DW's Country Cafe

Hope:    Today was indeed a day of surprises…

As I started to check the weather forecast for the day, it seemed that every time I did so, there was a 2-degree loss and an increase of the chance of rain. Shit! Regardless, we decided to defy the odds and ride. Surprise #1-Gary was on time! No kidding, huh? In fact, he was actually 2 minutes early!! In fact, he did me a big favor and changed my spark plugs while I was locking up the house (never use cheap spark plugs). While throwing my stuff in my saddlebags, he told me a funny story about a friend who seems to think that putting your bike on a Dyno(meter) has something to do with breaking in a new/rebuilt engine. How lame is that?!?!

Gary:     I actually woke up this morning about 6:30AM and when I walked outside to get the paper, it was raining. I could not believe it. The previous evening, I got caught in drizzle as I was riding back from a club event in Banner (yes, I rode 400 miles after being up till 2AM Friday night, watching my kid’s band perform in Hollywood. See--I am a tough old biker… LOL!), so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. I got back inside, made some coffee, and said ‘fuck it’ and got in the shower and got ready to go. In the meantime, Hope called and was wondering about the weather. By the time I was done getting ready, the sun was shining in the Valley as she was informing about the cloud mass in Fillmore, thinking it was going to rain again. But as we have done before, we decided to defy the odds and ride anyway. (She is as tough as any dude I have ridden with and rides better than most of them; especially the guy that thinks a dyno-tune breaks in a bike…lol.)  I got on my bike at 8:40 and was in Fillmore at 9:28AM... Surprise, surprise…on time and ready to go.

Hope:    Not wanting to venture too far from Heritage Valley in case the skies opened up, we headed down Telegraph Road through Santa Paula and into Ventura. The beautiful 2-lane road brought the amazing smells of lemons and strawberries, and picturesque views of the mountains, miles of orchards, and a flower farm. We took a left onto Victoria Boulevard and hung close to the right lane, not wanting to miss the quick right-turn into DW’s County Café. There was plenty of parking available and upon entering the restaurant, lots of empty booths (they don’t offer a counter).

Gary:     Even though we have ridden this road many times before, I never tire of it and because their early-morning rain made the air especially crisp and clean. With the crops being wet, it brought out some of the most incredible aromas you can imagine. Hope actually slowed down (surprise) so we both could enjoy the scent of the strawberries.  You know it must have been great for her to slow down. With the clouds in the very blue sky, with all the flowers just going crazy and the lemons, well, just close your eyes right now and picture it. Beautiful, right? You have to take this ride people! DW’s Country Cafe is another place Hope has found. I am amazed (surprised) at her ability to keep coming up with these places.

Hope:    The menu was filled with usual breakfast foods-eggs, bacon, sausage, French toast, pancakes, etc., but also featured original skillet breakfasts, machaca and eggs, chicken-fried steak, and rib-eye and eggs…Surprise #2. I had a really hard time choosing just one, so I chose the ‘Nine Juan Juan’-a wonderful combination of grilled potatoes, onions, peppers, Ortega chiles, chorizo, scrambled eggs and cheese, served with a side of tortillas, corn or flour.

Our waiter, Joseph, was great. I asked him to rate the country gravy and he offered to bring us some..which turned out to be a half-order of biscuits and gravy. It was a perfect way to start the morning meal and stopped our stomach from rumbling. After gobbling it down, both of us decided it was very, very good and Joseph informed us it was on the house…Surprise #3!

Gary:     We both had a hard time ordering and spent some time drinking our coffee and tea (along with digging into the biscuits and gravy appetizer) before making a decision. I ordered the Rincon Hash and Eggs which is a combination of ham, bacon, onions, green peppers and sausage, mixed with grilled potatoes and served with over-easy eggs on top. The eggs were cooked perfectly, and the rest was, well, just great. It was all very tasty and fresh. I ordered raisin toast but they were out of it and Joseph recommended cinnamon toast. Cool with me and a great choice, the toast was very good. This was a pleasant surprise because not many cafes offer this kind of variety of toast. There menu is vast as Hope has stated with many of our favorite breakfast foods. Again, and I can’t say this enough, this is another one of those places with personality and to us, it is just as important as the food. This place delivers.

Hope:    As our meals were served and we dug in, the restaurant started to fill up f-a-s-t. The service was wonderful—we were attended to by three different waiters and one waitress at different times. They were cheerful, attentive, and very friendly.

After an hour and a half, with our bellies full and still no appearance of raindrops, we headed to Ventura to hang at our regular stop at Palermo’s Coffee House for some sorbetto and people-watching.  After a few more hours, we decided to hit the road, stopping on the way home to photograph a local flower farm.

Gary:     We also visited the Ventura Museum which to my surprise is quite nice with some amazing art work. The sculptured dolls show the history of the Czars of Russia and makes for an amazing exhibit. There is also mosaic tile art in the courtyard that you have to check out. And let’s face it--we needed to walk around to make room for the sorbetto. LOL

Hope:    As we made our way back into Fillmore, the temperatures were dropping, but we still hadn’t encountered any rain…Surprise #4. 

I would highly recommend DW’s Country Café with a ‘9’! Bring your appetites and enjoy!!

1985 S Victoria Ave
Ventura, CA 93003

(805) 642-9841

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