There’s a giant wooden clog sitting street-side, a windmill that’s modeled after some of Denmark’s finest, and steeply sloped roofs despite the fact that it never snows here. On almost every menu in town, alongside club sandwiches and hamburgers, you’ll find the ever so comfort food called aebleskiver: a golfball-size hybrid between a pancake and a donut that literally translates from Danish to “apple slices.”

Cozy downtown Solvang features Danish restaurants unique half-timbered architecture, and great boutique shopping. Bakeries seem to be the most popular storefront which results in the scent of pancakes and pastries wafting through the air. Your best bet is to arrive in town hungry and ready to consume some sugar—you can easily pass a few hours alternating between popping into shops and munching on mouthwatering Scandinavian goodies. 

Legend has it, in the early years of Danish Days, residents would set up large skillets on the street and serve piping-hot aebleskiver. Today, residents and tourists line up outside Solvang Restaurant, a mainstay in the heart of Solvang’s downtown with a low-hanging roof and a painted-on facade of timber framing. 

Though the batter is basic, for many families it’s what you put inside or on top of these buttery treats that gives them a dessert-like quality. Some may add cardamom to the batter; others may add an apple slice, while another family may just dust it with powdered sugar.