It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, perfect for an event like the Taste of Camarillo. This was my first year attending and I was so excited. In the past I was the one staying at the restaurant and holding things down on that front, but this year I had the pleasure of participating.

Taryn Gray, Megan O'neil, and myself Dianna Steele

 

The picture above is the amazing team we had working at the JJ’s booth. Starting on the left we have one of our very talented bartenders Taryn Gray, in the middle is one of my amazing servers Megan O’neil, and then of course there’s me! In addition to the girls we also had one of the owners Dr. Brian Donley working with us. It was the perfect team! 

We met at the restaurant around 10 am and started loading up everything we needed for this event. We were told to plan to serve about 1,200 samples so naturally I was ready to serve 1,300. We packed up pretty quickly and then we were on our way. This was also my first time visiting the Camarillo Ranch House. I know, I know, how have I lived in Camarillo for most of my life and never been to the Camarillo Ranch House? Honestly, I don’t know how that happened because every single person I know has been there and up until last weekend… I had not. Well that is besides the point because I went last weekend and had a blast! 

The house was absolutely beautiful and I was really in awe of this gorgeous tree that our booth was next to. I even took a picture for you all to see! 

Huge Tree at the Camarillo Ranch House

 

I know, you’re amazed too, I don’t blame you! I just love seeing things that have survived so many years and still provide such beauty for all of us. The barn was also absolutely amazing! I didn’t take a picture, but I had a friend recently get married there and they took their pictures against that beautiful, vibrant red barn. Absolutely classic. 

Anyways, we got there and got all set up within about 30 minutes. I believe next year though, we will be providing much more in our booth design. The best designed booth was definitely the Spanish Hills Country Club…. kudos to you! None the less, we had some of the best food there in my opinion. I was surprised to see so many people serving shrimp and other seafood because a lot of people don’t eat seafood or have allergies to it. We were serving our always delicious Kobe Dog Bites and Spinach Dip. The Kobe Dog Bites are slices of a Kobe beef hot dog wrapped in a pastry with blue cheese crumbles inside, topped with some smokey BBQ sauce. We transformed our Spinach Dip into an easy to eat finger food by making little tortilla cups and filling them with Spinach Dip and topped with some home-made pico de gallo. Talk about YUMMY! I think it’s always nice to have a vegetarian option like the Spinach Dip. 

A couple of places that really stuck out in my mind were of course the chocolate covered strawberries from Bobalu Berries, the cannolis from D’Amore and the sandwiches from California Pizza Kitchen. Drink wise, I always love Eberle Winery and Opolo Vineyards and lucky for me they were both there. Also a big hat’s off to Pacific Beverage for bringing that delicious Apricot beer. Our wonderful representative from Pacific Beverage was there spoiling us with beer. Just a quick moment to say thank you Tara for all the hard work you’ve done for JJ’s over these past years! 

Me and the always amazing Tara from Pacific Beverage

 

All in all it was a pretty fantastic day filled with good food, good drinks and great company. If you have never attended the Taste of Camarillo, I highly suggest going next year!

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