Looking for an adventure, my best friend and I decided to hop on a FlixBus and go to Ventura for the day. It’s the home of many cute thrift shops, a stunning pier and delicious food! We walked about seven miles and made a food stop every other mile. There is nothing better than leaving a day trip feeling full of good food so I decided to document all of the tasty spots. 

Sonya Raytburg / Daily Nexus

Before heading to Ventura, we made an extensive list of places we wanted to check out, and, of course, the famous Spencer Makenzie’s Fish Company was on top. Skipping breakfast to feast there at lunch was definitely worth it! It has a really cute setup with indoor and outdoor seating. There’s the option to sit inside with service, but we chose to order at the booth because the weather was too nice not to eat outside. The portions looked really large, which is always a good thing, but there were so many things we wanted to try. 

We decided to split three dishes: the Parker Burger, Ahi Pocket and the World Famous Fish Taco. The Parker Burger has seared ahi tuna, shredded lettuce and marinated red onions, all on a toasted bun with a side of fries. It was delicious, especially with some of their Caribbean Blaze Sauce (a tropical cayenne vinegar blend). The tuna tasted really fresh and the burger felt a lot lighter without red meat. I actually really enjoyed the burger being simple because it allowed the focus to be on the seared tuna and sauce, which were delicious and very flavorful when combined. The Ahi Pocket was a sweet tofu pocket stuffed with sushi rice and topped with Dynamite sauce and blackened ahi tuna. I think this might have been my favorite of the three because it was so simple, and the light sweet taste of the tofu was yummy and really brought out the flavor of the tuna and sauce. When fish is fresh, the simpler the dish the better! Lastly we tried the World Famous Fish Taco, which we had with grilled fish (though tempura is another option) and was topped with chopped cabbage, cilantro, bell pepper, and the Spencer Sauce on a flour tortilla. I really enjoyed the pop of flavor from the pepper, and the grilled fish was fresh and went amazingly with the Caribbean Blaze Sauce that I mentioned earlier. Fish tacos are one of my favorite foods and Spencer Makenzie’s earned my approval with this one!

Sonya Raytburg / Daily Nexus

After lunch, I always get a coffee craving. I’m a little bit of a coffee addict and I’m very specific about where I get coffee. I was set on going to one coffee shop in Ventura that happened to be the furthest away from where the main street was. We walked a mile to go to Singing Sun Coffee and I’m very glad that we did. The place was quiet, big and full of natural light. Their Instagram account actually shows the building progress of the interior, which is very impressive. The photos speak for themselves — I think this is the perfect place to sit down for your coffee break in Ventura! Not only was the aesthetic perfect, but the coffee was delicious. I usually crave a piece of gum after coffee because of the bitter espresso aftertaste, but this coffee was special because it’s rare that I want to savor the taste of coffee after I’m done with my drink. There was no after-coffee gum for me at Singing Sun Coffee. Without getting too technical about beans, I know that they have top-notch single-origin beans for coffee lovers and they have fancy drinks for adventurous coffee drinkers. I went with my usual cortado but they also had options like tumeric lattes, espresso with cinnamon, honey and vanilla flavor and even wildflower tea with steamed oat milk. It’s worth the mile walk from the main street, especially with the nice views of the ocean!

On the mile walk back we got hungry for a pastry, so back on the main street we stopped at Café  du Suro. They had stunning freshly baked bread, macaroons and sandwiches, so this definitely would be a great lunch stop. We went for a puff pastry with mascarpone, cinnamon, walnuts and honey.  Sometimes desserts can be too sweet to actually focus on the taste, but it had the perfect balance of sweetness. We relaxed outside and enjoyed the calm afternoon at their cute outdoor seating. 

Sonya Raytburg / Daily Nexus

We ended the day at Rumfish y Vino for dinner. About a block off the main street, this restaurant is very spacious with lovely outdoor seating. The vibe was great and laid back. The restaurant was completely full, which added good energy to the restaurant’s atmosphere and made the dinner more enjoyable. As for food, we started with the Peruvian ceviche which had red snapper, ginger, sweet pepper, fresh squeezed lime, cilantro, red onion, bell pepper and habanero served with tortilla chips. This was the perfect shared plate for an appetizer because the fish was super fresh and light on the stomach, so you aren’t left feeling stuffed before your main. Also, nothing beats fresh fish ceviche with a simple lime squeeze for that nice citrus aftertaste.

Sonya Raytburg / Daily Nexus

Following the trend of fresh fish, my friend had the mussels with mustard crema, beer, garlic, shallots, parsley and grilled ciabatta. It was a simple-sounding dish but the focus was definitely on the fresh taste of the mussels and the beer, garlic and mustard crema were the perfect flavors to slurp with the mussels — but even better to dip the ciabatta bread into after finishing the mollusks. 

Sonya Raytburg / Daily Nexus

I wanted to mix it up and venture out of seafood for my main so I went for the Wagyu burger with white cheddar, Valentina aioli, caramelized onions, house pickles and arugula on a brioche bun with a side of fries. Wow, the burger was a heavenly medium rare. It was the kind of burger that melts in your mouth and is so juicy you can’t put it back down on the plate. My favorite part was definitely the caramelized onions because they were just sweet enough and added so much flavor, especially with the melted, gooey white cheddar. We debated skipping on dessert because we had a good amount of food throughout the day, but I am so glad we found that secret room for dessert! Our last dish in Ventura was the pot de crème with dark chocolate mousse, crumbled nuts and orange whipped cream. For the first time, I tried to eat a dessert really slowly to savor the taste because it was that good. I am the biggest fan of dark chocolate so this was perfect for me. The dark chocolate mousse was perfectly rich and light at the same time. Adding the orange whipped cream was definitely the right move because orange and dark chocolate is a perfect pair. Rumfish y Vino ended our food adventures in Ventura on a very good note!

I hope that I’ve made you hungry to go to Ventura because these spots are waiting for you!

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