Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt Places in Ventura County That Have Closed Since 2009

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We’ve been tracking ice cream, frozen yogurt, gelato and other types of places throughout Ventura County and adjacent areas since 2009. The list at THIS LINK is updated periodically.

As we’ve added to the list, we’ve also removed places from the list that have closed over the years. For historical purposes, we have compiled the frozen treat graveyard below.

Frozen Yogurt/Ice Cream Graveyard

Restaurants That Opened and Restaurants That Closed in the Conejo Valley During the Pandemic

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The World Health Organization labeled COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11, 2020, when there were 118,000 reported cases in 114 countries, leading to 4,291 deaths. The state of California was placed on “Stay at Home” orders, effective March 19, 2020. The rest is history.

Meanwhile, we’ve been tracking eateries in the Conejo Valley, including Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Newbury Park, Oak Park, Agoura Hills and portions of Calabasas that opened and closed since the pandemic began.

Eateries That Opened Since the Pandemic Began

Wingstop at Janss Marketplace Thousand Oaks (Opened Mid-April)

Nick the Greek Souvlaki & Gyro House at North Ranch Mall in Westlake Village (May 2021)

Cork Dork Wine Bar in Westlake Village (May 20. 2021)

Fierce Ave Korean BBQ in Newbury Park (2021)

Saffron Mediterranean Kitchen in Agoura Hills (January 2021)

O’t Bistro Asian Comfort Food at Janss Marketplace (March 2021)

Bagelicious Cafe at Whizin Market Square in Agoura Hills (December 2020)

Agoura Wine & Beer Co at Whizin Market Square in Agoura Hills

Drive-Thru Starbucks at Janss Marketplace (January 2021)

E+MON Sushi and Ramen at the Westlake Commons (December 2020)

Siblings Bakery in Thousand Oaks (January 2021)

Chef Danny’s Naru Bento at Janss Marketplace (November 2020)

Leone’s Original Italian Ices in Thousand Oaks (November 2020)

Porta Via at The Commons at Calabasas (September 2020)

Limena Peruvian Eatery in Thousand Oaks (July 2020)

Urban Vejjie at The Shoppes at Westlake (June 23, 2020; but closed in 2021)

Sage Plant Based Bistro & Brewery in Agoura Hills (May 2020)

Peebee & Jay’s Newbury Park (May 2020)

La Esquina Mexican Grill in Thousand Oaks (June 2020)

Armando’s Tacos Thousand Oaks (Fall 2020)

Pedals & Pints Brewing Company Thousand Oaks (March 17, 2020)

Eateries That Announced They are Opening Soon

The Waffle Experience in Newbury Park (Coming Soon)

Valentino’s Take & Bake Pizza in Thousand Oaks (Coming Soon)

Wild Fork Foods - Meat & Seafood Market in Thousand Oaks (Coming Soon)

Azuki Tea at North Ranch Shopping Center in Westlake Village (Coming Soon)

Viet Kitchen at The Village at Newbury Park (Opening Soon)

Amy’s Drive Thru Organic Fast Food in Thousand Oaks (Early 2022)

Barney’s Gourmet Hamburgers at The Commons at Calabasas (Summer 2021)

The Waffle Experience in Newbury Park (Coming Soon)

Furn Saj Lebanese Bakery at The Summit at Calabasas (Now Open - Late May)

Everbowl at the North Ranch Mall in Westlake Village (Coming Soon)

Salsa & Beer Mexican Food in Calabasas (Coming Soon)

Parma Pizzeria to open Agoura Hills Location (Coming Soon)

Caribbean Haven in Thousand Oaks (Coming Soon)

Chakaa Tea Cafe in Newbury Park (Coming Soon)

sweetgreen at The Promenade at Westlake (Coming Soon)

Eateries That Closed Permanently

Flame Broiler in Newbury Park

Lemonade Restaurant at The Promenade at Westlake (Feb 21, 2021)

Mimi’s Cafe Thousand Oaks (February 2021)

Currying Flavors in Agoura Hills (Late 2020)

Roma Italian Deli in Newbury Park (November 2020)

Currying Flavors in Agoura Hills (Fall 2020)

Champagne French Bakery at The Promenade at Westlake (Summer 2020)

Jack’s Donuts Thousand Oaks (August 2020)

Champagne French Bakery at The Promenade at Westlake (Summer 2020)

Taco Bell Westlake Village (July 2020)

Pizza Rev at The Oaks mall (Summer 2020)

Edelweiss German Bierhaus in Newbury Park (June 2020)

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks (May 2020)

Peet’s Coffee in Westlake Village

Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers in Westlake Village (March 2020)

Starbucks on Moorpark Road (closed, but re-opened up the street as a drive-thru)

E.T. Donuts in Thousand Oaks

Flatiron Bagel in Thousand Oaks

Eateries That Closed Temporarily, Possibly Permanently (TBD)

Stacked at The Oaks mall

Red Robin at The Oaks mall

Pitfire Pizza in Westlake Village

Hot Dog on a Stick at The Oaks mall

The Best Ever Pumpkin Bread Recipe!

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Here's a delicious pumpkin bread recipe from Jill Fisher. Jill has a B.S. in Food Science and Nutrition and is a licensed Personal Chef. She has taught cooking classes at Conejo Valley Adult School and Williams Sonoma in Thousand Oaks and has written articles for local food magazines such as 805 Living.

The Best Ever Pumpkin Bread!

1 cup salad oil (not olive)

2/3 cup water

3 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 cups pumpkin

Whisk together in a large bowl.

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1 ½ tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

3 ½ cups flour

1 cup chopped pecans

Whisk together in a small bowl.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Mix well.  Pour into individual mini loaf pans (approximately 4-5) that have been sprayed with Pam cooking spray.

Bake at 350F for 55 minutes.

Cool and slice.  These loaves freeze very well.

Note from Conejo Joe:  This recipe looks so easy that even I, an incompetent nincompoop in the kitchen, can make this pumpkin bread recipe!

Recurring Gourmet Food Truck Events In and Around Ventura County

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Gourmet Food Trucks are one of the hottest trends around town today. Here's a compilation of recurring food truck events in and around Ventura County and adjacent areas for your dining pleasure!

Note: Dates/times can vary and change, so check with organizers, particularly if there is inclement weather.

Monthly Gourmet Food Truck Events

Downtown Oxnard First Thursdays Gourmet Food Trucks:  First Thursday of the month from 5:30pm to 9:30pm at Plaza Park, 500 South C Street. Enjoy over a dozen food trucks and live music. downtownoxnard.org/activities/food-trucks

#TBT Throwback Thursdays Food Truck Fest at Camarillo Ranch House: Every last Thursday of the month, Spring through October, at 201 Camarillo Ranch Road, Camarillo from 5pm to 9pm. Ten food trucks on hand plus beer and wine available for purchase. camarilloranch.org/home/ranch-events

Tuesday Food Trucks at Los Robles Greens in Thousand Oaks on the 2nd Tuesday of the month from May through October from 5-8PM.

Gourmet Food Trucks at the Pacific View Mall in Ventura: Every 3rd Friday of the month in the parking lot next to Trader Joe's, along Mills Road, from 5pm to 9pm. Features over 20 food trucks and live music. shoppacificview.com

Ojai Valley Food Truck Friday is the 1st Friday of each month from 5-9PM at Mira Monte Elementary School, 1216 Loma Drive, Ojai. Free family movie screening at 7:30pm. www.facebook.com/pg/ojaifoodtruckfriday

Food Trucks the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month at Sunland Vintage Winery, 1321 E. Thousand Oaks Boulevard, #108 in Thousand Oaks. 

Annual and Periodic Gourmet Food Truck Events

Here are a few annual gourmet food truck events for your dining pleasure. Food trucks make an appearance of course at hundreds of events throughout the year, but those listed here have them as a primary focal point of the event.

These are just a few. Something to add? Contact us!

Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Followers Name Their Favorite Family Eateries in the Conejo Valley

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In a recent drawing on the CVG Facebook Page, we asked followers to name off their favorite family restaurant in the Conejo Valley. There were over 300 responses in the two day drawing and of course we would love to share them with you here, in alphabetical order. Some of these eateries are not technically in the Conejo Valley, but hey, that’s ok.

Listed below are the restaurants noted, and the number of times they were noted. The most mentioned eateries were Lure Fish House, Stonefire Grill, Toppers Pizza Place and Country Harvest.

  • Agoura’s Famous Deli

  • Ali Baba’s Kitchen 3

  • All About the Burgers Simi Valley

  • Alpine Deli

  • Ameci Pizza

  • Bad Ass Tacos 2

  • Bangkok Avenue 2

  • Bandits BBQ 9

  • Brent’s Deli

  • Cactus Patch in Moorpark

  • California Pizza Kitchen

  • Carrara Pastries in Moorpark 2

  • Casa Nostra Ristorante

  • The Cheesecake Factory 5

  • Chi Chi’s Pizza Simi Valley 2

  • Chili’s

  • Cici’s Cafe 2

  • Cho Cho San 2

  • Cisco’s 2

  • Country Harvest 9

  • Cronies

  • Dave & Buster’s

  • Don Cuco Simi Valley 2

  • Draughts

  • Eggs N Things 3

  • Eloong Dumplings

  • Figueroa Mountain Brewing

  • Fusion Grill 5

  • Habanero Mexican Grill

  • Holdren’s

  • Islands 4

  • Janchi Korean BBQ

  • Jinky’s Cafe

  • Junkyard Cafe Simi Valley

  • Lakeview Garden Chinese Restaurant

  • Latigo Kid

  • Lazy Dog Cafe 5

  • Little Calf Creamery and Cafe 5

  • Los Dos Amigos 2

  • Love Pho Cafe

  • Love Sushi

  • Lure Fish House 11

  • Made in Italy

  • Marmalade Cafe 2

  • Mandarin Bistro

  • Marcello Ristorante 2

  • Mendocino Farms

  • Mika Sushi

  • Minato Sushi

  • Mission Burrito

  • Mouthful Eatery

  • Natural Cafe

  • Nonna

  • Nori Japanese Grill

  • Olive Garden 2

  • P&L Burgers

  • Plata Taqueria in Agoura Hills 2

  • Poke U and Me in Camarillo

  • Pokeland

  • Pookie’s Thai

  • Ranch Hand BBQ 2

  • Red Robin 4

  • Roma Deli

  • Sake 2 Me Sushi Simi Valley

  • Sesame Inn

  • Sharky’s 6

  • Side Street Cafe

  • Snapper Jack’s

  • Social Monk

  • Soom Soom

  • Stacked 6

  • Stella’s II

  • Stonefire Grill 10

  • Sumo Sushi 3

  • Sushi Oaks

  • Taqueria El Tapatio in Moorpark

  • Taqueria Jalisco Mexican Food in Moorpark

  • Tavern 101

  • The Habit Burger

  • The Original Pizza Cookery 5

  • Thousand Oaks Fish and Chips

  • Thousand Wok

  • Toppers Pizza Place 9

  • Vegan Thyme

  • Wood Ranch BBQ 6

Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Followers Comment on Their Favorite Local Hamburgers

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In a recent survey on the Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Page, followers were asked what their favorite hamburgers were in the local area, including the Conejo Valley and adjacent areas.

What prompted the question was a 2017 Harris Poll EquiTrend® that concluded on a national level that the top burger restaurants in America currently are:

  1. Five Guys Burgers and Fries
  2. In-N-Out Burger
  3. Shake Shack
  4. Wendy's
  5. Culver's
  6. Whataburger
  7. McDonald's
  8. SONIC
  9. Smashburger
  10. Steak 'n Shake

Out of the top 10 above, burgers available in the Ventura County area currently include Five Guys, In-N-Out, Wendy's, McDonald's and Smashburger. 

We asked a more specific question - what is your favorite burger. A bit of a popularity contest. The winner, hands down, was In-N-Out Burger, with 39% of the vote. The closest competitor was Habit Burger, with 17% of all votes.

Five Guys is a much newer brand to our local area and thus I suspect only a fraction of folks that have eaten at In-N-Out Burger for nearly seven decades have actually tried a Five Guys burger.  It received only one mention in our survey.

Other eateries that were mentioned by 4-8% of commenters were Hook Burger, Red Robin, Stacked and Umami Burger.

Others mentioned at least once included BLVD BRGR in Old Town Camarillo, Twisted Oak Tavern in Agoura, P&L Burger in Thousand Oaks, BJs, Freddy's Steakburgers in Westlake Village, Finney's Crafthouse and Kitchen in Westlake Village, Grinder Restaurant in Moorpark, Dog Haus in Thousand Oaks, Wood Ranch BBQ, Lucky Dogs at Janss Marketplace, Smashburger, Winchesters Grill in Ventura, Little Craft Creamery in Thousand Oaks, the Scratch Food Truck, Fusion Grill, Vintage Grocers, Cheesecake Factory, Breakfast Cafe, Ranch Hand BBQ and Marmalade Cafe.

So if you're looking for a good burger, this list may come in handy. Feel free to comment on your own best burger in the local area.

My First Encounter with the Impossible Burger at Umami Burger Thousand Oaks

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When I first heard about the new the Impossible Burger, a meatless burger that is supposed to look and taste like a real hamburger, I had to give it a try.

While I'm not a vegetarian or vegan, I do try to minimize my red meat consumption for health reasons. and tend to go with burger alternatives like fish and veggie burgers. But a burger that actually tastes like a burger but is not made from a cow or other mammal sounded too good to be true.

The Impossible Burger is the first product of a Silicon Valley startup called Impossible Foods. The initial question addressed by the company in 2011 was, "Why does meat taste like meat?"

With scientific research, the company created a non-meat version of ground beef using wheat, coconut oil and potatoes, augmented by "heme." Heme is a naturally occurring protein in meat that gives meat its flavor when it is cooked. Heme is also a naturally occurring protein in plants in a different protein. This protein is taken from soy, attached to a yeast strain and grown through fermentation. The heme is then isolated and added to the Impossible Burger.

You don't have to know the science behind it, but I found it fascinating because this burger does taste quite a bit like a meat-based burger.

I know because I tried the Impossible Burger at Umami Burger at The Lakes at Thousand Oaks yesterday. The Impossible Burger recently launched on a very limited, dine-in only basis at nine Umami locations while Impossible Foods ramps up its production facilities.

I did a taste comparison - I tried the Impossible Burger side by side with the Manly Burger.

The Impossible Burger at Umami comes decked out with two 2 1/2 oz. patties, caramelized onions, American cheese, miso-mustard, house spread, dill pickles, lettuce and tomato. The Manly Burger comes with cheddar cheese, bacon, onion strings, ketchup and mustard spread.

The Impossible Burger looked and tasted quite a bit like a regular burger! It was good! So was the Manly Burger. There are definitely some subtle taste differences between the Impossible Burger and regular burger, but less than you would expect from a meatless alternative.

Gourmet burgers at Umami Burger run from $11.50 for a Throwback Burger to $15.50 for a Royale Burger (braised short rib, truffled aioli, truffle cheese, truffle glaze). The standard Umami Burger is $13. The Impossible Burger currently is priced at $16. Definitely not priced to compete with the In-N-Out Burgers and Habit Burgers of the world. But a unique treat.

Impossible Burger patties are 100% vegan but do contain gluten as they are made with wheat protein. The Impossible Burger as prepared at Umami is not vegan.

Learn more about Umami Burger at www.umamiburger.com. Learn more about the Impossible Burger at www.impossiblefoods.com.