If, like me, you’re only vaguely familiar with Riverside, let me give a bit of background. This town was founded in 1870 by John North as a communitarian city. It was North’s dream that this would be a community of industrious and intelligent people committed to helping one another.  Soon after its founding the city became the epicenter of the citrus industry in Southern California thanks to Eliza Tibbets and her planting of two Brazilian navel orange trees.

Today this mid-sized city is home to over 300,000 residents as well as the highly regarded University of California Riverside (UCR).

We began our tour in front of the historic Fox Performing Arts Center which screened the public debut of Gone With The Wind in 1939. Like all the food tours I’ve had the pleasure of joining, we learned about local history and lore which helps set the scene for the food.

Our first stop was next to the theater at the Riverside Food Lab, a bustling food hall where we would enjoy our first bite. Currently there are fourteen eateries in the Food Lab featuring a wide array of cuisines including Creole, Lebanese, Mexican, and Japanese. We were here to sample Baba’s Hot Chicken. Founded by a UCR student, Baba’s is a quickly growing company with several locations in Southern California.

My only other experience with hot chicken was in Nashville several years ago. And despite ordering the mild fried chicken, I could barely eat it. So I was pleasantly surprised when biting into Baba’s mild version to discover that it was juicy and just a touch spicy. If however, you are like my husband, Jason, and love spicy food you may opt for medium, hot, or extreme.

Words don’t really do justice to Tio’s Tacos, so I hope that anyone reading this that lives in Southern California (or visiting) will make the trek here. And this is exactly the reason why I love food tours–being introduced to cool and unusual restaurants that were never on my radar.

Founded in 1990 by Martin Sanchez, Tio’s serves some seriously delicious Mexican food. But what sets it apart are the oversized sculptures made of recycled materials including cans, lids, and bottles. Most of the seating is outdoors with tables placed amidst the artwork. I understand from Jennifer that every time she visits there is something new to see. And while they do serve liquor including margaritas and micheladas, I highly recommend trying their excellent agua frescas.

After all of that walking, it was time for a beer. Fortunately our third stop of the tour was at Stone Church Brewing and Bistro. I love craft beer, so I was excited when we were presented with a sampler of four beers including an IPA, hazy, blonde, and stout. My son, Ryan, recently introduced me to hazy beers, and I definitely enjoyed the one here called Hallelujah Haze. A variety of tasty Spanish tapas accompanied our beer.

Founded by avid home-brewer, Bill Steinkirchner, in 2013, Stone Church Brewing has three locations in the Inland Empire, with the one in Riverside being their newest. I think I’ll start lobbying for a new location closer to my hometown of Newport Beach.