The Windmill
1167 Front St., Soledad
(831) 678-1775 www.soledadwindmillrestaurant.com
This is no Don Quixote abstraction: It’s actually The Windmill, spinning out breakfast, lunch and dinner 365 days a year. You could eat every single meal here – without getting tired of the food. That’s thanks to a varied menu that features standbys like steaks and burgers, a robust sandwich list and filling, creative salads like the shrimp-avocado and Gonzales citrus salad. But the real draw isn’t the big menu, it’s the fresh, local ingredients; the steaks and ground beef are never frozen, and the produce is plucked from surrounding fields in season. And to toast to those principles of fresh and local, raise a glass of wine with Soledad-grown grapes from Hahn or Paraiso. Cheers.