It’s beginning to feel like fall, which in Southern California means temperatures in the mid-80s and sunny skies. But that’s no reason not to celebrate the season like they do in the small towns of Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Maine. After all, we have leaves changing color here, too, mostly from green to brown, but we’ll take it.
With Halloween just around the corner, and a very consequential presidential election, this is a frightful time of year. But it’s also an annual tradition of pumpkin spice, horror flicks, football and a World Series this year that features the Dodgers against the Yankees.
To pay tribute to the fright season, the upscale local burger chain, with Southern California locations from San Luis Obispo to San Diego, has revamped its menu with some scary-spicy new menu items, including the Fire Alarm Burger. It features Fresno chile mac ‘n’ cheese, smoked bacon, horseradish mustard aioli and something called firecracker sauce. It’s topped with a roasted Fresno Chile, which is just daring you to eat it. Then there’s Scary Hot Fries: crisped fries coated in a ghost pepper spice blend, topped with cheese, bacon and chipotle aioli.
To offset the heat, you’ll want a refreshing cocktail. The smoky and spicy Chasing Ghosts features Del Maguey Mezcal, coconut milk, orgeat almond syrup and ghost pepper tincture, delivering a smoky. Meanwhile, The Floor is Lava is a mezcal cocktail with lime, hibiscus, blood orange and Ancho Reyes chile.
The Fire Alarm Burger, Scary Fries and Chasing Ghosts cocktail are available now until Nov. 3.
Every October, moviegoers flock to the dark confines of the theater to experience fear with a roomful of thrillseekers. My favorite place to enjoy such frights is the New Beverly Cinema, on the eastern edge of the Fairfax neighborhood, where there’s always a knowledgeable crowd of cinephiles. I love to scarf down a hot dog or some White Castles with a Dad’s root beer while watching retro ads before the show.
This year’s fare includes:
– The Bride of Frankenstein
– From Dusk till Dawn
– Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
And on Halloween night, a double feature of:
– Halloween III: Season of the Witch, and Trick ‘R Treat
Nothing stirs childhood memories of fall for me like a pumpkin patch, unless maybe it’s watching Linus sit in his sincerest one with Sally. My personal favorites are up the road a ways – one in the Santa Barbara suburb of Goleta, the other in the San Luis Obispo County town of Avila Beach.
Lane Farms Pumpkin Patch is all things fall. There’s a sea of pumpkins from which to choose your ideal jack o’ lantern. There’s hay rides on the back of a tractor. Pumpkin butter, and fall fruits and veggies from the farm stand. A corn maze for the kids to disappear in for a while. Just good clean fun.
Farther up the road is one of the hidden gems of the Central Coast, Avila Valley Barn. Here, the kids can feed baby piglets, cows and lambs, among other farm critters behind a fenced-in yard. The pumpkin patch is enormous and sits beside a sunflower field. There’s also a market containing goods and souvenirs. And the best part, the chicken shack & smoke house serves up delicious barbecue.
Sure, we may not have the fall foliage of New England, but on the bright side, we do have some wonderful autumnal activities, and we don’t have to deal with all the lookie-loos overrunning our cities all season!
Fall is Best of All
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