After getting lunch in Los Olivos, we headed up to our main destination for the road trip, Los Alamos with a population of under 2,000. Why, you might ask? Well, when doing research for road trip destinations and Michelin restaurants, I came across a one-star restaurant in, of all places, Los Alamos! WTH? To make it even more enticing, the cuisine was French; or French influenced….in fact, we got a laugh when we saw that Bell's claimed they served "Franch" cuisine!
We've always enjoyed the Santa Ynez Valley, so we thought why not spend an evening in Los Alamos? We arrived a bit early at our accommodations, the Alamo Motel, which was basically right across the street from Bell's, though the main strip of the town is basically 4 blocks long! I notified the really efficient and friendly young lady in charge that we had arrived and she promised to text us when our room was ready.
And then we set off to take a look at Los Alamos.
There were two markets, well make that one market…..
And one convenience store….a couple of wine tasting shops, several restaurants, one really good looking bakery, which we would check out the next morning, and a couple of art/antique shops.
We did a bit of "window shopping" and folks here as would be expected were super warm and friendly.
We really enjoyed slowing things down and relaxing……
I had read that Los Alamos became popular as a stagecoach stop.
And there is undoubtedly a "old west" vibe to the town.
Check out the 1880 Union Hotel.
Apparently, the saloon here was a great place to grab a cocktail before Covid; but is now open for private events only. Bummer, it would have been fun comparing it to the Iron Door Saloon in Groveland.
Many of the buildings were repurposed, but kept signs and other indicators of the history visible.
We returned to the motel; our room wasn't quite ready yet, but there is a wine bar in front of the motel.
Along with some nice shaded seating, quite important on a pretty warm day. The Missus and I had some sparkling water and just relaxed until our room was ready.
Soon enough our room was ready, 2 hours earlier than scheduled. I walked over to the market next door, grabbed more sparkling water, and the Missus and I settled in and had a nice nap.
We awoke nice and refreshed. We took a short stroll before dinner. Yep, that's pretty much the town below.
Loved this street sign!
With Covid still in our head, we had made 530 dinner reservations outdoors.
We were seated in the lovely back patio. The Service was so relaxed, very friendly, and we just enjoyed ourselves. Bell's is super dog friendly; in fact there were four pooches having dinner with their "hoomans"!
This one was especially charming!
Bell's does only a Pre Fixe menu for dinner, which at the time of our visit was just $75 per person. The husband and wife team (Daisy and Greg Ryan) behind the restaurant are alumni of Per Se and Daisy Ryan, who is the chef was named one of the Best New Chefs by Food & Wine Magazine….yes, in Los Alamos.
We placed our orders and during the evening, the Missus wasn't sure what wine to match with Her dishes….wouldn't you know, the great staff brought Her like 6 different whites to try? And they were like "half pours"!
We started with the Santa Barbara Sea Urchin and ordered it with the Caviar ($15 supplement). As you can see; the uni was pristine; just perfect.
It had a wonderful sweet-brininess, buttery texture….in fact, it didn't need the caviar which kind of over powered the dish. I was worried that the mille crepe would be on the sweet side; but it was quite neutral in flavor and basically was just a wonderful vehicle to get that uni to your mouth.
What we noticed with the quite simply dressed Salade of Finley Farms Lettuces was how perfectly each leaf was dressed.
In what would be a recurring theme; we enjoyed the wonderful balance of flavors and seasonings.
To us, the least impressive dish was the Santa Barbara Bluefin Crudo.
The bluefin was of good quality, but call us jaded, we thought the ojo blanco and the garlic oil really didn't stand up and uplevel the mild flavored fish.
We absolutely adored the Duck Confit.
The Missus told me; "this is what I want your duck confit to be"! Egads! This was wonderful, perfectly seasoned, not overly salty, perfect firm, but not hard texture, fairly moist. It went so well with the jus, lentils, and the sweet-acidic tomatoes! The sourdough croutons added a wonderful crisp-crunch to the dish.
At this point the Missus asked me if we could hang around a bit longer the next day (Monday) and get lunch here. I was able to make reservations for lunch! So we'd be returning the next day.
I had seen Ris de Veau on the menu online; but unfortunately, that had been replaced by the time we had our dinner; so I ordered the Bodega Bay King Salmon.
Man, those heirloom tomatoes were outstanding and the tarragon added a nice anise touch to this; something I would not usually put on salmon I make. The capers added that nice briny-salty component and the Hollandaise added a nice, balanced creaminess to things.
The Missus got the Capuchon de Chevre, basically a hood shaped pasta stuffed with chevre.
Loved the combination of the eggplant cream and the sweet corn; what a wonderful combo!
The Missus got the Almond Financier which was to Her taste (i.e., not too sweet).
Quite refreshing.
I got the Dark Chocolate Glacée.
Which, while being ice and cold….wonderful on a very warm day was a bit too sweet for me.
Overall, an excellent meal. The staff was so wonderful and we loved the fact that there was an automatic 20% service charge for the staff. It's great that Bell's really wants to make sure the staff who are from the area are paid well. And then I was told that our Servers comped two of the glasses of wine, so I made sure to leave a bit more.
Bell's
406 Bell St.
Los Alamos, CA 93440
Current Hours:
Thurs – Mon 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 830pm
Closed on Tuesday – Wednesday
We took another short stroll after dinner, it seemed like everything closed at 6 or 7 on Sundays. As we headed back to our room, the Missus and I noted how relaxed we both felt. I guess Los Alamos will do that to you!
The Missus and I were both looking forward to lunch the next day. And guess what? We enjoyed that even more!
Stay Tuned!
This was quite lovely and came with bread and butter. The egg was nice and perfectly done; still oozing with goodness, the rustic bacon was also quite good. The roasted tomatoes adding acidity and tangy touches. The red chili based "sauce" was rich but not overly spicy and we enjoyed the earthy mushrooms in the dish.
This sprawling market is quite large with everything from jewelry to shawls to produce.
A wonderful green space, which is fairly peaceful in the morning, but gets more lively as the days passes and is really buzzing at night.
Which was quite striking in its own right.
This came with some really tasty black beans. Surprisingly, at least for us, we really enjoyed the parsley rub more! It had nice garlic tones; some cumin, and you could really taste the mild, almost sweet flavor of the snapper, which was grilled perfectly! Don't get me wrong; that adobo rub had some nice smokiness and spice; but you really couldn't enjoy the great quality of the fish as much.
Panadería Almuerzos
While some of the pieces of zucchini were under cooked and too hard for my taste, there were a couple that were nice and creamy. These were nicely seasoned and not overly salty.
As we strolled on over to our car, the Missus and I remarked about how much we enjoyed the vibe of Los Olivos. We just wished there were better accommodations (like under $400/night) and perhaps a nice destination restaurant.
The Olive Oil served with the breads was wonderful; peppery and grassy, just like how we like it.
While this was a super easy hike for the Missus, She enjoyed the solitude. We didn't run into another hiker on the trail until we were almost on our way out. Plus, those formations were quite interesting.
This version came with a fabulous Chicken Liver Mousse. The Dutchess's "baking chops" really delivered here as well as the puri was light, yeasty, full of flavor with a nice hint of salty-sweetness.
The puff pastry was very light with a wonderful texture. The rice in the dish was tender and the complex seasoning, while again on the saltier side, did well with a touch of raita, which added a nice, refreshing component to everything. Wish there was a bit more lamb in the dish; what we tasted was wonderfully gamey.
We'd gladly eat here again. While sitting and watching the "regulars" get their orders we noticed that the house made sourdough bread and lamb kafta were popular and looked quite good.
