I love nice surprises. I drove to Fairfax for the fun of it one rainy day last week, and happened upon a restaurant I hadn't heard of yet. And I seem to have a left-looking neck freeze as when I drive into Fairfax from the east, I'm always looking towards the big parking space in the middle, rather than the charming businesses on the other side of the road. Barefoot Cafe is one of them.

I'm always looking this direction, which also happens to be the view out the door of the Barefoot Cafe.

I was pleased to see a whole section of vegetarian sandwiches, including this one, the mushroom sandwich. I had the bread toasted and ordered the recommended cream of artichoke soup. The soup was as fantastic as the waitress said. The sandwich was great as well. For me, vegetarian sandwiches can be hit or miss, but this one definitely was satisfying as a sandwich, with good flavor and texture. I took a peek at the dinner menu, seems to have a heavy Italian leaning. And the breakfast menu looked fabulous as well. It is open every day for breakfast! You know I'll be visiting again for it.

**************************************

And here is where I am tonight (Sunday) as I write this. I'm on the road, visiting a client south of here in the morning. If I can appropriately do it (I will be dining with the client), I'll blog a little later this week of my dining adventures here in Central California. A quick factoid - Selma, a city I passed on the way here has a big sign stating "Raisin Capital of the World" (see location on above map). A hint from my companion, and a little detective work found that indeed, this is an apt declaration as 90% of US raisins are produced within 8 miles of Selma! The US is the largest producer of raisins in the world, with Turkey ranking second. If you combine the production of the US and Turkey, it accounts for 80% of world raisin production!