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Spring Pea Salad at Mesa Verde

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Spring  |

Chef Greg Arnold’s modern plant-based cuisine at Mesa Verde Restaurant in Santa Barbara stimulates more than your appetite. Yes, the dishes’ vegetables come straight from the weekly farmers market. Yes, the menu’s inspiration comes from Mediterranean influences. But it’s the melding of all this plus art – what he calls “synesthesia” – that makes his food exquisite.

Spring Pea Salad - Mesa Verde RestaurantA vegetarian himself, Chef Arnold elevates plants to starring roles using a Mediterranean mindset. “This style of cooking goes so well with California produce because of our similar climates,” says Arnold. “My salads come from what I find here at the market, because ingredients in season tend to pair well together.” The Mediterranean’s diverse spices also give Arnold’s dishes power: the menu is threaded with bold notes from the Middle East, North Africa and Southern Europe.

It’s fusion cuisine at its best: street tacos, exotic spices, starring veggies and also art. Growing up painting, playing music and cooking, Arnold realized that with food, our senses mesh. How a dish looks and tastes is intermingled. So, beauty becomes delicious.

To make this simple salad, Chef Arnold roasts carrots in the oven with cumin seeds, thyme and olive oil until soft, then purées them. He also blanches fresh peas in salted water (it should taste like the ocean) for 1 minute, moves them to an ice bath, then purées them with water and lemon. He paints the plate with both, then adds halved peas and okra, torn kale and slices of cucumber, yellow squash, fennel and endive. Topping the salad is a sprinkle of blueberries, wood sorrel leaves and flowers with powdered sumac and chlorella on the side.

The dressing is also simple, yet powerful. Chef Arnold reveals his favorite super-easy vinaigrette based on a classic Levantine salad: fattoush. He blends grapeseed oil (it’s lighter than olive oil), lemon, fresh garlic, fresh thyme, salt and sumac, then lightly drizzles it over the top.

Roasted Local Vegetable Skillet at Los Olivos Wine Merchant Cafe

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Fall  |

If you’ve never tried the Roasted Local Vegetables at Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café, this fall is the time! And after you’ve had it cooked to perfection by him, read below to make it at home yourself.

Roasted Local Vegetables at Los Olivos Wine Merchant & CaféChef Chris Joslyn sources all the vegetables for this dish from local farmers and changes the mix seasonally. Fall will feature the following local ingredients:

  • Brussels sprouts
  • butternut squash
  • broccoli
  • cauliflower
  • carrots
  • rutabaga
  • turnip
  • bell pepper.

It’s served with smoked mozzarella, arugula and house-made tapenade.

Chef Joslyn roasts the vegetables on separate pans at 400-450 degrees, to get the exact amount of softness and carmelization for each one. This can take from 25-45 minutes; you’ll need to taste them to make sure each pan is done. He then heats a skillet or cast-iron pan, places smoked mozzarella in the middle and piles on the veggies, adding a dollop of tapenade and a smattering of arugula.

Chef Joslyn uses Rancho Olivos extra-virgin olive oil from Santa Ynez in this and other dishes at the Café. Since the first harvest, owner Shannon Casey has invited folks to visit the farm and taste the oils right next to the olive trees that produce them. The dry climate in the Santa Ynez Valley, with its long warm days and crisp evenings, is the ideal environment for olive trees. The Caseys farm the trees sustainably, tend the orchards themselves, handpick the olives during harvest and have them sent to be milled within a few hours of picking. To make the oils, the Caseys blend olives from two varietals (one Italian and one Spanish): Frantoio and Leccino. They believe this combo to be the most pleasing to most people.

Farmer Jacob Grant of Los Olivos Roots Organic Farm and Santa Ynez farmer Steve Loyal supply almost all the vegetables in the dish. Joslyn knows he can rely on Grant’s famously sweet carrots, even if Grant isn’t so consistent. “Jacob never looks the same; you never know what you’ll get when he walks in.” Joslyn also says Loyal is a great storyteller and gives him advice on what’s happening in his own garden. “I grow vegetables at home, things like kale, lettuce, radishes, which I also bring in to the restaurant. Steve loves to talk shop, and my garden is a happy recipient.”

Locally-grown garlic is easily sourced in summer and fall. When local supplies run out, the restaurant looks further upstate for year-round garlic from none other than Gilroy, the self-proclaimed “Garlic Capital of the World.” If you’ve ever been close to Gilroy, you know this nickname is correct by the garlic smell!

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

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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

Fried Brussels Sprouts at Sides Hardware & Shoes

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Sides Hardware & Shoes, a Brothers restaurant in Los Olivos

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.

Sides Hardware & Shoes, a Brothers restaurant in Los Olivos

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.

Sides Hardware & Shoes, a Brothers restaurant in Los Olivos

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.

Sides Hardware & Shoes, a Brothers restaurant in Los Olivos

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!

Bacon steak at Sides Hardware & Shoes

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.

Fried Brussels Sprouts at Sides Hardware & Shoes Cafe

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.

Crispy White Sea Bass with Summer Corn & Shishito Peppers at The Gathering Table

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Summer  |

Ballard Inn has been a fixture in Santa Ynez Valley since 1985, known as a wine country getaway with romantic ambiance and award-winning cuisine. Now, it’s undergone a complete transformation, from the 15 guest rooms to the modern farmhouse dining room complete with a long, communal table in front of the fireplace. And the cuisine is also refreshed: California Creative with a menu featuring shared plates. Welcome to the Gathering Table!

Crispy White Sea Bass - The Gathering Table at Ballard Inn by Liz DodderChef Budi Kazali is still at the helm, consistently producing some of the top cuisine in the area. His style is to use local, organic produce to create favorite and innovative dishes, frequently with an Asian spice or flavor.

“Growing up in Indonesia, I crave some of the foods I had when I was young,” Kazali says. “And I’m lucky that Shu Takikawa is growing some of them right here in Los Olivos at The Garden of…”

Takikawa’s organic, clean produce is a result of him genuinely caring for the land and his lettuce is widely known as the best (he’s something of a master gardener and other farmers come to study under him). Kazali gets local sea bass and abalone from Santa Barbara area fishermen;

Takikawa is something of a mater gardener (other farmers come to study under him) whose organic, clean produce is a result of him genuinely caring for the land. Kazali gets produce like shishito peppers and yu choy from him, and local sea bass and abalone from Santa Barbara area fishermen. “It’s great to get such innovative stuff that’s such great quality – it really allows me to do something fun and challenging.”

Abalone at The Gathering Table at Ballard Inn by Liz DodderTo make the crispy sea bass, sautee shopped onion, garlic and corn until soft, then adds white wine and white miso and cook until reduced by half. Puree, then add butter and put on plate. Chop Shishito peppers and add to a cast iron pan on high heat. Cook until charred on one side, then add corn to get charred. Add tomatoes and basil, stir a few times and add salt and pepper and add to plate. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat, then cook the fish skin side down until 75% done. Flip the fish and cook the other 25%, add salt and pepper and add to plate, then top with micro cilantro. Shiso Herb Crusted Tempura Abalone with daikon radish sprouts and Ogo seaweed also available this summer!

Maili’s Home Fried Chicken at Scratch Kitchen

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Chef Augusto Caudillo cooks food the way his grandmother did: from scratch, over several days if needed, with local ingredients and a nod of respect to people in his family. And like his grandmother, Caudillo’s notion of family extends to customers, local growers and mentors as well as actual relations. Caudillo runs Scratch Kitchen in Lompoc alongside his brother-in-law-partner Gonzalo Pacheco, with lots of help from his wife, sister and the greater community.

Caudillo knows it takes a community to successfully run an affordable farm-to-table restaurant. So food producers like Santa Rita Farms become family, dropping by on Wednesday evenings to let Caudillo shop their truck, plan future plantings and have a beer. His cooking mentor Chef Maili Halme also became family, as the pair worked together over years perfecting their crispy fried chicken recipe. His version of that dish is now on Caudillo’s menu at the popular eatery.

Caudillo sources chicken from Jimenez Family Farm in Santa Ynez for the quality of the meat and the sustainability of the farming, but also because it is a family-run farm. He wants his small family to help support other small families, creating a sense of community among them. This larger family also helps keep him connected to where our food comes from.

Maili’s Fried Chicken at Scratch KitchenTo make Caudillo & Halme’s perfect fried chicken, Caudillo starts a day ahead. He brines the chicken in buttermilk, salt and spices (add any spices or flavorings you like) for 24 hours. He then mixes equal parts flour and Panko bread crumbs (use more Panko for more crunch) and covers each piece with the crumb mixture. Caudillo heats vegetable oil (he uses canola/soy) in a fryer to 375 degrees and cooks each piece for 7-8 minutes — this temperature is important so as not to over-brown the chicken. He then cooks it in a 350 degree oven for 13-15 minutes or until the chicken reaches 165 degrees.

Caudillo’s sauce is his own, a “no-waste” traditional French veal sauce. He sautées carrots, onions, celery, mushrooms, in-house smoked bacon and any recent meat trimmings, then adds stock and red wine, reducing it until thick.