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Best Fly To Restaurants in CA

Frankster13

Active Member
Looking for that $300 Hamburger in California. Please feel free to provide recommendations. Looking for fun places to fly to for breakfast, lunch, dinner. I am in the Northern California area but would like to get a few fun places on my list for other parts of CA as well as local spots. Also just looking for fun places to fly.
 
Auburn--cant remember the cafe name.

Nancy's at Willows.

Blue Max at Porterville.

If you want to jump over the hills, Taildragger at Minden.
 
Some NorCal suggestions - my regular haunts

KAUN - Auburn - Wings - great food. I absolutely love the Chicken Fried Steak. Order after 11 am and you can get fries instead of potatoes.

KOVE - Oroville - Deli at Golf Course - about 1/3 up the 20 runway is a taxiway to parking. Walk over to the golf course clubhouse. Food isn't fantastic, but view is nice. Perpendicular runways so you can get some cross wind practice in!

KLHM - Lincoln - Spitfire Grill - South of the fuel pump, park by paint shop and enter the little gate. Small cafe with some nice outdoor seating. Owner is an awesome person, RV owner, flight instructor, supporter of aviation, etc. I like the Italian Hottie sandwich.

O61 - Cameron Park - neat little airpark airport. Some challenge to fly into. Park in transient. Walk a little south to the gate to head East across the street to Cameron Park Deli. Best Tuna Melt I have ever had...nice small family run place. They are closed on Sundays.
 
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CA fly-out locations x 2

Caveat--Hours, seating, etc... may be impacted by the pandemic--check before going.

KWJF (Lancaster)--Restaurant (Foxy's Landing) on field. Open for breakfast and lunch as I recall. Typical fare, nice people. Lancaster is just south of Edwards AFB. Edwards typically doesn't fly on the weekends, and the restricted areas get turned over to Joshua Approach. Joshua will sometimes grant a request for an overflight (not landing of course), which might be of interest to you. Sights include an alternate landing runway for the space shuttle, dry lake landing areas, etc... The foundation remnants of the "Happy Bottom Riding Club" are still there, but difficult to pick out at altitude if you don't know where to look.

You might also recognize KWJF as a film location. The last I'm aware of was "Ford vs Ferrari".

KSNS (Salinas)--Restaurant (Flying Artichoke) on field. They used to be open for dinner, with a menu that was a step up from a typical airport restaurant. I think they are only open for lunch now, with a scaled back menu. What's not to like about a flight over Big Sur and the Monterey Bay?
 
Always call ahead and check if still open and hours. Here are a few more:

Red Bluff on-field, Watts-Woodland adjacent golf course, Lampson on-field, Ukiah easy walk to three restaurants, Sacramento Metro (SAC) in terminal, Redding (Muni) in terminal, Redding (Benton) on-field, Hollister on-field, San Carlos on-field, and Half Moon Bay easy walk into town restaurants.

Hopefully an old haunt, 29r Diner at Petaluma, will reopen soon.

Also, some of the area airport pilot groups may be restarting their former monthly fly-in breakfasts/lunches/display days -- Sutter County, Oroville, Placerville, Nut Tree, etc.

Here's an old site -- not sure it's current: http://www.fly2lunch.com/?fbclid=IwAR20Ecdxg5a8EriYF7wLvVL-Efcat4_zNH4e_yPhrsjnLmI7GypMM6AFm8Q
 
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Half Moon Bay has several restaurants just a short walk into Princeton By the Sea, off the south end of the runway. Mezza Luna, Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, and a crab shack among them.

Petaluma - the famous 29'er Diner.

Watsonville - the restaurant seems to change owners and themes fairly regularly, not sure what is there now. But it is usually good.

Livermore - the restaurant at the golf course

I've been less then impressed by the food at Nancy's at Willows, but the ambience is first-rate. Maybe I just ordered the wrong thing.

Auburn - already mentioned, really nice. Closes fairly early, like 2-ish.

Red Bluff has a nice cafe

Benton Field (Redding) has a nice cafe

Chico just a 5-minute walk east from the airport to a really yummy sandwich/burger place. Not your usual airport cafe, it is a lunch place for the light-industrial area crowd

Columbia - just a short walk into the old ghost town. Really good mexican restaurant. Also in the other direction out of the airport, a sandwich shop.
Added bonus - you can land on grass if you want. I always do.

+1 for Harris Ranch, but expect a wait.

As far as I know, the restaurant at Lampson has been closed for years. Also I thought the Hollister sandwich shop closed - maybe they re-opened?

Klamath Falls has a nice restaurant, but it seems to be closed often, then re-opens. Not sure of current status.
 
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No one mentioned STS (Santa Rosa), in the terminal building. And Livermore has a new restaurant (opened just pre-pandemic, closed, I think now open at 50%) in the terminal building. Lodi has breakfast/lunch, you can watch the skydivers. Best place for a good steak dinner, imho, remains Harris Ranch, as long as your wife or significant other can get by the lobby cow decor, and, if the wind is from the north, the cow smell. It’s the real experience. If leaving after dark, I’d say landing lights are a necessity - the runway has lights but the parking/taxi area does not, and it can be dark.
 
Oceano (L52) has a BBQ restaurant in 2 old train cars within walking distance. Food ain't fantastic, but the airport is nice. Camping on the field too. This is all pre-covid, so who knows what the actual situation is today.
 
The cool thing about Harris Ranch is that it is a resort (and a nice one at that), and you can make an overnight out of it.

SZP is also a great destination (not sure of the status of the resturaunt)

TSP has many places to eat in town (a short walk from the airport)

CMA (Camarillo), F70 (French Valley), and L35 (Big Bear) are relativaly interesting.

And as long as you are this far south, theres Flabob, Cable and Chino.
 
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The very best place is waypoint cafe at KCMA on wednesday, Saturday and Sunday when they serve their tri tip. My second favorite is the landings restaurant at KCRQ, their best thing is their lobster roll. RIP to beach side cafe at Santa Barbara. Was a mile or 2 from the airport but the FBO lent you a bike. Made a fun afternoon. Closed due to COVID but maybe a new place will move in after the virus ends.
 
Kern Valley

L05, Kern Valley on Lake Isabella. My favorite fly-out burger, and our dog likes, too. Dog friendly, rustic dining outdoors, nice camping area on the far side of the runway. Really excellent burgers, but pay attention in the pattern. It gets blowy and turbulent.
BTW, KSZP, Santa Paula's restaurant, Flight 126 is open. Slow sometimes, pretty good eats.
The Way-Point at Camarillo (KCMA) is probably the best all around food I've ever gotten, but it's very popular and very busy all the time. Expect to wait for a table.
 
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1O2 Lampson Field Airport
Lakeport, California, USA

We have enjoyed the Restaurant there A LOT.
There is also a new, very nice, Crew terminal; code is the CTAF
 
Another one for Harris Ranch. If there is a wait for the dining room, just eat in the bar.
 
Not California anymore, but really good food is the airport resturaunt at Sedona (SEZ). REALLY good food - by any standard. And like Harris Ranch, theres a nice hotel within walking distance of the ramp. Easy trip in an RV.
 
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