The Chefs Touch

Can I even utter this: BEST BURGER I HAVE EVER HAD! This café should be packed constantly. You could easily walk by it and not notice it, but it is a little slice of heaven. The people there are so nice and you can watch them cook your food on a TV screen — neat! They also have a great cookbook selection. My husband and I needed a snack, so we decided to split their burger. Since we had never even heard of the place, we had no expectation at all — and ended up completely floored! The chef there is so good that they don’t even ask you how you would like the burger cooked — they already know what is optimal there. Just let them serve the burger exactly as it is, no changes, and you will fall in love with their burger and their place just like we did. We are now going back there everytime we’re in the area.

Chef’s Touch is such a chill place for lunch. The atmosphere is relaxed and homey, but the food is a heckuva lot better than at My home! Solvang doesn’t offer much in the way of great food, so Chef’s Touch was a breath of fresh air when it came in. The guy who owns it (and cooks) takes great care to create quality dishes. This is a terrific spot for a light lunch.

For the food:
First off, you’re in solvang so as you stare at the old school danish houses and the signs for pancake houses, bakeries, and chocolate stores, you’re bound to be in a good [albeit twilight zone-​ish] mood.
Walking up to the chefs touch felt a bit different that I imagined. Can’t really place it, but it feels like a nice, airy, light café.
We were disappointed to see that they stopped serving sunday brunch at 1pm even though their website says they serve brunch till 3… but their lunch menu was still looking good.
We sat outside in the shadow of a nice windmill…
i had the reuben — it was delicious and the homemade sauerkraut was the best I’ve ever had.
The chutney chicken pannini is also great, esp. if you like sweeter main courses.
The open face prosciutto pannini was also said to be great — however, be careful not to inhale any of the mozarella on top while you’re eating it.
The carne asada tacos are 3 mini tacos with a bit of avocado — said to be super tasty.
Only complaint is that the sandwiches ran around 10 bucks each… at 7 or 8 dollars this would be a perfect 5 stars.
The service is friendly and quick.
Goes to show you students often know just as well as their masters…

This is one of my favorite restaurants, anywhere. I live in LA but my husband and I travel to the Santa Barbera area often for vacation (and wine tasting). We first heard of this place through the Weight Watchers message boards, of all places.
We love the sparse atmosphere, a cross between eating in the kitchen (the chef is just feet away) and eating in a small store. I love that they use the freshest ingredients; we’ve never seen the chef open anything but a can of San Marzano tomatoes. All meat and vegetables are from local farms and cooked in simple, amazing ways. No steak with a demigloss of balsamic and ten other things here.
We’ve only been for lunch and dinner (not exactly big breakfast eaters) and we send everyone here. I recommend the open face panini (prosciutto, crushed tomato marinara and parmesean) for lunch and the lasagna for dinner (hubby recommends the steak). You’ll be happy you didn’t give in to that odd tourist craving for the Little Mermaid Restaurant across the street!

This review is for the food/​lunch, not the cooking school.
We stopped here for a light bite before wine tasting really got going. They have about 10 salads and/​or sandwiches to choose from. Most of the sandwiches get popped into the panini press and come out grilled and gooey. Most of our group got a variety of the sandwiches and everyone was pleased. The have a tasty ham and white cheddar, Italian tuna, and turkey & cranberry which was very popular with out group. If you’re just looking for a tasty bite before heading off to sample the fruit of the vines, this place is worth 30 minutes of your time.

My ratings have gotten tougher now — no more 5 stars just because I was in a good mood. Subsequent visits to some of my all-​stars have been disappointing — but none compares to the letdown we felt at The Chef’s Touch this past spring break.
I had introduced S to it last year, and he too was charmed by the spare but inviting interior — an open kitchen in the back, a row of bookshelves lined with cookbooks and tools, and displays of wine bottles, pots and pans. Chef’s Touch was a welcome relief from the smorgasbords and bakeries. Though we’d already had our free breakfast from Olsen’s, we were game to eat another breakfast to wash away the sticky sweetness of pastries.
I don’t remember what we ate, but we loved the strong, black coffee so much that we bought a French press and rhapsodized about opening a similar shop in Pasadena someday.
This year, we made the trek from Santa Barbara to Solvang specifically because of Chef’s Touch. Our first rude awakening was being told that brunch was now served only on Sundays, so we had to wait 30 minutes till 11 a.m. The big smörgåsbord next door was shuttered, the first of several For Lease signs we saw while killing time. Back for lunch, we endured another interminable wait for three dishes, the open-​faced proscuttio sandwich, pozole and a breaded pork chop salad with white beans, despite being the only party.
The sandwich was decent, but nothing remarkable. The pozole was also tasty, but didn’t have enough hominy. My breaded chop was thin and too crispy to cut into pieces for the salad. The dressing was non-​descript, and worse, the white beans were missing. The server took it back and asked the cook whether he’d forgotten the beans. There was just enough for my plate. The server quickly erased «white beans» from the chalkboard. The salad was a rip off, undeserving of its «special» designation.
We haven’t given up on Chef’s Touch, but I’m going to be stingier about the stars until it redeems itself.