WEEKEND PLANS? / VISALIA, CALIFORNIA Nature’s bounty - Monocle Magazine
David Vartanian, owner of 55-year-old bistro Vintage Press, has always had a penchant for homegrown produce and sees this generation of restaurants as a continuation of a tradition rather than a new start. Inside his throwback dining room, Tiffany pendant lamps hang above an original 19th-century Brunswick bar, while tuxedoed waiters deliver heaped salads topped with cara cara oranges and pistachios still warm from the sun.
Sequoia National Park is 56km from Visalia and its 1.2 million annual visitors provide a steady but transient trickle of traffic downtown. In July 2021, a new hotel gave them a reason to linger a little longer. The Darling, built in 1935, is housed in the former county courthouse and kept its original terrazzo flooring and prewar façade. But when the current owners took it over it had been abandoned for almost 15 years. “This place was in really bad shape,” says co-owner Matt Ainley from inside the lobby. “I’d driven by it my whole life saying, ‘Too bad it’s not very well taken care of.’” Ainley, a civil engineer by trade, had no previous hotel experience but was driven by a desire to preserve a unique piece of Visalia’s history and restore it to its former art deco elegance. The rooms boast 3.6 metre-high ceilings and there’s an outdoor pool in which to while away a lazy afternoon. But the showstopper is the rooftop bar with unobstructed views towards the snow-flecked sierras. It’s a stark contrast to the building’s past but from a local’s point of view, it’s undoubtedly an upgrade.
Visalia address book:
Eat:
Cellar Door. Chef Tate Darwin’s colorful riffs on veggie side dishes have turned his tapas-style restaurant, which also specialises in pre-prohibition-era cocktails, into a main attraction.
101 W Main Street, Visalia, 93291
The Vintage Press Restaurante. An antique Brunswick bar adds old-world glamour to this neighbourhood bistro, which has been owned by the same family since 1966.
216 N Willis Street, Visalia, 93291
Component Coffee Lab. Speciality coffee isn’t the only draw here: an in-house baking team serves up fresh bagels and brioche donuts every morning.
513 E Center Ave, Visalia, 93292
Shop:
Main Squeeze Market. Blood-orange *sorbetto* popsicles and bottles of tangelo juice make for edible souvenirs at this enticing roadside fruit stand.
33454 Sierra Drive, Lemon Cove, 93244
Stay:
The Darling. The 32 rooms at this mid-century gem pay tribute to the building’s former life as the Tulare County courthouse; head to the rooftop bar for stunning views of the Sierras.
210 N Court Street, Visalia, 93291