We took a short nap after our busy morning. It was quite warm when we woke. The Missus was fully engrossed in the book She purchased from Bart's Books the previous day. So, while She relaxed in the air conditioned comfort of our room; I decided to head on out for another walk.
This time, I walked on over to the Arcade and walked thru the the middle portion.
It was quite charming with art work and friendly folks.
There is a distinctive vibe to the town. It's laid back, and drivers actually stop to let pedestrians cross the street. Folks were telling me hello as I walked past them.
I wish I took photos of all the pooches we met. There was one little fellow being transported in a "stroller"; he looked so cool with his shades and his hat on. On the previous evening we were walking back to the hotel and a woman and her pooch we had seen earlier were walking toward us. She put the leash down and went to adjust her jacket. And then totally forgot to pick up the leash and started crossing the street without her dog! The dog sat on the corner with a puzzled look. Such a good boy!
You could just see the thoughts racing thru the little fellows head:
"Huh? Am I an orphan now?"
"Why is my mommy walking away without me?"
"I'm being a good boy; is my mommy going to come back for me?"
As the woman walked toward us, I pointed to the pooch on the corner and told her:
"You forgot something...."
She turned around, cracked up, and jogged back to get her little one.....
I walked around the front of the Arcade and crossed to street to check out Libbey Park.
It was a nice albeit pretty warm day. I also noticed that there were many more cars around, nice cars, like Porsches, 'Vettes, and such.
The next day was going to be the 4th of July and Ojai has a bunch of events the most popular is the parade which goes down the main street. People claim "their spot" by setting up chairs on the sidewalk.
There were chairs set-up from when we arrived!
Spending more then one day in a town like Ojai means you start seeing interesting touches around the town.
I headed back to the hotel, relaxed for a bit then we headed out to dinner. Our dinner destination was about a mile and a quarter from where we were staying, which was a nice walk. We reached Nocciola a bit early so we took a look at the park across the street. Cluff Vista Park was once the site of a gas station, but had been converted into a nice little park.
Our dinner reservation was for Nocciola, a Italian influenced restaurant located in a Victorian House. We had reservations for patio dining; the tables were perfectly spaced, the service was very professional, and we enjoyed our meal.
For our meal we ordered one Insalate, two Antipasti, and one Secondi. We mentioned that we'd be dining "family style" and things started off nicely as the kitchen automatically split the Crescione ($19), the Watercress salad without us even having to ask.
Loved the pleasant bitterness of the watercress, the salty-milky Parmesan crisp, the hearts of palm, and were pleasantly surprised that avocado tastes quite nice with a bit of balsamic on it.
The Olive Oil served with the breads was wonderful; peppery and grassy, just like how we like it.
The Missus also had Her favorite glass of wine on this trip; a Alisl Vineyard Grenache. In fact, we went looking for this bottle on the walk back to our room, stopping at several places, but to no avail.
I was really looking forward to our next dish; the Lamb Carpaccio ($21). Sadly, it was the weakest dish of the evening. It really needed more salt, was lacking in the "flavor of the pasture" which makes lamb so distinctive. It was just strangely bland in flavor so that the julienned celery just overpowered the dish.
The Quaglia ($26), roasted quail set things back on track.
The quail was tender, moist, and full of flavor. The porcini mushroom so wonderfully earthy and delish. The polenta had a wonderful texture, somewhat firm, but creamy. The Marsala sauce completed all the players and didn't over power the dish. Very good.
The Anatra ($42) was also delicious.
That confit duck leg was excellent, the skin crisp, the simple flavor of the duck shining thru.....the Missus gave it Her seal of approval by saying "this is a good as yours"! I thought the roasted breast was a bit over done, but it was still moist and tender, with a meaty-gaminess. The truffle honey glaze was nicely balanced, not overly sweet, with nice nutty-earthy-savory tones.
We really enjoyed this meal. Like I mentioned earlier, the service was efficient and processional. Our settings were changed between every course, the table scraped down between courses.
Nocciola
314 El Paseo Rd.
Ojai, CA 93023
It seems like our meals got steadily better each night we were here!
We enjoyed our stroll back to the room as we made several stops to do some wine shopping along the way.
The next day we packed up, while we liked the fact that Ojai had a great Fourth of July Parade and festivities, we weren't comfortable with the crowds. We got our caffeine fix at a familiar stop and headed on home. It had been a nice road trip and I'm sure we'll return to Ojai one day.
always fun to read your adventures
Posted by: kat | Sunday, 17 July 2022 at 11:01 PM
Thanks Kat!
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 18 July 2022 at 07:10 AM