Solvang, CA: Beer, Soft-Pretzels and Mini Ponies

I can’t believe it has taken me this long to go to Solvang. This weirdly perfect and quaint little Danish town is just about 3 hours away from where I am in Orange County, but it feels like you are in a completely different land. The buildings look like you are on the set of a movie and it is full of picturesque shops, restaurants and excellent food. Just about a 5 minute drive from Santa Ynez and less than an hour from Santa Barbara, it was the perfect destination for a mini getaway filled with beer, soft pretzels, and mini ponies.

Getting to Solvang takes you on a really scenic road winding through the Cachuma Lake, and as you say goodbye to the ocean view on the west side of the road you swirl into this beautifully eerie forest of dark ash and burnt trees. I’m sure it was devastating to the are at the time as so much of the land is scorched, but it was such a trip to look out at as you’re winding through the drive.

We took a friend’s suggestion and stopped for lunch in Santa Ynez on our way to the hotel and had one of the best meals I have had in a very long time. The area reminded me of St. Helena up by Napa and was filled with delicious restaurants serving seasonal eats. SY Kitchen seemed like it could be situated alongside Rutherford Grill and Red. After scoping out some of the most popular dishes on Yelp I had to get the Wild Mushroom Pappardelle. This was one of the best pasta dishes I have ever had, which is saying a lot because I love love love pasta and have eaten my way through Italy on a couple occasions. We also got the Diavola Pizza that had perfectly cooked thin crust and savory spicy peppers.

We started with some burrata which was really delicious, but the arugula pesto it was served with wasn’t my favorite flavor. We tried a local beer, Hump Bay, made by the restaurant and a local brewery and were pleasantly surprised by the flavor that seemed like a mix of Duvel and a little bit of whiskey.

We were so satisfied with this meal and had high hopes for the rest of the grub this region had to offer as we drove into the Corque Hotel parking and checked into our room. This was the only hotel I went into in Solvang but I would so recommend it. The rooms were really large, had two sinks in the bathroom, a huge shower, balconies and were under $200 a night with a perfect central location right by the windmills and all the restaurants on the main streets.

We grabbed a beer at Bit O’ Denmark while we waited for our hotel room to be ready. This might be a lovely authentic restaurant, but for having an “espresso and wine bar” sign in their window, the espresso machine was broken and the bar wasn’t anything special. Still, it was pretty full for a late afternoon meal time and close to the hotel. We stopped at the Famous Fudge Kitchen on our walk back to the hotel which was kind of a let down. I got way too excited with the many fudge options and how good it all looked and ended up buying about 4 pounds of fudge only to get back to the hotel to try it, and realize it was hard and tasted pretty bad. They did have a good pretzel with cheese dip though!

Next went to Fitzpatrick’s Irish Pub for a couple hours and Michael was stoked to stay there because they had Guinness on nitro and I was excited to have Smithwicks for the first time since trying it last December in Ireland. The manager tried to sell us on the many “beer cocktails” he had on the menu, but they were really just odd concoctions of mixed beers that tasted like less good versions of the actual drink you wanted.

As it filled up we could barely get his attention so we wandered across the road after paying our check to the Copenhagen Beer Garden that was the perfect place for us to spend the rest of the evening. Michael got them to put soccer on the big screens and I got to gaze at their collection of sauces that go along with their brats. We started with a round of drinks and I was excited to try a Grapefruit beer that sounded delicious and tasted great, until I realized it was essentially a hard soda pop and I had gotten the largest size of it. We got some fries and a pretzel for our next round and seriously if you guys like cheese and sauce (and cheese sauce) you have to make your way to this place. The pretzel came with this amazing alfredo like sauce and it was the best soft pretzel I think I have had.

I had to ask someone who worked there to narrow down the sauces for me because I really could have tried all 17 or so of them. The Habanero, Creole and Maui Onion were the best and I loved the self serve sauerkraut and spicy jalapenos they had at the dressing station. I got the classic German Bratwurst and Michael got the American Chicken Apple Sausage which were both delicious. As the sun went down, string lights lit up above us and barrels in the garden turned into fire pits.

We walked back to the hotel and past the theatre that was doing The Beauty and The Beast. We couldn’t see much, but could hear the production and it seems like the local theatre scene is a pretty big deal around there. The rest of the walk was kind of like going through a ghost town or empty movie set. There was seriously no one around after dark, but we did overhear the waitress at Fitzpartick’s saying most places don’t really stay open past 8pm!

The next morning we walked around town and found this awesome shop that sells stuff made out of wine barrels. Mini bars, chairs, bottle openers, you name it and there is probably some sort of hand crafted wooden creation that they have. Michael got a bottle opener that has a magnet at the end to catch falling caps and hung it by our bar corner in our apartment when we got home.

We couldn’t decide on where to eat so we got sandwiches at Panino’s before hitting the road and stopping by Quicksilver Ranch to see the mini ponies.

Seriously, this was the best! They are so stinken cute and you can drive right up, park and walk around to admire all the cute little fellows. There were a couple 3 month old ponies in the main area and as we walked to the back side we saw a brand new pony and its mother. The little baby was just learning how to walk and was still shaky standing up and hiding behind its mother. When he got more comfortable on his feet, he tried to prance over and did an adorable squeal of a “neah” trying to get Michael and me away from him. 

From there we hit the road to Santa Barbara back through the scenic winding road to finish out the rest of our three day getaway. I am definitely planning on coming back to Solvang and hitting up SY Kitchen and the beer garden again.

Have any of you visited Solvang before? What were your favorite parts?