There are few nests in downtown Solvang where night owls can flock for craft cocktails after 9 p.m., and even fewer where pairing options include fresh, gooey skillet-baked chocolate chip cookies.
The V Lounge—located inside Solvang’s Vinland Hotel—checks both boxes, along with a third that helps sate the late-night munchies for cookie cravers who prefer to stay in, Interim General Manager Maria Herrera explained.
“We actually do pretty good selling these through DoorDash as well,” said Herrera, a longtime employee at the hotel who witnessed the lounge’s evolution from a continental breakfast hall to a full-fledged bar and late-night kitchen.
With a penchant for key lime pie martinis, another key player in V Lounge’s success works behind the bar and curates its playful selection of craft cocktails. Mixologist Richard Sly joined V Lounge’s staff about three years ago, when the bar first opened its doors at the Vinland Hotel.
“A lot of locals don’t even notice it’s in here, and a lot of people don’t go to a hotel to go out to a bar,” Sly said. “But, slowly but surely, we’ve been building up a regular clientele.”
The lounge’s late hours, cozy setting, and unique menu of both sweet and savory goodies have helped push its appeal beyond attracting overnight guests of the hotel.
Herrera said that of the bar’s two happy hour periods (4 to 6 p.m. and 9 to 11 p.m. daily, except Tuesdays and Wednesdays), the latter time slot brings in the most patrons. Some are guests returning to their rooms in want of a nightcap, while others hear buzz about the bar through word of mouth or social media, the manager said.
Among Sly’s signature cocktails, Herrera’s personal favorite is the Santa Rita, now a regular menu fixture that Sly created as a seasonal special. Its name is a nod to one of the Central Coast’s most popular AVAs and a certain holiday mascot.
“I made that up for Christmas a couple years ago,” said Sly, who’s held various bartending jobs since the mid 1980s. “Basically, it’s a cranberry lime margarita, but it’s got a Champagne float on top of it.”
When it comes to ideal pairings at V Lounge, Herrera’s go-to is a Santa Rita with the venue’s caramelized sprouts, while Sly’s is a key lime pie martini—vodka, rum, lime juice, pineapple juice, and coconut cream—with the Danish pork meatballs, plated with gravy and a toasted baguette.
Sarah Hermosillo, one of the Vinland Hotel’s front desk agents, is also partial to the key lime pie martini, but prefers pairing it with the V Lounge’s smoked salmon flatbread, assembled with garlic naan, creme fraiche, cucumber, dill, capers, pickled red onion, and tomato.
“Usually I’m ordering food here on the clock, so I can’t drink,” Hermosillo clarified with a laugh.
Despite the lounge’s wide variety of cocktails on its menu, Sly said the bar’s most popular drink isn’t listed there. At the bottom of the signature cocktail section, there’s a note that reads: “Ask your bartender about our specials of the day!”
If you do, Sly will often recommend the unlisted jalapeño orange margarita.
“It’s my biggest selling drink out of all of our drinks,” said Sly, who explained that it’s a special rather than a menu staple because its availability depends on how much of the lounge’s high-end orange juice is on stock.
“It allows me to go through this [before its shelf life ends],” Sly said with an unpasteurized juice bottle in hand. “Otherwise I couldn’t justify paying what I do for the orange juice.”
The fans of the not-so-secret margarita aren’t limited to hard-core spice lovers, added the mixologist, who uses a jalapeño-infused tequila that he infuses in house.
“I roast the jalapeños first. That takes some of the bitterness and heat out,” Sly said. “It’s not overpowering.”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood recommends pairing the jalapeño orange margarita with V Lounge’s oven-roasted shell-on shrimp. Send comments to [email protected].
