Santa Ynez Valley

House Maltagliati with Fava Beans, Smoked Guanciale & Garlic Soubise at Root 246

November 4, 2018 By calicoastblog Leave a Comment

Spring |

New roots. Spring brings them every year, along with some delicacies that can only be enjoyed during these warming days…like fresh fava beans. Spring is the time these legumes behave, and taste, more like fresh new peas than later in the year after they mature, when they firmly join the bean clan (mostly dried or canned).

New roots are also springing up for Chef Crystal DeLongpre (known as Chef Pink for her hair color preference) as she takes over the reins at the Corque Hotel’s root 246 in Solvang. After stints at top kitchens of Los Angeles, the Food Network and running her own restaurant, she knew she could only go where her food philosophy would be shared: hyper-local ingredients, responsible sourcing via close relationships with farmers, stewards of the land. Now, Chef Pink is rejuvenating the kitchen at root 246, with 95% of its produce coming from local farms, as she moves the restaurant firmly towards its own rebirth. The dinner and bar menus have already been refreshed (but check for chef’s specials to appear anytime). In coming months, look for more casual, family-friendly dining, with a love for locals and a re-design focused on comfort.

To make this spring comfort dish at home, remove the large outer pods from the fava beans, then take each bean and remove the thin skin covering the split bean.

Next, hard-boil an egg, cool it down, peel it and set aside (or cure it by cracking an egg in a boil over salt, then cover it with salt and plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 week). Tear lasagna noodles roughly (or use any other “badly cut” pasta) and boil per directions in a pot with enough salt to taste like the sea.

Sauté thinly sliced and diced guanciale or bacon over medium-high heat, until it is crispy. Remove the bacon, then add 1/2 cup cut spring onion to the bacon fat and cook over low heat until translucent. Add 1 cup chicken stock and simmer until reduced by half, than add a handful of fresh fava beans to the pan, season with salt and turn down the heat. Add cooked pasta along with 1 tablespoon of butter and a healthy squeeze of lemon. After simmering for 2-3 minutes, sprinkle with bacon and grate the egg yolk over over the top. Chef Pink also adds locally foraged kombu – the “king of seaweed” used to make Dashi – which adds umami richness to the dish.

Local Nettle Pasta with Mushrooms & Spot Prawns at S.Y. Kitchen

September 28, 2018 By calicoastblog Leave a Comment

Spring |

Living in Santa Barbara County all but guarantees us locally grown produce year-round, but spring can bring surprises depending on rain. This year, fields are bursting with growth – green hills and abundant vegetation are everywhere. And that gets chef Francesco Crestanelli of S.Y. Kitchen excited.

“The quantity of food available here in spring is so great; it feels like a treasure hunt,” he says. “I just love creating dishes out of what we can find.”

Plentiful rain is causing chanterelle mushrooms – large, fleshy and meaty – and wild nettles – leafy and vibrant green – to pop up in fields all over the County. Crestanelli, brother and partner of chef Luca Crestanelli, loves to gather the nettles and chanterelles himself for dishes in the restaurant, sometimes in a field across from the restaurant in Santa Ynez. Nettles, which have a ton of vitamins, are considered an old, classic ingredient in his native Verona, Italy, and lend a beautiful green color to S.Y. Kitchen’s daily handmade pasta. Crestanelli also adds Santa Barbara spot prawns, which are sweet and so fresh they are sometimes just hours out of the ocean.

To make this Italian “Surf & Turf,” blanch the nettle leaves and drain (make sure to handle raw leaves with gloves). Then blend them with a farm egg, and combine with flour and salt. Knead and rest the dough, then roll out and cut. Sautée garlic, Italian parsley and red chile flakes in extra virgin olive oil (preferably from Italy) over med-high heat. Add the cut mushrooms and prawns (cleaned and shelled) and cook for 2-3 minutes. Boil the fresh pasta in water and salt for 2-3 minutes, then drain and add to the pan along with cherry tomatoes. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute and add salt and pepper to taste.

Wine pairing: 2015 Storm Sauvignon Blanc

SY Kitchen Nettle Pasta - Liz Dodder CaliCoastWine

Bar at SY Kitchen - Liz Dodder CaliCoastWine

SY Kitchen Nettle Shrimp Pasta 2 - Liz Dodder CaliCoastWine

Fried Brussels Sprouts at Sides Hardware & Shoes

August 20, 2018 By calicoastblog Leave a Comment

Of the many Los Olivos restaurants, Sides is one of the best. There are many reasons to eat lunch at Sides Hardware & Shoes: the bright location right off Grand Ave in Los Olivos, the great fresh and local ingredients in the dishes, the ever-changing menu, the brothers Matt & Jeff Nichols (longtime chefs in the Santa Ynez Valley, known for the now-closed Brothers’ Restaurant at Mattei’s Tavern and The Red Barn in Santa Ynez). But the two biggest reasons are the house-cured bacon steak and the fried Brussels Sprouts.

Named for the building’s original shop name (a man named Milburn Sides sold shoes and hardware to townsfolk in the early 1900s), Sides retains its historical charm, just a block off the main flagpole intersection in Los Olivos. And yes, they serve bacon the size of a steak that they cure here in their kitchen. It’s a 4-day process involving maple syrup, sugar, salt, applewood smoke and more, and the meat comes from  Salmon Creek family farms, which raise natural, sustainable pork.

Don’t miss their daily lunch, and try to get a spot on the outdoor patio on a sunny day (preferably with some girlfriends who don’t have to go back to work). Then you can really enjoy the fennel and goat cheese crostini, beef carpaccio with arugula and shaved Parmesan and any of the market salads you see on the menu.

Any burger on this on this menu is a must – the Mexicali burger was topped with guacamole with a crispy tostada slid between the burger and bun. Also not to be missed is the sandwich list: thick grilled cheese, hammered pork with mustard seed slaw and roasted turkey with avocado – I take mine with sweet potato fries. The soups, market salads and fish tacos are all fresh and satisfying.

And don’t forget the fried Brussels sprouts with sherry vinegar & capers; if you order one serving per person it won’t be enough! The kitchen team buys as much organic ingredients as they can with much produce coming from local farmers such as Finley Farms, Jacob Grant and Paul Palmer. Beef is from an all natural farm in California (Kobe beef from Idaho), lamb from Colorado and pork from the plains states (all meat is from Newport Meat Company).

Important Note: Choose anything on the dessert list – it’s all excellent, especially the house-made sorbets. Ask for the dark chocolate one!

The wine list is as local as you can get, with wines on tap from many spots just around the corner in town. The winemakers themselves are known to dine here, as well as local farmers and cattle ranchers, gardeners and shop owners. Everyone loves a good bacon steak.

The fried Brussels Sprouts feature the acids of Sherry and capers instead of the sprouts’ typical leading star: bacon. At a restaurant known for its house-cured bacon steak and twice-won titles at the annual Bacon & Barrels festival, one notices the lack of pork in this dish.

To make this at home, trim the stem off washed Brussels Sprouts and cut them in half. Heat peanut oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees – grapeseed and cottonseed oils also have a high smoke point (olive oil won’t work). Fry them for 2 minutes or until golden brown – before they get mushy inside. Remove them and tosses them with Sherry vinegar and kosher salt, then finish them with a handful of capers.

It’s important to use the best ingredients, which means Spanish Sherry – the place where Sherry originates – and when it comes to capers, smallest are best.

Local Veggie Farro Bowl at Plenty on Bell

December 13, 2017 By calicoastblog Leave a Comment

Spring |

At the helm of Plenty on Bell is long-time Los Alamos chef Jesper Johansson, who has cooked on this street since 1999. A native of Sweden, he’s gained a large local following with his down-to-earth dishes and scrumptious breakfasts.

At Plenty on Bell, Johansson focuses on local, farm-to-table comfort food. Dishes on the menu are influenced by his family background of traditional baking and cooking from scratch, as well as the local produce here in Santa Barbara county. Much of the herbs and produce is sourced from the chef’s gardens in Los Alamos, then turned into comfort food Johansson grew up with in Sweden. Traditional baking and cooking everything from scratch defined his childhood home, with fun, festive cooking for friends on weekends.

Bowls are a signature dish, featuring weekly and seasonal specials and vegan options with around-the-world flavors like white beans & sausage, mussels & frites or Italian pastas. This Spring Farro Bowl features tender Spring vegetables and locally-grown farro from Kandarian Organic Farms. An ancestor of modern wheat, emmer farro is a heritage grain that’s nutrient-dense, GMO-free, nutty and chewy. And it’s 100% organic.

Johansson first rinses the farro, then puts about a cup in 2 cups of water with a pinch of salt and cooks it for about 20 minutes. It should double in size and be al dente when it’s ready. Meanwhile, he blanches the peas and asparagus for about a minute, then transfers to an ice bath. He chops or thinly slices the asparagus, carrots, leeks, radishes, spinach, mint and parsley. To make the dressing, Johnansson puts sherry vinegar, a mix of whole grain and Dijon mustard, lemon, olive oil and salt and pepper in a small jar and shakes it to combine. He then mixes all ingredients together and tops with fresh herbs to serve – grated cheese or harrissa would also work.

Herb Crusted Fish of the Day at Mad & Vin

October 18, 2016 By calicoastblog Leave a Comment

Fall’s Don’t-Miss-Dish in Edible Santa Barbara

You might not guess it, but one of the best places to eat local fish is the cozy, modern Danish restaurant inside the renovated Landsby hotel in Solvang: Mad & Vin. Both the ceviche and the Herb Crusted Fish of the Day with crispy quinoa, fall squash and Swiss chard come from our local waters.

The supplier is Buellton native Travis Meyer, who’s been fishing here his whole life. When he recently began selling his local wild Halibut and other white fish to Industrial Eats (or select spots on the valley), newly promoted Head Chef Beto Huizar quickly jumped on board.

Meyers’ local catch is the inspiration for the Herb Crusted Fish, paired with local fall vegetables, crispy red quinoa (a house original) and a sauce from house-made orange shrub (a traditional technique of preserving fruit). Huizar was raised on a farm in Mexico, where everything was fresh and his grandmother cooked from scratch. After arriving here in the valley at 18, he worked in various kitchens, always keeping his eye on local ingredients.

To make this dish, Huizar dries fresh thyme, oregano and sage in the oven, then mixes in salt, sesame seeds and sumac. He salts the fish, presses the herb mix on the non-skin side, then sautÈes it in oil over medium heat – crusted side down first, then flip, 2 minutes on each side. To crisp red quinoa, cook as directed, then deep-fry in small batches for about 1 min. (You can also pan-fry over medium heat in oil for 5-6 mins.) Slice the vegetables and roast in a 350 degree oven with olive oil, salt and pepper until done. Blanch the chard, then sautÈe with sliced garlic.

Finish the fish in a 350 degree oven for about 6 minutes or until done and reduce the orange shrub or vinegar by one-third, and add vanilla paste. Top the vegetables and quinoa with the fish, and add the reduced sauce and some edible flowers.

Palmina Wines 20th Anniversary Celebration

August 13, 2015 By calicoastblog Leave a Comment

On August 1st Palmina Wines held its 20th anniversary celebration at Sogna del Fiore Vineyard with a celebration of food, wine, music and friends. It was a beautiful evening in the Santa Ynez Valley, made even more beautiful with a welcome glass of Palmina’s sparkling Nebbiolo — Lumina.

There was an incredible food lineup: Erik Kelley from The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills, Chef Brandon Boudet from Dominick’s (Los Angeles), Jake Francis from Valley Piggery, Chef Massimo Falsini from the Four Seasons Hotel in Hualalai & David Cecchini from Cecco Ristorante in Solvang. And live music from Steve Clifton — the winemaker himself — and his band, Mojo Classic Rock, kept the crowd dancing and singing along.

We were also treated to the full lineup of Palmina current releases & a special selection of library wines, like this 2005 Arneis. And for another special treat, David & Anna deLaski of Solminer Wines were pouring their wines.