings: pinto beans, shredded pork, jalapeño, calabaza. The special plate comprises two pupusas, the essential curtido relish for tang and crunch, plus rice and beans. It's easily enough to fuel another half-day's drive. Route 20645 Tracy Ave., Buttonwillow, California 93206
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Buttonwillow American Barbecue $$
This barbecue restaurant is where I stop any time I'm driving to or from wine country. It's right off of the 5 freeway, just south of California State Route 46, making it the perfect place to pause before or after you get on that long, dusty road that leads into Paso Robles. The dining room looks like a decades-old diner, with a wooden counter and stools that swivel. A cow wearing a vest and a bow tie holds a chalkboard sign advertising the day's specials. A pig in a chef's apron and toque holds a tray of bottles of the restaurant's signature barbecue sauce behind the counter. I'm usually the only one in the dining room not on a first-name basis with the staff. The barbecue platters are what the restaurant is known for, with plates covered in mountains of smoked brisket, chicken and ribs. The brisket is well marbled, with a bark that's wonderfully heavy on the black pepper. The barbecue sauce is more vinegar tang than sweet, with bits of onion and garlic you can see and taste. I never leave without buying at least a bottle or two to take home.
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Bakersfield Indian $
Fans of Balvinder Singh Saini and Mansi Tiwari's homage to dhabas, India's utilitarian roadside restaurants for truckers and other travelers, have followed the couple to several locations around Bakersfield over the last decade. After running the business from a food truck since 2016, the couple settled into a more permanent space in a medical complex in January. As ever, a whiteboard announces the daily lineup of snacks and dairy-rich curries in handwritten script. Among the familiar comforts of potato-filled samosas and creamy, gently spiced butter chicken, look for sarson ka saag, a deliciously mulchy Punjabi dish made with slowly simmered mustard greens. Breads are vital: Aloo paratha, layered with cumin-scented spuds, sells out early, but plain buttered roti is nearly as wonderful. Punjabi Dhaba's newest digs may be further from I-5 than previous outposts, but the goodness of the cooking merits a few extra minutes of driving time.
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San Luis Obispo Steakhouse $$
You are in the land of Santa Maria barbecue when you take the Tefft Street exit at Nipomo off Highway 101. Santa Maria itself is just 12 minutes south, and you might spot a roadside barbecue set up by talented amateurs raising money for their church or school. But if you are heading to Jocko's Steakhouse, which is maybe a four-minute drive from the highway, you will not be eating the region's famed tri-tip. Instead, you will want a Spencer steak, our Western way of saying boneless ribeye, which emerges from the immense iron grill beautifully charred on the outside and medium rare on the inside, with just the right amount of smokiness from local red oak coals fueling the flames. (Ask for your steak to be on the rare side of medium rare.)
Beyond the native red oak, more Santa Maria regionality comes through in the bowl of smoky pinquito beans served on the side and the mild tomato salsa, which is intended for your steak. ('It's not for dipping,' says the menu, 'or we would serve tortilla chips!') You feel the spirit of California's rowdy ranching culture at Jocko's, which traces its history back to a saloon opened in 1925 called Jocko's Cage; it became a barbecue force in the mid-1950s after the bar started serving food on weekends. This is a place where your iceberg lettuce salad comes with a sliced red beet and is perfect with blue cheese dressing. You will eat more garlic bread than you intend. And for dessert there is rainbow sherbet, vanilla ice cream or cheesecake. If you're with a group, linguiça sausage, sliced and served with frilled toothpicks, is good for sharing, as are the artichokes and asparagus grilled over oak. If you are traveling with a designated driver, you may want to spend your time waiting for a table in the bar, where the cocktails are strong and the jalapeño poppers (armadillo eggs here) have the right ratio of ooze to crunch.
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Los Alamos Pizza $
When we talk about a California regional style of pizza, Los Angeles gave us two upscale templates: Wolfgang Puck's smoked-salmon-covered game-changer (caviar optional) at Spago, and Nancy Silverton's stunner overlaid with zucchini blossoms and a whopping dollop of burrata. But the conversation also should mention Clark Staub, a music executive turned baker who began Full of Life Flatbread in 2003. His crunchy-edged pies truly convey an essence of bread: They smell and taste of sourdough hot from the oven, followed by the scent of fresh herbs sprinkled among the crowning ingredients. These are a thinking person's pizzas. Some recent standouts include Coachella Valley dates, bacon and blue cheese; roasted red peppers, olives and feta; and Shaman's Bread, an ode to pizza maestro Chris Bianco's signature Rosa with charred red onion, pistachios and rosemary. The menu changes constantly, and weekends bring an expanded selection of starters and entree specials highlighting local meats or just-caught fish. The interior dining room brings the saloon vibes, though on a sunny day the best seat in the house is a table on the covered porch. Decide a designated driver ahead of time, because the wine list is an education in compelling California wines.
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Los Alamos French $$$
Daisy Ryan grew up in the Santa Ynez Valley and left for school at the Culinary Institute of America, followed by jobs around the country that included a front-of-house stint at Thomas Keller's Per Se in Manhattan. But she wanted to focus on cooking, and on her own terms, so she returned to California with her husband, Greg Ryan, to open Bell's in Los Alamos in 2018. It has become the clearest destination-dining draw in Santa Barbara County. Dinner is a more formal prix-fixe affair, but a road-trip lunch is the power move. Anticipate an indulgent midday meal with French inflections: an everything-style bagel spread with cured trout, capers and dill; escargot drenched in parsley butter; a crêpe du jour, perhaps with ham, cheese and Dijonaise; a daily salad composed of the season's vegetables and fruits glossed in buttermilk vinaigrette. Sandwiches include fried oysters on brioche and the most elegant egg salad on toast you've ever seen, or tasted. The aesthetics — faded checkered floors, pressed-tin ceiling, copper pots hanging in the open kitchen — are photo-spread immaculate. Is it tough to return to the highway afterward? Two of the state's most cleverly reimagined motels, Alamo Motel and Skyview Los Alamos, are within walking distance. Go ahead and stay a while.
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Buellton Eclectic $$
Rarely has waiting in line for lunch felt more necessary than at Industrial Eats. Ever-rotating menu options, handwritten on butcher paper, line the wall behind the counter where a staffer takes your order. They list a dozen pizza options, salads and hot dishes that can range from beef-ricotta meatballs and stuffed shells to miso cod in dashi with spinach and avocado and a riff on char siu pork over sesame noodles. Got all that? Then you near the counter and see more possibilities printed on sheets taped to a deli case or fastened to clipboards: burgers, cheese plates, seasonal specials like seared peaches over toast with burrata and prosciutto. Remarkably, most everything delivers. I've been happiest with pizzas and the most imaginative-sounding creations. The above-mentioned peaches embodied summertime, their freshness magnified alongside a plate of chicken livers sparked with pickled shallots, chiles, guanciale and a jammy-yolked soft egg. Founding chef-owner Jeff Olsson died of cancer in 2023, but his wife, Janet Olsson, and her team maintain their shared vision of joyful, skillfully rendered abundance; Industrial Eats is one of the most popular restaurants in the Santa Ynez Valley for good and lasting reason.
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Santa Barbara County Barbecue $$
By Stephanie Breijo
This is Americana on a plate. Cold Spring Tavern, well worth a detour no matter how pressing your schedule, started humbly as a stagecoach stop in 1868. Nestled in the shade of tall trees on a bend in the road, this multigenerational family business is now one of the Central Coast's most scenic places to find Santa Maria-style steak: the gloriously seasoned tri-tip grilling out in the open on weekends, its scent carried by the breeze. Whether for a steak sandwich or simply a hot toddy near a roaring fire, locals and passers-through gather at this historic restaurant, which rests about half an hour from downtown Santa Barbara and a quick turn off of Route 154.
There's the restaurant, which features multiple cozy wooden dining rooms decorated with antiques and string lights; an adjacent log-cabin bar, which includes a large fireplace and multiple animal busts; and the surrounding structures, some of which date back more than 150 years, including an old jail. On weekends it feels like a party, with live music and a Santa Maria-style grill set up outdoors for quicker walk-up sandwich orders. But dining in reveals a full menu of chili, baby back ribs, wild game, smoked-duck BLTs and plenty of fresh pies for dessert — a full dining experience not to be missed.
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Santa Barbara Mexican $
La Super-Rica is a California original, a culinary mecca in a taco shack setting devoted to chile, cheese, charred meat and masa. It's true that there are other Santa Barbara taquerias with more inventive salsas (pistachio at Mony's) or adventurous cuts of meat (beef head, cheek or lip tacos at Lilly's, with eye and tripas on weekends). And, yes, you will be standing in the fast-moving line with other out-of-towners who may have read about the long-ago accolades from Julia Child or spotted a replica of the white-and-aqua stand in Katy Perry's 'This Is How We Do' video. Yet as an Angeleno with hometown access to some of the world's best tacos from nearly every Mexican region, I rarely pass the Milpas Street exit off the 101 without joining the crowd. My late husband and this paper's former restaurant critic, Jonathan Gold, was a Super-Rica partisan, and both of my now-grown children remain loyal to the restaurant founded in 1980 by Isidoro Gonzalez. But it's not nostalgia that brings me back. I'm here for the tacos de rajas, strips of pasilla chiles, onions and cheese melded onto tortillas constantly being patted and pressed from the snow drift of masa behind Gonzalez as he takes your order; for the crisp-edged marinated pork adobado, either in a taco or in the Super-Rica Especial with pasillas and cheese; for the chorizo, sliced and crumbled into a bowl of queso; or for the tri-tip alambre with sauteed bell peppers, onion and bacon. It's never easy to decide, especially with Gonzalez's board of specials. But I never leave without Super-Rica's soupy, smoky pinto beans with charred bits of chorizo, bacon and chile.
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Santa Barbara Italian $$
By Bill Addison
For food-obsessed Angelenos, road trips have been built entirely around lunch at Bettina, a pizza-plus-small-plates restaurant located just off a Highway 101 exit in the wealthy Santa Barbara enclave of Montecito. Brendan Smith baked bread at famed Roberta's in Brooklyn (during his stint there he met Rachel Greenspan, his wife and business partner); the crusts of his blistered, puffed-edged pizzas bring the same delight as a hunk of sourdough that's just cooled enough to eat. The season's ingredients inspire the kitchen team's most compelling pies. Springtime brings creations like asparagus, pancetta and truffled cheese, or garlicky English pea pesto dotted among mozzarella and fromage blanc with snap peas and sweet torpedo onions. These sound too fancy and you want a meat lover's instead? It's excellent too. Clever antipasti (cacio e pepe arancini, fluffy meatballs in vodka sauce), upbeat service and an approachable wine list, heavy on Italian and California options, round out the appeal. In warm weather the charms of the industrial-chic dining room spill outside to the surprisingly lovely patio in a mini-mall courtyard.
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Ventura Seafood $$
By Stephanie Breijo
After a day on the road, few things feel more tranquil than fresh oysters eaten right on the beach. Along the coastal edge of Ventura, owner Mark Reynolds and his team shuck Kumamoto and Laguna Bay oysters, plus clams, uni and other shellfish, some of which come sourced from Reynolds' own sustainable oyster farm in Baja California. Slurp the Jolly Oyster's raw oysters — or have them grilled and covered in a rainbow of flavored butters such as habanero or Creole — or opt for uni tostadas, tacos or ceviches at picnic tables right at San Buenaventura State Beach.
To make the most of your meal, enjoy a walk on the sand dunes while you await your order or after you've finished. This weekend-only seafood shack also offers everything you need to keep the shellfish party going: bags of clams and unshucked oysters, essentials such as shucking knives and charcoal, and free shucking lessons. Note: Beach parking costs $10, but State Park staff can provide 30-minute free parking passes, and nearby street parking can be found for free.
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San Bernardino County Shop
Abandon all willpower, ye who enter here. California's largest gas station lies nearly halfway between L.A. and Las Vegas, and it's a wonderland of candy, jerky and any other road-trip snack you can dream up. Rows of chocolate-covered pistachios, gummy Lego bricks, sour straws, spiced nuts, flavored popcorns, oversized lollipops and every manner of licorice make this oddity in Yermo a munchies mecca. There are also food stands in the menagerie, and the best is Jedidiah's Jerky, which vends traditional pork and beef varieties as well as duck, elk, wild boar, venison, goose, alligator, tuna and more. EddieWorld is perhaps the finest snack shop I've ever come across. It's dizzying, it's open 18 hours a day, and I'd wager it's got almost any snack you could ever want. Look for the giant ice cream cone atop a building — you can't miss it. (Yes, there's ice cream too.)
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Malibu Seafood $$
Just as you crest over one of the many hilly, picturesque curves of PCH, it comes into view: The beachy, roadside blue-gray seafood shack and a sign emblazoned with its mascot, a smiling lobster, cocktail in claw. Malibu Seafood — now more than a half-century old — serves some of the best fried and grilled seafood in Los Angeles. What began as a fisherman-owned seafood market gradually grew into one of Malibu and all of Highway 1's can't-miss stops for fried oysters and fish and chips, whether you're stopping en route to the beach or breaking up a long trek up or down the coast. Ceviches, chowders, fish sandwiches and more come served with a view of the ocean, enjoyed via picnic tables spread across tiered patios. I'm fortunate enough to have grown up eating here, and the quality hasn't wavered since my childhood; I almost always pull off for some fried oysters when I'm passing through Malibu. Located just off one of the world's most famous highways, this can be a quick and scenic stop (though weekend crowds, especially during the summer, can cause lengthy waits). If you're near your destination, grab some fresh cuts of fish, poke or seafood salads from the market side to bring a taste home.
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Redlands Jamaican $
The Jerk Grill is located about six minutes' drive south of the 10 freeway in Redlands. Chef and owner Lerone Mullin prepares a full menu of Jamaican favorites inspired by the food he helped his mother cook on their farm in St. Mary Parish. His jerk chicken is marinated in 15 spices, smoked and then grilled. It's based on a family recipe for the jerk chicken his cousin used to make and sell around St. Mary. The Jamaican patties feature a flaky, buttery crust around a warmly spiced beef filling. Mullin's oxtail burger is a creation worth traveling for, with a glorious mess of ground beef, gravy, oxtails, cheese and grilled onions spilling from a bun. His oxtails are fortified with a rich brown stew, potatoes, carrots, bell pepper, onion and garlic. The onions are grilled until sweet, crisp and plentiful. The pockets of potato in the meat are almost creamy. Unsurprisingly, it's on the heavier side, so you may want to ask a friend to drive for a bit while you nap.
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Banning American $
I love seeing the bright yellow Hadley Fruit Orchards sign off of Insterstate 10. It's a frequent stop on the drive to my grandmother's house in Palm Desert to stock up on dried fruit, snack mixes and salted nuts. And it's the place to stretch your legs if you're headed west for the coast. During each visit, I spy license plates from all over the country, and tour buses filled with tourists from Asia and Europe. Paul and Peggy Hadley founded the company in 1931. In 1999, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians took over the company. It has since moved to a new location and doubled in size, with the addition of a cafe and large seating area. It's the store's date shakes that continue to make this a must-visit detour off the freeway. The date shake is a drink you can find all over the Coachella Valley, made using fruit harvested from the area's many date palms. Maybe it's the nostalgia of the store itself, or the comfort of knowing I'm almost to my destination, but I believe the Hadley date shake may be the best of them all. It's made using Deglet Noor dates, an oblong-shaped fruit with a deep golden hue and a flavor like honey. The dates are blended with milk to form a paste, then mixed with ice cream to create a rich, thick shake. I prefer the pure flavor of the dates to shine, but the shop will make your shake with banana, chocolate, honey-roasted peanut butter, coffee, strawberry or malt. And yes, you can even order a vegan date shake.
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San Juan Capistrano Barbecue $$
By Stephanie Breijo
Veer just off the 5 Freeway, head toward Mission San Juan Capistrano and you'll spot it at the corner: Heritage Barbecue, home to some of the best Texas-style smoked meats in the country, done with California flair. Daniel and Brenda Castillo produce some of the most tender brisket and beef ribs, the most flavorful pulled pork and tri-tip, and the most creative house-made sausages and seasonal specials, all of which keep me drooling at their mere memory.
This is barbecue worthy of a road trip in and of itself, but as it rests just about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, it's a perfect place to stretch your legs and fill your belly. I've met family members here for meals at that halfway point, and I've also pulled off the freeway to pick up a large tray, transporting it all the way down with me. The high quality can draw snaking lines that stretch past the smokers and down the hill into the adjacent parking lot, but Heritage Barbecue offers same-day orders online — meaning you can enter this into your GPS to determine your arrival time, place an order and get back on the road without the wait.
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Californian Brewery $$
There is a period of my recent history (let's say pre-pandemic) that I associate strongly with the city of Oceanside. I'd sneak away from L.A. for secret visits with friends, or make it a single-night road stop on my way to see my folks on the border. Every time I go, to this day, I stop at Local Tap House. Known lovingly as 'LTH' to the hardcore locals, the restaurant lets you know it is special from the first bite of whatever you order. I've had just about everything on this menu over the last eight years and nothing has ever been disappointing — and sometimes I ask myself: How often can I say that about a place, anywhere? Well-respected local chef Daniel Pundik has built a devoted following for his confidently coastal Californian gastropub menu: Start with the deviled eggs, truffle butter pretzel or the Black and Blue Brussels sprouts. Then go for the crunchy Asian salad, Korean beef short rib grilled cheese or my lifelong favorite, the short rib French dip; it just hits the spot. House and draft cocktails are great, but we're really all here for the taps, elevating the region's finest breweries: I lean toward Artifex, Belching Beaver, Golden Road, Coronado or Latitude 33. It's never a wrong time for Latitude 33's Blood Orange IPA.
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