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Hi.
Welcome to the VORTEX
To sign into the member area,
click OLO above.
Welcome to the VORTEX
In-N-Out · 5-10 min · $
Jill's Place · 15 min · $$
A slightly divey, old-school Central Coast steakhouse in Downtown Santa Barbara.
Split pea soup, grilled artichoke, burgers, steaks, potatoes
Linden Square · 25 min · $$
A casual courtyard food hall in Carpinteria. Multiple options.
Tina’s Pizza by the slice, Corazon Cocina, Arnie’s Rooftop Bar, Third Window
Little Dom's · 25 min · $$$
Seafood and Italian in Carpinteria.
Raw bar, pasta, salads, Cioppino (fish stew) on Thursdays
[Both Carp options are a 10 minute walk to the beach]
Radio Roma · 50 min · $$
A moody mezcal bar and hi-fi listening room, open late.
Mexico City-style tacos and a cocktail
Restaurants
La Cocina (breakfast, lunch)
Condor Bar (dinner)
Rory’s Place (dinner)
Rory’s Other Place (breakfast and lunch)
Radio Roma (tacos, mezcal, lunch or late night)
Ojai Rôtie (lunch and dinner, rotisserie chicken and sourdough)
Ojai Mountain Farm (farm-to-table small plates and deli)
Ojai Noodle House (pho, banh mi, and wings, in Meiners Oaks)
The Ranch House (nice garden, lunch, and bakery)
The Deer Lodge (Ojai’s oldest tavern, weekend BBQ)
Community Juice (salads Friday only)
I also have some lovely short ribs I’ll pop into the crockpot Saturday morning!
Bars
Chief’s Peak (wine bar at the Rancho Inn, has a pool and sauna we can sometimes use)
Radio Roma (live music Friday, maybe Saturday)
Walson (new wine bar)
The Deer Lodge (live music on weekends)
The Hut (neighborhood dive bar)
Snug Bar (at Hotel Roblar)
Hikes
Cozy Dell: About 2 miles each way through big shady oaks to valley views. The trailhead is on Highway 33, just south of the Friends Ranches packing house, so it pairs well with a Friday morning OJ run. Good Kate Pepper walk.
“The Cable”: Supposedly a great waterhole. I may go Wednesday to scope it out.
River bottom: We sort of went here last time, but we didn’t swim, we went farther back in the hills.
Ojai Meadows Preserve: Good for a quick morning dog walk.
Piedra Blanca: About 40 minutes up Highway 33 and Rose Valley Road, past big white sandstone boulders along Sespe Creek. Swimming hoes and really cool rock formations.
I have to work between 9 -11 AM. If you need some time to check in with work — great! We can do that together. Otherwise, you could get a massage somewhere (we have 8,000 options including very good ones and very cheap ones) or you could go walk around Taft Gardens. Or I could get you a guest pass to the Ojai Valley Athletic Club, which has lots of classes, a pool, hot tubs, like four gyms, pickleball, sauna, massage chairs. Or you could go on a horse trail ride or rent a kayak or take the Miata and drive up into the mountains, or down to Ventura, or down the coast, or whatever.
10:30 AM - NOON
We are doing a falconry experience at Talon + Flight
AFTERNOON: Ojai Day! Food trucks! Also the museum is opening up it’s archives and we are going to get a tour of the plans for the new native landscaping at the Library with one of Ojai’s best landscape architects.
OPTION 1: Farmer’s Market and a few minutes of No Kings protest (it’s supposed to be Saturday, but that’s Ojai Day, so they moved it)
OPTION 2: Check out a beach on the way to the airport, maybe Rincon