A month after returning from June Lake and Mammoth Lake we headed out on another road trip, albeit a very short one. Located in the San Jacinto Mountains in Riverside County at an altitude of approximately 5400 feet, it seemed like a good place to visit during the month of August with JJ. Especially since there’s a special government figure I wanted to meet – more on that later.
The drive is just a tad over two hours for us; another plus fur a short two night road trip. The population is a bit over 4,000 and the place seemed pretty artsy to us.
We arrived a bit early for check in, so we decided to grab lunch in the quaint downtown area. Several folks I know enjoy travelling to Idyllwilde, especially during the summer as it’s 20+ degrees cooler than most of Riverside County. One of the place recommended was the Red Kettle.
Located right on North Circle Drive, the place was bustling. I peeked into the restaurant and mentioned having our pup with us and was directed to the side entrance of the patio. We had seat at the railing where we had a nice view of the street.
There was obviously a lot of shopping to be done here!
On the way to our seats, we noticed a gentleman really tucking in to his sandwich, so we asked the very friendly Server. Turns out it was the BBQ Beef Brisket Sandwich ($19). It seemed like enough for the both of us and we asked if it would be ok just to order one sandwich, subbing sweet potato fries (+$3). The woman smiled and said “of course”! Soon enough JJ had his bowl of water and we had our sandwich with sweet potato fries.
At first, it seemed a bit over-sauced to us; but this was not bad. The beef was fairly tender, and though it lacked a real smokiness, it was quite beefy and the sauce was tangy, but not overly sweet. The French Roll actually held up well for the entire meal! And you know the Missus and sweet potato fries, right? These were on the drier side, but was still flavorful.
Not a bad lunch, especially since one sandwich was enough for the two of us! The woman working was really nice and explained that many businesses are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays because weekends are their busiest days. This would be good to know for future visits.
Red Kettle
54220 N Circle Dr.
Idyllwild-Pine Cove, CA 92549
We had actually parked outside our little cottage like room further up on North Circle Drive and during our meal my phone went off with the entrance code to our room, so we headed back up. We soon git to understand the “feel” of the town a bit more….kinda artsy-hippy-otudoorsy. We actually passed two tea shops as we strolled up the street. And where else in California will find that the town’s mayor is a pooch!
Yep, Max is the Mayor of Idyllwilde! Actually, this is Mayor Max III. You can read more about it here!
On the way back to our room, we noticed this adorable nursery.
Which had not only lovely plants and supplies….guess who had to get one of these watering cans?
But all kinds of trinkets and “stuffs”…..
The Missus and JJ had fun wandering the grounds of the nursery.
Idyllwild Gardens
54385 North Circle Dr.
Idyllwild, CA 92549
It was a fun walk back to our accommodations.
We got back and did our entrance code and relaxed in our room for a bit.
For dinner we chose one of the more upscale places in town; Ferro which was just down the street….well, to be perfectly honest, everything is basically down the street. Even though we didn’t have reservations, we were seated on the front patio. I believe there’s a large back patio as well.
It’s a good thing we chose an early dining time as there was a never ending stream of folks coming in from about 5pm onward.
We weren’t overly hungry, so only got an appetizer and a couple of sides. And of course some cocktails….
It seems that you need to pay for the house bread these days and Ferro was no different. Their fresh baked Pane di Casa goes for $10.
The shipped butter was very nice and the bread arrived warm. The crust was too chewy for our taste and the bread lacked any substantial yeastiness. We took most of it back to the room and would have it for breakfast the next day.
The bread sticks and olives were a nice touch.
The Carpaccio de Manzo ($22) arrived nicely chilled.
The Parmesan was very thickly sliced, the beef tenderloin strangely chewy. Our wonderful Server provided a couple of turns of black pepper which really helped this dish. The lemon was needed for the arugula. A few drizzles of EVOO would have been a nice addition to the dish.
The Broccolini con Peperoncino ($12) arrived strangely almost cold.
The broccolini had been blanched and not roasted like we’d preferred so the texture was on the harder end of the scale. The caramelized onions were also on the colder side; though we did appreciate the red pepper flakes as it did add some heat to the dish.
The Peperoni e Salsiccia ($18) was out favorite dish.
The sausage was nice and peppery-savory-lightly smokey and not overly salty. The marinara added a nice acidity to the dish. The red bell peppers where nicely done, not overly mushy, adding a nice, almost fruitiness to the dish.
In spite of this being quite a smaller dinner, we actually had leftovers…which provided our breakfast.
Our main Server was a very funny and nice gentleman, who also provided some great information about Idyllwild. He moved here from Palm Springs which is just to the east. Overall, an ok meal.
Ferro
25840 Cedar St.
Idyllwild, CA 92549
We headed back to our room to relax and I got to do a post. We’d be doing some hiking and more exploring the next day.
