Gary: The problem Hope has with me is, I always show up. LOL. But I didn’t text her in the morning to let her know I was on my way and since I am not the speediest person in the morning I can understand her concern, but fear not, I showed up. The cool thing was she was ready to go so after giving me a scolding about not calling or texting and we got on our bikes and headed to a new area. The ride there was outstanding and Hope even found roads I have never been on. She will explain below.
Hope: The route took us south of the 126 at “A” Street/23 and we headed down Bardsdale Avenue , where other than a sprinkling of houses, there are only orchards for as far as the eye can see. A about a mile down the road, we took a left onto S. Sespe and took that until it turned into S. Mountain Road. We passed orchards of every kind, scenic mountains that offered beautiful views, and an alpaca farm. Now when is the last time you saw an alpaca??? We made a left at Balcom Canyon, a right at Bradley, a left at E. Los Angeles Avenue, and a right at Somis Road and we found ourselves crossing the 101 freeway. We pulled over, because I was no longer following the directions I brought along for reference. When we looked up, we found ourselves in front of Dorothy’s Chuck Wagon Café. The only problem was, that was NOT where we intended to be. If I hadn’t read such good things about Jessica’s Café, I would have been inclined to try Dorothy’s, but then again, if I hadn’t read such good things about Jessica’s Café, I wouldn’t have been heading there in the first place. So, Gary saved the day with his GPS
Gary: There is a time and place for everything and although technology is not either one of our favorite things, it really came in handy this time. The GPS on the I-Phone is really cool and got us directly there but as Hope has stated, she got us 7/10th of a mile away and that in itself is commendable. It still amazes me how much food this country grows and when we ride on these beautiful roads I do allot of rubbernecking. You really get the impact of this on a bike; Cage people just wouldn’t understand. Also, I have seen alpaca farms before but this one is of good size. There were at least 200 or so of the majestic animals that I guess are destined to be someone’s sweater but they are like sheep and they are sheared for their fur not slaughtered so it’s a ‘good’ farm. For every 8 to 10 alpacas, you need an acre of land so this was at least 20 acres of land. To be riding and seeing all of this so close to civilization is a pretty amazing sight.
Hope: Jessica’s is pretty and simply decorated with booths and tables and a small 5 or 6-seat counter on the far left. Unfortunately, it was filled with one empty seat on the far right and one in the middle. Hmmmm… After speaking with the hostess, Gary asked the patrons if they wouldn’t mind sliding down one seat to the left to give us bikers a place to plant ourselves. Lucky for us, the people we were sitting next to were regulars (1-2 times each week) and were great company…up until they got their food. Then things g ot r-e-a-l quiet!!
Gary: You know the nice thing about small communities is that people are very friendly and when I asked this couple to move over one seat so Hope and I could be at the counter, they didn’t hesitate. (Being polite, which I was, and asking nicely is also a key to people being friendly. In fact, they were really cool to talk to. Being regulars they had a great banter going on with Kimmie who was their waitress. At this point I already liked this place and we didn’t even have coffee yet.
Hope: As we studied the menu and board specials, we realized we had a serious problem. Sitting at the counter also left us at a serious disadvantage, as we could see and smell every order that came out of the kitchen…and EVERYTHING looked awesome. Since we were having such a difficult time deciding on one choice (each), we ordered a side of chicken-apple sausage to hold us over until we could figure things out.
Gary: This menu was terrific and Hope is correct, everything looked great and no one rushed us to order but we were both hungry and Hope had spotted this sausage in the menu and I was like, “We have got to try these.” I am glad we did because they were delicious. As we were munching on the sausage (we fought for the last bite; Hope won) I decided on the Fajita Omelet with beef, onions, bell pepper, pepper jack cheese and Spanish sauce with raisin toast and fruit. This wasn’t easy because we both saw the Carnitas Omelet and wanted it. But since we are reviewing this place we need two different dishes but we always try each other’s breakfast so it really doesn’t matter.
Hope: The sausage was promptly delivered and only seemed to add to our confusion. I finally decided on a Carnitas Omelet: carnitas with onions, peppers, jack cheese, avocado and Spanish sauce, with a side of O’Brien potatoes and an English muffin. Within a minute, another plate flew out of the kitchen with what looked like orange tater tots and upon inquiring as to what they were, Kimmie tossed four on a small plate for us to try. Within the blink of an eye, I asked her to change my O’Brien potatoes for sweet potato tater tots! I’m a big fan of sweet potato fries but sweet potato tater tots are to die for!
Gary: I had never seen sweet potato tater tots. They are trippy looking. I am glad Hope ordered them because they are really tasty. My omelet was cooked to perfection and was delicious. I really liked the raisin toast and the coffee is excellent and the fruit (strawberries, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, grapes, pineapple, and slices of orange) was fresh and very sweet.
Hope: While waiting for our food to arrive, Kimmie did a great job of keeping our coffee cups topped off and we were totally enjoying our front-row seats to what seemed like a hilarious comedy show. A big thank-you to Diane, Kimmie, Kristi, Umberto, Abraham (Honest Abe), and Victor…you were all great! I also got a kick out of noticing the guys in the kitchen were watching “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives” on T.V. while they cooked! I that that was pretty funny….
Gary: This place is a total family affair. Victor, the chef and Tom, the owner, his wife Diane along with daughters, Kimmie and Kristi are just a blast to hang out with. We really had a great time with them all. I asked Umberto, since this was a family that runs this place, where does he fit in and he laughed and told me with all these white people around they had to have a Mexican to keep some sort of balance. LOL. He loves work ing there and it shows. Everyone was great at their job, Kimmie and Kristi call their parents “mom” and “pop” and you can feel the warmth from them all. If you don’t go to this place it is your loss.
Hope: After eating what I possibly could of my tasty omelet, I had to throw up the white flag…my stomach just wouldn’t hold anymore food. Regardless, we hung out for another hour just having fun and joking around with everyone. This place was positively amazing in every way; great location, plenty of parking, immaculate bathrooms, pretty décor, awesome food and a warm and friendly atmosphere. Everything was OFF THE CHARTS…and I would highly recommend Jessica’s Café. And by all means, tell them Hope & Gary sent you. And if you don’t go, you are missing out.
Hope: So, with full bellies and the rest of the day ahead, we visited the local Harley dealer where I made the mistake of falling in love with edge cut floorboard inserts (with matching brake pedal and shifter peg, of course). And no, I didn’t plunk down the $300 for the set. After looking around a bit, we headed to downtown Ventura where we planted ourselves in front of Palermo’s, armed with a Café Americana, a Raspberry Earl Grey iced tea, and some strawberry fresco sorbetto (note the last picture shows the gelato/sorbetto selection). Downtown Ventura is normally a pretty calm place, but people are really starting to be bothered by the financial and political situations, as they marched up and down Main Street. For Ventura, THIS IS BIG…as evident by the presence of motorcycle police and cruisers (including an undercover car that wasn’t so undercover that it was unnoticed). So, maybe we have a revolution on the horizon! Even more reason to get to Jessica’s Café…. and soon!!
Jessica’s Cafe 596 Mobil Avenue Camarillo, Ca 93010 (805) 482-1248
