Monday, May 20, 2013

Jack Ranch Cafe Chalome CA.

Jack Ranch Café, Cholome CA



The Jack Ranch Café stands alongside California route 46 about twenty miles East of Paso Robles. It is probably the only building that is visible in the town of Cholome and is a landmark for all fans of the 1950's movie idol James Dean.

The Jack Ranch Café stands only a few hundred yards from the intersection of route 41 from Fresno and Route 46 from Bakersfield. The intersection today forms the James Dean Memorial Junction and is the scene of the fatal motor car crash that took the life of the movie star.

 
Approaching Jack Ranch Café from CA 41, Fresno
 
 
The café is built in a Log Cabin Style and is very clean. As we walked in we were directed to sit anywhere we liked, having arrived a little after 11am the café was a little quiet but as we ate it quickly filled with other diners, some of whom were travelling towards the coast for an afternoon at the beach. Some were making their way home from church.

Jack Ranch Café Interior
 
 

 The Café serves a wide range of meals from Breakfast, sandwiches, Lunch, Dinner and snacks. The prices are good value too. Lunch for us cost $25 including coffee and a tip.  The most expensive items on the menu are steaks from Hearst Ranch, also known as Hearst Castle, about fifty miles away to the West near to San Simeon. The food which we ate included soup and a chicken sandwixch all the food tasted very good and portions were large too.


 
 
 
 
Some of the great food available at the Jack Ranch Café Cholome CA
 
 

Monday, May 13, 2013

The Farnsworth House: Gettysburg PA

One of my greatest abiding memories of my visit to Gettysburg PA. will be dinner at the Farnsworth House on Baltimore Street.

The Farnsworth House stands across the street from one corner of the Gettysburg National Cemetary, on the wall outside the loft window you can see a myriad of bullet marks where during the three day battle Union troops had fired upon the Confederate snipers who had occupied the attic room to fire down upon the Union troops across the street.

 
The food is delicious, and the dining room, though a little dark for my tastes is full of atmosphere with its heavy wood paneling and wooden floors.
 
Reservations are a must and the restaurant is often booked a few days in advance so please remain flexible on the daate for your dinner.
 
The Farnsworth House has a reputation for hauntings, a regular place for ghost hunter programs to visit. I would also recommend one of the Ghost Tours beginning from the Farnsworth House at dusk. They are very entertaining but wrap up warm as temperatures can fall quickly after dusk.