Edible Santa Barbara Summer 2012

edible

Santa Barbara

Celebrating the Local Food and Wine Culture of Santa Barbara County

“The Original Essential Oil Towelette”

Pure Fresh Fabulous

Locally Owned and Operated Since 1997

All natural towelette in lavender, lemon, orange, peppermint, eucalyptus. Cleanse hands and kill germs. Toss them in your purse, backpack, briefcase, car, wallet, or gym bag to enjoy their germkilling, mood-lifting, fabulousness everywhere you go!

Order Online at: www.herbanessentials.com

Find us at: Avia Spa • Drishti • Montecito Yoga • Prana • Sage Center for Health

• San Ysidro Pharmacy • Skin Dance • Skin Deep • Santa Barbara Yoga Center

• Whole Foods Santa Barbara

Orange oil is soothing and promotes joy and happiness, especially in children.

Some of the many uses for our orange towelettes: helps children focus and relax; tuck in car air conditioner vents; wave through air to create a positive and inspiring environment; some have found orange oil to be a relief for depression, anxiety, high blood pressure and even hiccups!

Making a difference starts with Antioch University Santa Barbara. Our strong focus on social responsibility helps graduates create meaningful careers. And our quarterly public film and discussion series at AUSB’s new downtown campus provides a forum for the community to learn more about contemporary social, educational, and environmental issues. For more information, visit www.antiochsb.edu/choose This innovative program emphasizes environmental advocacy, policy work and global awareness, to positively affect ecosystems on a worldwide basis. Co-sponsored by AUSB & The Fund for Santa Barbara All events are free & open to the public at 602 Anacapa Street. For a full, detailed calendar, visit www.antiochsb.edu/community new ba concentration: Environmental

25 film: Forks Over Knives

Stir ingredients in a pitcher or carafe. Allow fruit to soak in the mixture for 15 minutes (or longer, if desired). Serve in an ice-filled glass, then telephone your physician and regale him with stories of your exemplary fruit consumption. *Merely suggestions - be creative!

St-Germain

Fresh Peaches*

Fresh Strawberries*

Fresh Raspberries*

Fresh White Grapes*

SANTABARBA RA edible ®

Bacara is proud to introduce the newest addition to this esteemed culinary team, Johan Denizot, who joins the resort as Chef de Cuisine at The Bistro.

French born, Denizot’s career as a chef and pastry chef took him throughout France and Switzerland before he arrived in the United States in 1998. He most recently joined us from Root 246 where he worked alongside award winning chef Bradley Ogden as Chef de Cuisine.

Come visit our culinary team and enjoy our Chefs’ latest creations

The Bistro

Daily Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Miró

Wednesday – Saturday Dinner

Sunday Brunch 10:30am – 2:30pm

For reservations & more information please call 805.571.3018

Johan Denizot Bistro

David Reardon Executive Chef

Daniel Sampson Pastry Chef

David Garwack Miró

SANTABARBA RA edible ® summer

JOHANNA FINLEY, ORGANIC FARMER

Finley Farms, Santa Ynez, California

Cambria Estate Winery is a proud supporter of local purveyors such as Finley Farms of Santa Ynez. Organic farmer Johanna Finley is passionate about growing fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables to provide seasonal produce to the Santa Barbara community.

As a Certified Sustainable winery, Cambria partners with others in the community to promote organic and sustainable farming. cambriawines.com

©2012

Cambria Winery, Santa Maria, CA

FOOD FOR THOUGHT D

Ijust finished reading Jonah Lehrer’s book Imagine: How Creativity Works. It’s actually quite amazing that I was able to read this non-foodrelated book while in production with our summer issue. But chalk that up to just how compelling a read it is. And as my imagination is likely to do, I found myself making connections between what he wrote about and the food community issues that I’m always thinking about. I love that he made me think about cities in a very different light. It was a revelation to me that cities are such a huge influence on creativity. The very act of putting people together in close quarters fosters the kind of crosspollination of ideas that is essential for innovation. But while the research shows that the bigger the city, the more the creativity, I’m not sure that the quality of life tradeoff would be worth moving to a bigger one, at least for me. Instead I think there are ways to immerse yourself in community no matter what size city or town you live in.

The tiny town of Los Alamos was barely on my radar four years ago. Then I met up with a group of people at Full of Life Flatbread, and we quite literally had a dinner that changed my way of thinking. It wasn’t just the food, although that was pretty fantastic. It was the way we had all been drawn together (a couple of pistachio farmers, some food writers, a few activists and the two of us who were about to be food magazine publishers). It was community-building right there at one of their beautiful hand-carved long wooden tables. I’ve had many of those types of dinners there since. And now I see that pattern of community gathering places popping up at the tasting rooms and restaurants in the rest of Los Alamos. It’s what our writer Shannon Essa was drawn to when writing the story in this issue. And it’s what Clark Staub was after when he first opened Full of Life Flatbread.

It’s the “third place” that Ray Oldenburg has written about—the place that is neither home nor workplace. It’s the essential ingredient in cities that Jonah Lehrer writes about. And in my world it’s also often the farmers market. I’ve been hooked on farmers markets since my first visit to one when I was in college. I know it’s partly the access to great food, but I know it’s even more so the access to people. Connections are made while chatting with the walnut guy or asking a farmer what to do with dragon fruit. I guess I now have a better understanding of why it’s such a fertile ground for creativity: It’s the community.

Krista Harris, Editor

Stay Connected

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PUBLISHERS

Steven Brown & Krista Harris

EDITOR

Krista Harris

RECIPE EDITOR

Nancy Oster

COPY EDITOR

Doug Adrianson

DESIGNER

Steven Brown

PROMOTIONS

Kellyn Baez

WEB DESIGN

Mary Ogle

Contributors

Pascale Beale

Joan S. Bolton

Fran Collin Bambi and Sienna Edlund

Shannon Essa

Erin Feinblatt

Jill Johnson

Nancy Oster

Valerie Rice

Kathleen Anderson Ross

Laura Sanchez

Clark Staub

Carole Topalian

Louis Villard Contact Us info@ediblesantabarbara.com

Advertising Inquiries ads@ediblesantabarbara.com

Edible Santa Barbara® is published quarterly and distributed throughout Santa Barbara County. Subscription rate is $28 annually. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used without written permission from the publisher. Publisher expressly disclaims all liability for any occurrence which may arise as a consequence of the use of any information or recipes. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention please accept our sincere apologies and notify us. Thank you.

© 2012 edible Santa Barbara

www.fsc.org

MIX Paper from responsible sources FSC © C020739

edible Notables A New Crop of Food Trucks

by Jill Johnson

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIN FEINBLATT

Sugar & Salt Creamery

Don’t let the cute little Tiffany Blue ice cream truck with the ornate “swooshie” S’s in the logo fool you. This cool retrorolling sorbet mobile is serious about creating some mean, powerful flavor punches. Maple Brown Sugar Bacon, Salty Brown Butter Carmel, PB+J animal cracker and Thai Tea are just a few of their offerings. One of their more popular selections, Balsamic Strawberry, uses aged balsamic vinegar and local farmers market strawberries. Many believe these flavors to be “odd couples,” but one taste and you will agree that there is some delicious harmony to be had.

Currently, they are purely mobile with a downtown catering kitchen as their base, but they are planning to expand into local-only Santa Barbara food establishments later in the year. sugarandsaltcreamery.com

Sweet Arleen’s Cupcakes and Bread Puddings

Arleen Scavone was doing errands for her “bricks and mortar” bakery when she got the phone call from the Food Network that launched “a thousand cupcakes.” Two televised cupcake championships later, Sweet Arleen’s has put Westlake Village on the culinary map. Her cupcakes and bread puddings were so well received and the feedback so positive in the community, Arleen decided to expand beyond the well-manicured environs of Westlake Village into the wild unfrosted yonder of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. In order to do that, however, she needed some “wheels.” She turned to internationally recognized West Coast Customs and they created the tricked-out truck known as the Cupcake Suite Mobile. There is no mistaking the Twitter blue and polka-dotted food truck sashaying through the streets.

Arleen has always enjoyed giving back to the communities she serves and she recently teamed up with Handstand Kids Cookbook Company to produce a new kids’ cookbook, Baking Around the World sweetarleens.com

Tiki Taco

(Exotic Fusion Cuisine)

Long-time Santa Barbarians will get pangs of Don the Beachcomber and Aloha Burger nostalgia when glimpsing the tropical vibe of this spiffy new tiki taco truck.

Although tiki is the visual theme, delicious fusion Polynesian/Mexican food is the culinary destination, according to CEO Eric Bonilla. Incorporating spices and techniques from both cultures, their food and presentation is unique. Their menu selection includes Tiki Tacos (beef or chicken grilled with a sweet tangy Polynesian sauce with cilantro and onions served up in a tortilla), Wraps (these include the same tasty fillings with lettuce instead of a tortilla) and Voodoo Korn (sweet corn on the cob rolled in a Hawaiian cream sauce with island spices served on a bamboo stick). tikitaco.net

The New Black BBQ

(Progressive American Barbecue)

In 2011, Santa Barbara transplants Chris Sullivan and Nick Barainca were commenting on the lack of quality BBQ in Santa Barbara. They glimpsed a smoker on wheels at a BBQ venue in Ventura and remarked that “if you towed that thing behind a truck, you’d be like the ice cream man on steroids.” And, with that “off-the-cuff” quip, a culinary idea was born.

The business name refers to the song “The New Black” by the band Every Time I Die. And you have to admit, it does have a certain culinary swagger that entices the taste buds to drool over the anticipation of meat meeting fire and smoke. Although, in The New Black BBQ’s case, there is some serious 24-hour sous-vide action also involved after the initial smoking and searing. They make all their sauces and sides in-house to accompany their meaty offerings of Kobe Brisket (with molasses, mustard seed and bay leaf), Kurobata Pork (with allspice and thyme) and Jidori Chicken (with paradise grains, honey and lavender). thenewblackbbq.com

Last summer we also profiled food trucks—these are the ones that have popped up since then. Visit ediblesantabarbara.com for last summer’s article and see the following page for a listing of additional food trucks.

Thekla

Richard Sanford making Pinot Noir in the Sta. Rita Hills, 1976

photo Tom Allen

edible Notables

More Mobile Food and Food Trucks

Culture Shock

Chicken curry, cooked in exotic spices and coconut milk; fish curry; kale sautéed with onions, garlic and shredded coconut; and chicken bratwurst in a parata roti and curry sauce. Flavorful food at a fiscally sound price. cultureshocksb.com

Flavors

Catering gone mobile—this food truck is often seen at wineries throughout Santa Ynez Valley serving up tasty tri-tip, gourmet sandwiches and more. Facebook: FlavorsBuellton

O Street Truck

One of the most popular gourmet food trucks in town, they offer up locally sourced, eclectic fare combining Mediterranean, French-Mex and French Vietnamese flavors and are best known for their bahn mi sandwiches. ostreettruck.com

Road Dogs

Serving up a menu of classic and outrageous hot dogs and all the fixings. Fan favorites include the Mac & Cheese Dog and the Picnic Dog, and any of them can be made with veggie dogs. roaddogs.com

Street Level Cafe

From grilled cheese sandwiches to cafe lattes, this new truck in town will be serving up locally sourced gourmet treats. Facebook: StreetLevel Cafe

The Burger Bus

The burgers (and their fantastic vegetarian falafel sandwich) are a locavore’s dream. They use local produce and ingredients from the farmers market and are well known for their cheeseburgers topped with jam. theburgerbus.com

vertical TASTING

Hummus

The word hummus (or hommus) means chickpeas in Arabic and has been around since at least medieval Egyptian times. This tasty spread has spread beyond the Middle East to become popular across the world, and we have a producer right here on the Central Coast that makes delicious authentic hummus from the garbanzo beans that they farm. Baba Foods SLO can set you up with a wide variety of hummus flavors, and they offer dried garbanzo beans in case you want to make your own.

Classic

Ingredients: garbanzo beans, sesame tahini, lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, spices, water

This is the original, and it’s a perfect rendition of everything hummus should be. The flavors are very well balanced. Serve it with the usual suspects such as crackers, vegetables, tabbouleh salad or branch out and put it on pizza or use it instead of mayonnaise in potato salad.

Avocado & Cilantro

Ingredients: garbanzo beans, avocado, fresh cilantro, sesame tahini, lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, spices, water

Move over, guacamole! This hummus crosses over easily from its Middle Eastern origins to Mexican food. The avocado gives it an extra richness and can temper spicy foods. Try it with tortilla chips, as a topping for quesadillas or as a garnish for a spicy posole.

Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil

Ingredients: garbanzo beans, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil, sesame tahini, lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, spices, water

Attention picnic lovers: With its flavors of summer, this is one you’ll want to take with you for lunch. The sun-dried tomatoes add a sweetness that goes well with all sorts of savory things. And for dinner, try putting it on top of grilled vegetables or tossing it over some angel hair pasta.

Spicy Red Pepper & Harissa

Ingredients: garbanzo beans, red peppers, harissa, sesame tahini, lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, spices, water

Fire walk with me! Spice fiends will love this one. It has the potential to liven up plenty of meals. Use it on panini, crostini, veggie burgers or even with Indian food. Serve with the Avocado & Cilantro flavor to mellow it out a bit.

Baba Foods SLO hummus can be found at the following farmers markets: Tuesday and Saturday in Santa Barbara, Sunday in Goleta and Wednesday in Solvang. You can also find it at New Frontiers, Plow to Porch and online at babaslo.com.

Season in

Apples

Apricots

Artichokes

Arugula

Asparagus

Avocados

Basil

Bay leaf

Beans

Beets

Blackberries

Blueberries

Bok choy

Broccoli

Cabbage

Cantaloupe

Carrots

Cauliflower

Celery

Chard

Cherries

Chiles

Chives

Cilantro

Collards

Corn

Cucumber

Dandelion

Dill

Eggplant

Figs

Grapefruit

Grapes

Kale

Lavender

Lemons

Lettuce

Limes

Melons

Mint

Mustard greens

Nectarines

Onions, green bunching

Oranges

Oregano

Parsley

Peaches

Peppers

Plums

Radish

Raspberries

Rosemary

Sage

Spinach

Sprouts and legumes

Squash, summer

Strawberries

Thyme

Tomatillo

Tomatoes

Turnips

Watermelon

Available Year-Round:

Almonds (harvested Aug /Sept)

Dates (harvested Sept/Oct)

Garlic (harvested May/June)

Onions, bulb (harvested May/June)

Pistachios (harvested Sept/Oct)

Potatoes (harvested May/June)

Raisins (harvested Sept/Oct)

Squash, winter (harvested July/Oct)

Walnuts (harvested Sept/Oct)

Yams (harvested Aug/Sept)

Fresh Flowers

Potted Plants/Herbs

Local Seafood

Many types of local seafood are available year-round, but here is a list of some that will be in season this summer:

Black cod

Halibut

Rock crab

Rockfish

Spot prawns

Squid

White seabass

Urchin

Regional Dairy (raw milk, artisanal goat- and cow-milk cheeses, butters, curds, yogurts and spreads)

Local Honey

Locally Produced Breads, Pies and Preserves (bread produced from wheat grown locally; pies and preserves)

Local Meat

(antibiotic-free chicken, duck, Cornish game hens, rabbit, goat, grass-fed/ hormone-free beef and pork)

a seasonal recipe

from Valerie Rice

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Makes about 2 cups

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 teaspoon salt

20 small wild tomatillos or 10 cultivated ones, husked

2 jalapeños, or 1 serrano and 1 jalapeño

1 tablespoon cilantro leaves, chopped

Roast your tomatillos and peppers in a dry cast-iron skillet.

Valerie Rice of the blog Eat-Drink-Garden.com shares one of her quintessential summer recipes with us.

Green salsa can be made any number of ways, but this roasted version is my favorite. It’s a great condiment for Mexican food of all types and a fantastic option on grilled fish, shrimp or octopus, and it complements roasted chicken deliciously.

Wild tomatillos are smaller than cultivated ones—these are the size of cherry tomatoes. Their flavor is much bolder, more assertive. I often let them dry for weeks in their husks before roasting them, which amps up their sweetness. They will last for months in a dry pantry to use throughout the year.

Sometimes with salsa recipes the flavors and heat levels depend on the ingredients at your disposal. Here I give you some options to let you play with the flavors a bit. And call me crazy but I prefer the taste of the salsa made in the molcajete, or mortar and pestle, to salsa made in the food processor. You can taste the difference. Amazing!

In a molcajete (or mortar and pestle) combine the garlic and salt. Next, remove the stems of the peppers and mash, then add the tomatillos, followed by the cilantro leaves.

Taste for seasoning and serve.

seasonal Recipes

Quick Pickled Cucumbers

Seek out the smaller and nearly seedless Persian cucumbers. They have smooth, thin skin that doesn’t require peeling, and they are tender and crisp with a mild sweet flavor.

These lightly pickled cucumbers make a salad on their own, or they are handy to keep in the refrigerator for additions to sandwiches, wraps or just plain snacking. Makes 4 servings

3–4 Persian cucumbers or 1 large English cucumber

1 ⁄4 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

1 ⁄4 teaspoon local honey

1 ⁄4 cup rice vinegar

1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

Coarse sea salt and red pepper flakes, to taste

You can leave the skin on or partially peel the cucumbers, leaving alternating green stripes. Slice into thin rounds and place in a large bowl. In a small bowl combine ginger, honey, rice vinegar, sesame oil, salt and red pepper flakes.

Whisk to combine, pour over the cucumbers and stir to mix. Chill them in the refrigerator for 1–3 hours before serving. These will easily keep in the refrigerator for 2–5 days.

Our Edible Eater for summer is Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider. Elected to this post in 2009, Helene is an avid fan of the bounty that Santa Barbara has to offer. Not only local food and beverage producers and farms, but the community that contributes to them—growing, creating and consuming in a conscious way.

What brought you to Santa Barbara? What keeps you here—and what makes Santa Barbara so special to you?

Interviewed by Shannon Essa Helene Schneider

I moved here after college and, like many people in their 20s, fell in love with this place. It’s not just the ocean, mountains and incredible weather—what makes this city so special are the people and how this community is so active with their time, talents and treasure to make Santa Barbara reach its best potential. Santa Barbarans are also extremely creative. I learned about this creativity watching my first Solstice Parade in the early 1990s, and have continued to be in awe at our creative community and how it creates a strong economic base for our city. Perhaps it is the 300+ days of sunshine a year we enjoy here that makes us want to get out, interact with each other, enjoy ourselves, eat well and play a lot. We are so fortunate to live in this slice of paradise.

How do you think the local food movement affects the Santa Barbara community?

It is really exciting to witness our community get more in touch with where their food comes from and the importance of being a locavore. I especially value seeing it at elementary schools, where the students plant food on their campus that is then prepared in their cafeteria and consumed on the

premises. You know that they are bringing those values home to their parents and siblings. I was shocked to learn just recently that 85% or more of our local food supply is shipped out of the area and we import that same amount. If Santa Barbara wants to be the environmentally sustainable community we tout ourselves to be, then we must include where our food supply comes from as part of our everyday living. Santa Barbara should not just be known as the birthplace of the modern environmental movement, we should strive to continue being an environmental leader both nationally and globally today and into the future. The local food movement is a tangible way for every person to play a proactive and positive role towards that goal every time they go food shopping, plant a garden or eat out at a restaurant.

Name three things that are always in your kitchen.

A variety of dried chilies for experimental cooking, at least one bottle of robust red wine and sesame oil.

What celebrity chef do you totally dig?

I’ve always been a Wolfgang Puck fan.

What are some of your favorite things to eat in Santa Barbara County?

Where to start! I love sitting on Brophy’s patio and having an oyster shooter, especially when the sun is hitting the mountains just right at the end of the day. Tri-tip barbecues are special, as is a good carne asada burrito. I have a very old apricot tree at home that is producing small but very sweet fruit one to two weeks every June. I’m a big fan of small

plates—and there are so many places to enjoy them. And sushi—especially anything with yellowtail.

Name your top five local guilty pleasures.

The truffle grilled cheese sandwich at C’est Cheese, croissants from Renaud’s Patisserie, Paradise Pie from the Paradise Café, the macaroni and cheese at Lazy Acres and McConnell’s Chocolate Raspberry Truffle ice cream.

Friends are visiting from out of town. What two or three places would you want to visit with them?

The tower at the county courthouse—especially on a clear day. A walk along the harbor’s breakwater towards the memorial-atsea seating area. And the Beachside Café or Shoreline Café— there’s just something magical having a nice meal with your feet in the sand or overlooking the ocean.

Describe the perfect “food day” in Santa Barbara County. I would start the day at home with a few friends for brunch with local fruit (including fresh-squeezed OJ from oranges picked from my backyard tree), omelets and good coffee. From there, we’d head out to the Santa Ynez Valley and visit a couple of wineries (preferably with a wine club member in the group!) and pick a place to enjoy a picnic lunch—with wine, some sparkling water and nibbles like a French baguette, assorted

cheeses, olives, roasted veggies, salami and then something sweet. Afterwards, we’d head back home and, depending on our energy level, take a walk on the beach or take a nap. That evening, we’d get a little dressed up and go out to one of Santa Barbara’s many fine restaurants and splurge a little. Then end the day knowing I have plenty of time tomorrow to work out at the gym.

What is the most offbeat food or dish you have ever tasted?

Durian fruit. Definitely not my favorite!

What is it that you like about Edible Santa Barbara magazine? Can you name a favorite article?

Edible Santa Barbara magazine fills a nice niche in what makes our community so special. I especially appreciate the combination of articles and tips of where to go to buy or eat great food in Santa Barbara, along with where our local food comes from and the personalities behind the plates. One great article that met both criteria was the Summer 2010 cover story, “Young Farmers: Changing the World from the Ground Up.”

Shannon Essa is a California native whose beverage of choice is Santa Barbara Pinot Noir. She is the author of restaurant guidebook Chow Venice! and splits her time between Santa Barbara and Europe, writing and leading wine-, beerand food-based tours in Spain and Italy for Grapehops Tours.

LIQUID ASSETS

focus on Chardonnay

by Laura Sanchez

The golden spectrum of wines produced from Chardonnay grapes reflects the varietal’s innate versatility and grace. Chardonnay can be brightly illuminating. It can sing with purity or swirl with alluring earthiness. It can evoke the intricate architecture of a Gothic cathedral or the curves of a pin-up in a satin dress.

Here in Santa Barbara County we are fortunate to not only have many world-class Chardonnay producers, but also an annual educational event dedicated to this variety. The Chardonnay Symposium offers both a celebration of the varietal’s character and a tonal study of the subtle flavors and textures, melodies and bass notes that make each wine exquisitely unique. Now in its third year, the Chardonnay Symposium is the only event of its kind in the United States focusing on the golden grape.

History of Chardonnay

The varietal has its origins in the Mâcon region of Burgundy in a village called Chardonnay (whose name means “place of cardoons or thistles.” According to DNA studies, Chardonnay is a genetic cross between French Pinot Noir and Gouais Blanc, a varietal that Romans brought to eastern France from Croatia. The first written record of Chardonnay is found in the 1330 A.D. vineyard journal of Cistercian monks who were the first to plant the varietal for wine production and distribution.

In the New World, California’s Chardonnay plantings date back to the late 1800s, though most early Chardonnay vineyards were uprooted during Prohibition. Wente Vineyard in Livermore and La Cresta Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains were two surviving Chardonnay vineyards whose budwood was used to reintroduce Chardonnay into California. In the 1976 Judgment of Paris, a blind tasting conducted by French judges, California’s Chateau Montelena won top honors. With this victory California Chardonnay earned added credibility and demand for it subsequently increased.

While in 1960 it was estimated that only 150 acres of Chardonnay existed in California, today Chardonnay is California’s most widely planted and produced varietal (with over 95,271 acres planted as of 2010). It represents the most popular wine in glasses across the United States and has achieved recognition as the nation’s leading wine varietal for the last decade.

Viticulture

Chardonnay vines are highly adaptable, allowing them to flourish in many winegrowing regions. However, soil composition, climate and rootstock selection greatly influence vine vigor. They typically thrive in well-draining conditions with high moisture availability such as limestone, chalk and deep valley-bottom soils.

The vines’ extensive leaf coverage can inhibit the energy and nutrient uptake of its grape clusters, a circumstance that vineyard managers address by pruning and careful canopy management. Vines are also typically trained to bilateral cordons and spur pruned.

Vine growth can be limited in windy areas and Chardonnay’s tendency to bud early makes it particularly susceptible to spring frosts. Vines are also highly susceptible to powdery mildew, bunch botrytis and Pierce’s Disease.

Chardonnay berries are small, thin-skinned and fragile, making them extra sensitive to terroir. Their tangy, sweet juices directly reflect the geological conditions, climate and geography of the region in which they were cultivated. Cool climates tend to produce an abundance of fruit flavors such as apple, pineapple, peach, melon and lemon. Chardonnay grown in warmer climates typically yields richer-toned honey and butterscotch flavors.

Vinification

Chardonnay not only flourishes in diverse growing regions, but it is made into an array of wines of varying styles: crisp, fruitforward wines; fleshy, full-bodied wines; and elegantly effervescent sparkling wines, revealing the varietal’s inherent flexibility. By employing a variety of techniques, winemakers are able to produce stylistic and structural differences on Chardonnay’s blank canvas and craft wines that express a unique interpretation of the varietal. Yeast selection, cooperage, racking, lees stirring and malolactic fermentation are fundamental decisions that determine the flavor profile of the resulting wine. The creative interpretations of Chardonnay are diverse, offering a gilded array of palate-pleasing variations.

To Learn More About Chardonnay

The Chardonnay Symposium will be held June 29–July 1, 2012. It will feature more than 50 Chardonnay producers from around the world, celebrity chef demonstrations, food tastings and an educational panel session moderated by Wine Enthusiast’s Steve Heimoff. For tickets and more information, visit thechardonnaysymposium.com

edible

Books Summer Reading Guide

Here are a few suggestions for people who read cookbooks like novels and can’t resist a good read that provides some recipes, too. As an added bonus, two are from local authors.

A Menu for All Seasons: Spring, and four-season boxed set

(M27 Editions)

By Pascale Beale, foreward by Bradley Ogden

72 pages, hardcover, $29.95 and $110 for boxed set of four

Number of recipes: 36; 8 menus

With a new revised edition of Spring, local author Pascale Beale has completed a boxed set of cookbooks covering each season in her inimitable style. As a regular contributor to Edible Santa Barbara, Pascale may be familiar to readers of this magazine for her lyrical compositions and market-inspired recipes. Her books take this even a step further with a series of menus for entertaining with accompanying cooking schedules that make it a snap to pull off an exquisite dinner party. In the new Spring edition we find our mouths watering over recipes for Roasted Duck Legs with Cherries and Shallots, Strawberry and Mint Salad with an Orange Cognac Sauce, and Marcona Almond and Lemon Thyme Meringues. If you are new to this series, you are highly encouraged to go ahead and buy the boxed set. These are books you will treasure.

Edible Seattle: The Cookbook

(Sterling Publishing)

Edited by Jill Lightner, foreword by Tracey Ryder, photographs by Carole Topalian

174 pages, hardcover, $19.95

Number of recipes: 107

We are thrilled (though understandably biased) to rave about the latest Edible cookbook: Edible Seattle. Once again the package is beautiful, with a dust jacket that unfolds to a detailed illustrative map of Seattle. Anyone from Seattle will covet this book. And the many West Coast ingredients will make this cookbook useful in local kitchens as well. How about Sunchoke and Chanterelle Hash, Crispy Chili Shrimp Sliders or Peanut Butter and Jelly Ice Cream Sandwiches? As an added bonus the book features many profiles of farmers, food producers and ingredients that have made Seattle so unique—from James Hall of Taylor Shellfish to Mark Bodinet of Copperleaf Restaurant to Joe Whinney of Theo Chocolate. This is a book to savor.

The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making

(Clarkson Potter/ Publishers)

By Alana Chernila

287 pages, paperback, $24.99

Number of recipes: 101

Isn’t it time we kicked the packagedfood habit? It suddenly becomes an achievable dream with this cookbook. The basics are covered with recipes for mayonnaise, salsa, ranch dressing, granola and yogurt. But then you find yourself eyeing the recipes for tortillas, graham crackers, toaster pastries and chai. Parents will love the many kid-friendly recipes, some of which would make great projects for kids this summer. The book also happens to be a really great read. The introductions to each section are part informative and part food memoir. The section “Toaster Pastries or The Taste of Apology” starts off with a story about the author getting involved in local politics, and we find out that the recipe emerged out of maternal guilt. With variations both sweet and savory, it could become her signature recipe. This book is a keeper.

The Ultimate AllergyFree Snack Cookbook: Over 100 Kid-Friendly Recipes for the Allergic Child

(SquareOne Publishers)

By Judi and Shari Zucker

133 pages, hardcover, $15.95

Number of recipes: 100+

Local authors (and twins!) Judi and Shari Zucker are well known for their cookbooks and their approach to healthy eating. In their latest book, they turn their attention to those who suffer from allergies. The recipes are vegetarian and free of eggs, cow’s milk, soy, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish—the most common allergenic foods. They are also free of gluten and refined white sugar. Amazingly enough the recipes are also simple to prepare and kid pleasing. What kid wouldn’t go for the Sweet Potato Fries, Mini Veggie Burgers, Confetti Popcorn Balls or a Banana Frosty Freeze? This book is required reading for any parent—and for parents with kids who have allergies it will be a lifesaver.

EDIBLE GARDEN

Beneficial Insects FIGHTING BUGS WITH BUGS

Sby Joan S. Bolton

Use of predator insects dates back some 1,700 years, to when citrus growers in China colonized yellow fear ants. The growers linked their trees with bamboo strips so the predator ants could more easily move from one infestation to the next.

Most of us were introduced to beneficials when we were children, via ladybugs. The cute, round bugs are real charmers. However, their ability to annihilate pests should not be underestimated. Indeed, the importation of Australian ladybird beetles to Southern California in the 1880s saved the fledgling citrus industry from a deadly wipeout threatened by cottony cushion scale.

Getting Started

Today, aphids are often the gateway pest that sparks interest in beneficial insects. Ron Whitehurst, a pest control advisor and co-owner of Rincon-Vitova Insectaries, a company in Ventura that produces and distributes insects and other organisms, supplies and tools for biological control of pests, advises first simply blasting aphids with water. Next up, a soapy solution of an ounce and a half of liquid soap to a gallon of water.

If neither works, he then suggests releasing beneficial insects. Ladybugs are a good start, especially early in the year when other beneficials might not be as active. They are voracious eaters: a single black- and orange-spotted alligator-shaped larva may eat 400 aphids before it pupates, while an adult may eat 5,000 aphids during its yearlong life.

tand in the middle of your garden, close your eyes and listen. Mentally screen out any urban noise—planes overhead, barking dogs, traffic, children—and focus on the natural world. You might hear the hum of honeybees, chirping of birds, wind rustling through leaves or tall grass, or rhythmic drips of moving water.

Those familiar sounds bring a feeling of peace, right? But take out a magnifying glass and you’ll find that that sense of calm masks a silent war of sorts. On a microscopic level, pests and predators are battling to the death amid the leaves and soil of our gardens.

That’s not a bad thing. To flip it, predators of pests are actually beneficial. They help keep our gardens healthy by combating pests that might otherwise damage or destroy our crops.

When temperatures warm up, green lacewings can be even more effective. The larvae devour not only aphids, but caterpillar pests, eggs and young larvae of Colorado potato beetles, flea beetles, leafhoppers, mealy bugs, psyllids, scales, spider mites, thrips and whiteflies. As a bonus: Unlike ladybugs, green lacewing larvae can’t fly away. Also, it’s interesting to note that once the larvae mature to gossamer-winged adults, they become vegetarians, supping only on pollen and nectar.

Beyond Aphids

To conquer spider mites, thrips, moths and other pests, a second tier of beneficial insects awaits.

Neoseiulus californicus is a predator that battles spider mites as well as persea mites, which are especially pernicious bugs that suck the chlorophyll from avocado leaves and eventually defoliate the trees.

Ladybug (above) and green lacewing (above right).

CAROLE TOPALIAN

Minute pirate bugs go after western flower thrips and onion thrips. For a one-two punch, Ambleyseius cucumeris tackles thrips on the upper part of a plant, while Hypoaspis miles is a soil-dwelling mite that feeds on thrips as they drop on the soil to pupate.

Trichogramma wasps are parasitic insects that lay their eggs within the eggs of over 200 pest moth species. The trichogramma larvae eat the innards of the pest eggs, pupate, then emerge as winged adults, ready to lay ever more eggs. The wasps are especially effective against cabbage caterpillars and worms.

Creating a Habitat

You can grow your own beneficial insects by the way you garden. To entice beneficials in the first place, or to encourage them to stick around after they’ve devoured your pests, sustenance is a must.

The trick is to plant plants that provide a succession of pollen and nectar year-round. The patch can be left a little weedy or wild and should never be sprayed.

Look for plants that bear umbel-shaped flowers that make nectar readily available, such as cilantro, dill, fennel and anise.

Other herbs to sustain beneficials include angelica, anise hyssop, borage, caraway, chamomile, marjoram, oregano, parsley, sage, teucrium, thyme and yarrow. Native plants include milkweed, saltbush, coyote brush, wild lilac, buckwheat, toyon, bladder pod and coffeeberry.

A handful of miscellaneous plants includes golden marguerite, bell beans, black-eyed peas, bachelor’s buttons, corn, cosmos, sweet alyssum, yellow sweet clover, sunflowers and white clover.

Lending a Hand

After you’ve built up an ecosystem and colonized beneficials in one spot, it’s easy to move them to wherever trouble is brewing by spraying an attractant.

For instance, if aphids are massing on your broccoli, Whitehurst advises mixing equal parts sugar and dried brewer’s yeast with water. Spray the solution as large droplets to simulate honeydew, which should then draw in aphid predators, such as lacewings, ladybugs and hoverflies.

Helping Combat the Enemy

While beneficial insects dominate their prey, they are vulnerable to ants. “Ants collect the honeydew, the sugary poop from aphids, whitefly, scale,” Whitehurst said. “If they’re working the plants, they will be collecting that honeydew and driving off the beneficial insects that are trying to eat the pests that are generating their candy.”

Controlling ants, then, is an important aspect of supporting and maintaining your beneficials. Whitehurst recommends buying or mixing up a borate-based bait. The ants will eat the bait, take it back to their colonies and perish.

Joan S. Bolton is a freelance writer, garden coach and garden designer who confesses to a lifelong love affair with plants. She and her husband, Tom, have filled their four-acre property in western Goleta with natives and other colorful, water-conserving plants. They also maintain avocado, citrus and fruit trees and grow vegetables and herbs year-round. SantaBarbaraGardens.com

NAtural Wine

by Louis Villard

Some winemakers in Santa Barbara and the Central Coast are embracing some of the many facets of the natural wine movement using minimal intervention and creating less commercially oriented wines.

Ivividly remember my first sip of natural wine.

Deep in the Roussillon region of Southern France—Maury, to be exact—eating an earthy wild boar stew, I was presented with a glass of what I thought was cheap balsamic vinegar.

“It smells acetic,” I said to the grinning winemaker who handed it to me.

“No, it’s natural.”

Natural? I had no idea what that meant. Was this some sort of prank? He was certainly looking at me the way people do when you don’t laugh after an obvious joke. Half grin, half waiting for my light to go on.

I looked back down at the glass, gave it another swirl and sniffed again. Yes, there was fruit but technically speaking the wine was a glossary of faults.

Clearly, whatever the punch line was, I had missed it.

That was nearly 10 years ago, when no one was really talking about natural wine. Today if you search for “natural wine” on the internet, or ask in your local wine shop, or even stop a random winemaker in the street, you will get answers so divided, so polarized and in a lot of cases so absolute in their opinion that you might think you’ve accidently wandered into some sort of heated political debate.

Natural wine is wine that has been made without any chemical interference—in the vineyard or the winery. Most importantly there is very little use, if any at all, of sulfur dioxide (S02) the most common of preservatives in wine. The grapes are grown, usually organically or biodynamically, and then brought in to the winery to be left, pretty much, to their own devices.

Sashi Moorman of Piedrasassi in Lompoc defines the style quite simply: “Natural wine is where the wine was made without adding anything or taking away anything

from the grapes/wine.” That is, no sulfur, no acid, no sugar, no tannins, etc. and no fining or filtering. Phillip Hart of AmByth Estate has a more terse explanation: “I think making natural wine is a straightforward topic, it’s obvious—no additions.”

Although it might sound simple enough, the theory, movement and resulting products of natural winemaking are very complex indeed. This is in part due to the fact that “natural” wine, unlike its brethren “organic” and “biodynamic,” has no governing body. This leaves room for interpretation and lack of consensus amongst producers on what natural is and how natural a wine can be.

Categorizing “Natural”

The degrees of strictness on how natural a winemaker wants to be are entirely selfimposed. In the vineyard, for instance, organic vine growing allows sulfur to be sprayed on the grapes (biodynamic does not). Arguably if you are a natural wine maker this sulfur could conflict with the ethos of a pure product (but there are also arguments that sulfur is a natural element). The sulfur debate can be continued within the winery too. As mentioned above, S02 is the most commonly used chemical in winemaking; in fact, it has been fighting microbial spoilage in wine for more than 2,000 years. Again, we are presented with a dilemma a natural winemaker might face: use S02 (sparingly) to help aid in wine stabilization or trust that the grapes were grown with enough microbial fighting components to stave off any potential problems.

There are also other choices, like using (and trusting) the unpredictable, naturally occurring wild yeasts found on the grape skins to start fermentation, rather than packaged commercial yeast that will kick-start your fermentation like

a finely tuned motorcycle but will also affect the flavor.

Then, of course, there is the name “natural” itself, which creates a feeling of ire in many people involved in the wine industry. “‘Natural wine’ is a dangerous term and suggests that there is such a thing as unnatural wine,” explains Nick de Luca from Ground Effect Wine Co. De Luca is making wine here in Santa Barbara with grapes from both Santa Ynez Valley and Paso Robles and is admittedly not the strictest of natural producers. “The discussion on natural wine often turns into a series of claims as to whose wine is more natural. It isn’t dissimilar to whose wine is more ripe or whose wine is more highly scored. Natural doesn’t equal better; it simply is less commercially oriented and, potentially, more indicative of the site on which the grapes were grown.”

Osborne, a New Zealand expat, only makes Grenache, with organic grapes sourced from a very remote vineyard behind the Los Padres National Forest, near Ventucopa. “I am not doing it to be dogmatic. When you believe in something that passionately, of course, you almost scorn those who do it an opposite way. It just goes with true passion for anything.”

“Winemakers always talk about non-intervention

producing, but with natural wine

it can be

agreed that from soil to bottle it is produced with the very least bit of intervention.”

Then, above all else, there is the wine itself. As with “normal” wines there are bad apples amongst the bunch. The same rings true with natural wines. “Natural wines are risky wines. They are not protected from oxidation or microbial influences that can lead to potentially ‘off’ aromas and/or flavors. Assuming you are buying a natural wine from a good producer (bad producers will still produce bad natural wines), you have to appreciate this risk,” explains Moorman, who between a myriad of other projects is making a completely natural Syrah under his PS label.

AmByth Estate in Paso Robles might possibly be home to the strictest of these natural producers. Phillip Hart is one of the polar sides when entering the natural wine debate—he is very passionate about the non-use of chemicals when growing and making wine.

“The first premise I hold is that you can’t make natural wine without natural grapes,” he says. To Hart, there is little debate: You are either natural or you are not, with maybe only a hint of gray area. “Detractors of natural wine, I notice, love the ‘What does natural mean?’ question. They might say vegetables planted in rows are not natural. I say, semantics, you either get it or you don’t, conversation can proceed from there or stop, discuss something completely different, like architecture.” His diatribes are spoken without rancor, but with a humorous edge.

Angela Osborne, winemaker/owner of A Tribute to Grace, is not as—in her own words—militant. “As far as my winemaking goes, it makes the most sense to me to be as honest as possible. I’ve hemmed and hawed with the real components of purely natural winemaking, where nothing is added including sulfur, but at this point, I am buying grapes that are in need of a little sulfur in the wine.”

One other winemaker to note is Mike Roth; he is making wine at Martian Ranch and Vineyard. The vineyard is located in Los Alamos and is one year from being biodynamic certified. Roth’s approach is simplicity at its best. Inspired by the Beaujolais producer Jules Chauvet, who is widely considered the grandfather of natural wine, Roth admires the unpretentiousness and easy-drinking wines of the southern Burgundy region. “I’d rather have a bottle of my wine drunk every night at a table, than taken out of the cellar once a year. You can’t do that if you are making these massively overpriced and over-extracted wines. If there’s less ego involved it’s more about the wine.”

It took a few years for me to understand why that natural wine producer was grinning so much. It wasn’t, as I originally thought, an attempt to pull my leg, but rather an attempt to share with me an idea. That in today’s world of manufactured products, there was a different, less intrusive approach. His product wasn’t perfect (though I am unsure if he knew this) but the concept was sound, and at the time I was too narrow-minded to accept it. Not until several years later when I came across my second natural winemaker— this time an Italian, Paolo Bea, who makes excellent wine, regardless of being natural—that I reflected on my first experience, and had a complete understanding of what it was all about.

Winemakers always talk about non-intervention producing, but with natural wine it can be agreed that from soil to bottle it is produced with the very least bit of intervention. Therefore when we talk about sense of place, of terroir, natural wine could be considered the truest, most pure form of that. Moorman echoes this thought: “Natural wine is the most analog experience you can have with a wine. It is the closest you can get to producing something consumable from the idea of terroir—that a place, a geography, a landscape, a microclimate is evident in the taste of a wine.”

Louis Villard has spent the past 15 years working in wine, from making it in the South of France to serving it in London’s Michelin-starred restaurants. Now, he’s trekking his native California and reporting on what’s exciting and new. His blog is spiltwine.com

Los Alamos

by Shannon Essa

PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRAN COLLIN

It’s surprising how many people aren’t familiar with this gem of a little town—45 minutes north of the city of Santa Barbara and within minutes of many wineries in Santa Ynez Valley.

As a lifelong resident of California who has driven Highway 101 between Northern and Southern California for decades, I’ve passed the sign for the Skyview Motel in Los Alamos many times. Before I finally stayed there, I more often than not wondered what went on up there.

In 2004 I had my first opportunity to find out when my boyfriend and I stayed at the Skyview. Our exploration was brief but memorable. We had a drink in the Union Hotel and a meal at the now-closed Twin Oaks Diner. The next morning we left, and that was all we saw of Los Alamos. While we had a great time eating and drinking there, I would never have called it a culinary destination.

Fast forward to 2012 and Los Alamos has changed. It is now, most definitely, a culinary destination. And I am staying at the Skyview Motel for a full week, to see how much I can eat and drink before I explode. (The answer—a lot.)

Light-years away from the hustle and bustle of Los Olivos and Solvang, there is one main street in town: Bell Street. The people here are quirky and cool, and backing it all up are superior edibles. You could spend a long weekend here, never leaving town, and have a truly stellar eating and drinking experience. If you like art and antiques as well, you will really love Los Alamos.

Opposite page from top left: The Los Alamos sign; Brett Stephens; porchetta sandwich from Bell Street Farms; the old gas pump in front of The Station; Union Hotel; rotisserie chicken from Bell Street Farms. This page from top left: Skyview Motel; detail from the Union Hotel. Background and inset photo: The porch in front of the Union Hotel.

The Visionary

While I was drinking with the folks down at the Union Hotel bar, Clark Staub was beginning to make his flatbread pizzas at Full of Life Flatbread. Now, people come from not only the Central Coast to eat there, but from all over the country. Besides flatbread pizza, Clark and his chef Brian Collins create salads, appetizers and desserts (and even an entrée or two on Sundays) from ingredients that are entirely local.

Regardless of the night or what is on the menu, there is something very special about Full of Life Flatbread. Filled with families, local winemakers, friends meeting up for a night out and chefs from other restaurants, a meal at Flatbread is like a meal in a cozy barn with a big, beautiful pizza oven and a bunch of happy friends. Sous-chef Brett Stephens, the man in charge of the pizza oven, juggles pans brought out from the

main kitchen, a multitude of pizzas, even desserts, seemingly not breaking into a sweat while dancing in front of fire. Dinner theatre, Los Alamos style.

The success of Full of Life Flatbread has added life to Los Alamos and has helped pave the way for others to do the same. There is something for everyone there, and something suitable for every mood, from basic to healthy to on-the-edge. Not just a meal, but an experience. “Our customers don’t go out for dinner,” Clark tells me. “They go out for Flatbread.”

Then there are the frozen Full of Life Flatbread pizzas. I believe Staub is a visionary not only for his restaurant achievement but for his unique frozen pizza. I would not want to feed my young nephews a frozen pizza with 200 ingredients and a high dose of sodium. Staub’s product? All natural, all organic and really tasty to boot. Now if he could just tackle frozen macaroni and cheese, we would be all set.

Clark Staub, the visionary behind Full of Life Flatbread.

The Historian

“His popular tasting room events could just as easily be centered on Abraham Lincoln as on local mushrooms or garlic.”

Walking into the tasting room of Bedford Winery is like walking into an antiquarian library—one with a bar and really good wine. Owner and winemaker Stephan Bedford has been making wine for decades and has had his tasting room on Bell Street for several years. Most of the week you’ll find Bedford’s über-fun and friendly tasting room manager, Helen Daniels. On Sundays and Mondays, you’ll likely be poured your tastes by Stephan himself. He’s not content making the tried and true standbys of the area—Pinot Noir, Syrah, Chardonnay— though he does make them too. He likes making other wines with interesting, different and often misunderstood varietals like Riesling and Gewürztraminer. He also does not hesitate to educate the nonbeliever. Hanging out in the tasting room one Sunday afternoon, I eavesdropped as a taster declined to taste the Riesling. “It’s too sweet,” the taster said. “Not to be overly aggressive or anything,” Stephan told him, “but what makes you think that?” He is not asking this because he is offended—he asks because he wants to know why this guy has the opinion he does, and perhaps to change it.

Stephan is interested in American history, botany and a multitude of other subjects. His popular tasting room events could just as easily be centered on Abraham Lincoln as on local mushrooms or garlic. And the man makes everything—his own prosciutto, his own sauerkraut, his own mustard. He is a delight to talk to, and so is Helen. If one were ever to decide to get over their fear of Riesling, this would be the place to do it.

Stephen Bedford reading a book about botanist Luther Burbank.

The Trailblazers

Jesper Johansson is practically an old-timer. He has been living and cooking in Los Alamos since 1999. A Swedish native and talented chef, he was about to move back to Sweden when Ralph Quackenbush and John Morley approached him about running a café and espresso bar adjacent to their art gallery. That was a pretty innovative idea for Los Alamos at that time. But Café Quackenbush quickly built up a loyal clientele who come in for breakfast, a sandwich at lunch or a coffee and pastry on the run. The café and the gallery are housed in the town’s old general store. There is a rustic and antique feel to the place—combined with the bright colors of the contemporary and California Plein Air art on the walls, it seems that Johansson and his partners set the bar pretty high when they opened. This is a place I would imagine in San Francisco, not Los Alamos, but they did it anyway.

Now, it is the mainstay. Open six days a week (instead of just weekends) and with servers who probably know, by name, 75% of their customers, Café Quackenbush is popular not only with locals but also with a lot of people needing a place to stop for lunch on a north-south 101 road trip. The pages of the guest book are signed from people all over the world. Even Sean Connery has eaten there. It is the place for breakfast on the weekends. It is a good place to stop in for the lunch special on a cold Wednesday. It is also a great place for a glass of wine accompanied by journal writing and staring into space. Like the great cafés of Europe, it fills many needs—the fact that it is on a quiet street in a small town makes it that much more remarkable.

The Irrepressibly Lovable

Jamie Gluck is one of the new kids on the block, but he has been a part-time resident of Los Alamos for several years. It all started when friends canceled a trip to Europe due to 9/11 and ended up vacationing, then buying a house, in Los Alamos instead. “Where?” was Jamie’s reply, but on his first visit to his friends’ new house he and his partner were also smitten and ended up buying a second home in town as well.

Jesper Johansson in the kitchen at Café Quackenbush.

Jamie Gluck of Bell Street Farms.

Burned out on working in advertising in Los Angeles, he decided to follow his dream and opened Bell Street Farm in late 2011. The place is equal parts café, wine bar, retail store and salon gathering place (both Clark from Full of Life Flatbread and Jesper from Café Quackenbush were eating lunch in there one Monday when I stopped in). It is very hard not to fall in love instantly with Gluck and the space he has created. He greets everyone with his now (to me, at least) trademark cowboy hat and a smile. He has gorgeous cookbooks and lotions and other tempting things to buy. And then there is the food.

Jamie’s right hand man in the kitchen, Evan Klein, worked at Full of Life Flatbread before he helped open Bell Street Farm, and he is a quiet young man very passionate about food. He lives in, and loves, Los Alamos. This is not a guy who is going to let something less than perfect leave his kitchen. Cooking comes as naturally to Evan as a warm welcome comes from Jamie. Talking about the fabulous pâtés of Paris (Evan lived there for a few months at one point in his life), Evan told me “I like my pâté.” He grinds his own meat and uses local Santa Barbara Pistachios. Served with mustard, it makes the perfect wine country picnic lunch. They also do a great rotisserie chicken—I lived on a half of one, and a couple of their cold salads, during the quiet midweek evenings I was staying up at the Skyview. My breakfast, too, came from Bell Street Farm—handfuls of their excellent homemade granola, tossed unadorned and milk-free into my mouth. It is wonderful stuff.

The Cool Chick

Sonja Magdevski is so charming, so warm, and so welcoming it is not hard to understand why this town has embraced her. She is the winemaker for Casa Dumetz, along with fiancée Emilio Estevez as her assistant, using grapes from their organically farmed Malibu estate as well as from Santa Ynez Valley vineyards. Now in Los Alamos she has created a fun and hip place in which to taste their wines. Sonja’s tasting room—called Babi’s, after her grandmother—is unusual and beautiful at the same time. Found art and architectural salvage adorn the walls. There is something to look at everywhere, right down to the labels on every bottle. Making wine in the Santa Ynez Valley for a few years and on the lookout for a tasting room in Los Olivos, Solvang or Buellton, Sonja could not find the “fit” she was searching for. She’d been coming to Los Alamos for years to hang out and, like so many others, fell in love with the town. Then, walking down Bell Street one day, the space that was

Evan Klein takes a break to eat one of his sandwiches.

At the bar with Sonja Magdevski.

to become her tasting room called out to her. Now, she is firmly entrenched in this community. She hosts a speaker series called “Words to Live By” every other Friday night with a series of eclectic talks, and all are welcome. As for the person who walks into her tasting room, they could end up staying and talking to Sonja for hours. They won’t be disappointed with her lineup of wines, either, which includes a Viognier, Syrah Rosé, Grenache, Pinot Noir and Syrah, as well as a sparkling Syrah Rosé called Sonja’s Suds.

Doing her best to make the best wine she can, Los Alamos seems the best place to pour it, too. “When new people arrive here they feel as if they have discovered something fantastic, which is true,” Sonja says, “but it is still so fresh to them. It is great to see the amazement and wonder in their faces. I love it when people say, ‘We were just stopping for gas and we have fallen in love with this place! Who knew?’ they will say. Well, we knew. And now they do, too.”

I have also fallen in love with Los Alamos. I knew the potential was there—I just needed to spend some time there to make it happen. I love the sense of community—everyone profiled here is an advocate of everyone else. Jesper Johansson tells you to check out Bell Street Farm. Jamie meets with Evan over at Café Quackenbush. Clark is having a glass of wine at Sonja’s. Everyone says to go to Charlie’s for a burger, which I have yet to do, but it’s on my list.

I love the people—all so passionate about what they are doing and their place in Los Alamos and the world. And of course, I love the food and the wine. Part land-that-timeforgot, and part cutting-edge art, food and wine destination, Los Alamos is, well, all heart.

Shannon Essa is a California native whose beverage of choice is Santa Barbara Pinot Noir. She is the author of restaurant guidebook Chow Venice! and splits her time between Santa Barbara and Europe, writing and leading wine-, beer- and food-based tours in Spain and Italy for Grapehops Tours.

Restaurants and Wine Tasting

Los Alamos is, for the most part, a “long weekend” destination and while it is possible to eat and drink midweek, the best time to visit is Thursday through Monday.

Full of Life Flatbread

225 Bell Street; 805 344-4400; Thu–Sat 5–10pm, Sun 4–8pm; fulloflifefoods.com. Also check out the trailer for a documentary about Flatbread by director Michael Albright at ayearfulloflife.com

Bedford Winery

448 Bell Street; 805 344-2107; daily 11am–5pm; bedfordwinery.com

Café Quackenbush

458 Bell Street; 805 344-5181; Tue–Sun 8am–4pm; generalstoreca.com

Bell Street Farm

406 Bell Street; 805 344-4609; Fri–Mon 10am–6pm; bellstreetfarm.com

Babi’s Tasting Room (Casa Dumetz Wines)

448 Bell Street, Suite B; 805 344-1900; Fri and Sat 11am–7pm, Sun 11am–6pm; casadumetzwines.com

Charlie’s Burgers

97 Den Street; 805 344-4404; Mon–Sat 8am–8pm, Sun 7:30am–7pm

Art & Antiques

Besides the allure of its food and wine, Los Alamos is a great art and antiques destination. This list is by no means complete—wander around to find many more treasures.

Art Brut Gallery

458 Bell Street, 805 344-4440; generalstoreca.com

The C Gallery

466 Bell Street; 805 344-3807; thecgallery.com

The Depot

515 Bell Street; 805 344-3315; losalamosca.com/losalamosdepotmall.html

Terramonary

285 Bell Street; 805 344-1460; terramonary.com

Hotels

The Skyview Motel

9150 Highway 101; 888 226-6665; theskyviewmotel.com

The Union Hotel

362 Bell Street; 805 344-2744; 1880unionhotel.com

The Victorian Mansion

326 Bell Street; 805 344-1300; thevick.com

Events

Bedford Winery and Babi’s Tasting Room host interesting events and talks in their tasting rooms. Sign up for their email newsletter, or check their Facebook pages. Other events include the “Chair Fair”—an exhibition of chairs (from antique to artsy to garage sale) on July 28 and “Old Days” in late September—a three-day event celebrating the town’s Western heritage with a parade, entertainment, food and crafts. losalamosvalley.org

The garden at the Union Hotel.

Letter From the Hearth

by Clark Staub

PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRAN

COLLIN

Clark Staub, the founder of Full of Life Flatbread, shares his Los Alamos story and his perspective on this culinary destination.

On a warm and sunny fall day in 2002 while driving south along Highway 101 I pulled off into Los Alamos, like many people, to simply get gas. The place had a familiarity to it as many years earlier I had driven the same route and remembered the fields upon fields of flowers that was Rancho Los Flores about three miles down the highway.

Coming into town from the north I passed an unfinished building with a teetering chain-link fence around it and a crooked “for lease” sign blowing in the ever-present breeze. The reason I was driving through this area was that I was location scouting for a crazy idea I had to build a destination multi-use food facility. Hardly a novelty, yet even now hard

to explain to a landlord, a building inspector, let alone the County Health Department.

The intriguing building lodged itself in my mind. In my search for gas and food, I ended up at an inviting place called Café Quackenbush. I met proprietors Jesper and John and asked lots of ignorant questions, thinking they were slightly provincial. They were not. John had a career in the art and fashion world of New York and Jesper came from Sweden. Following the wonderful lunch I noticed an older woman with beautiful flowing grey hair down to her thighs wearing riding pants and spurs. She had just arrived… on horseback!

John immediately introduced me. “Where are you from?” she asked me. “LA, but I live in Vermont now,” I responded.

“Oh,” she said in a very determined way, “I left ‘SmelL-A’ 50 years ago and…”

I was hooked. Immediately.

I made many more trips that winter and into the spring. I sent people to Los Alamos to stay at the Skyview Motel. I canvassed old friends I had in the Valley. Without exception these people would come back and give me every conceivable reason to cross this crazy idea and this town off my list. The idea of an organic food establishment would be ‘too much’ for the local ranchers and cowboys, they said. I was told that

Clark Staub

Los Alamos had earned the nickname ‘Lost Almost.’

But I was already hooked.

I knew a great plumber who had helped me with my first bakery in Claremont, and he was a rugged do-anything sort of person. His way of telling me that my organic ideals were misguided was to explain that on his father’s farm he used to wash his face with DDT. He was an amazing soul who loved jazz music and had a very full life. He also became a very good customer of mine after we opened. He said that the flavors I was producing were so much brighter and better than he was used to. “I think you are onto something,” he would tell me.

These were the sorts of people I was forming a vision around as the residents of Los Alamos—individuals who had seen a fair share of life. I wanted a place that existed for people of all walks. A place people had to make a decision to come to. A choice. A destination. Quite simply, a place to ‘Eat Good Food,’ as our sign reads out front.

To me, Los Alamos was ideally situated between Los Angeles and San Francisco, between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. From a logistical standpoint we are on the trucking routes for distribution companies that get our frozen flatbread pizzas south and north to be distributed outward from those major markets. From a destination restaurant perspective, I envisioned people coming from all over to this beautiful little escapist restaurant where I wanted to exceed every guest’s wildest expectations.

our setting, and he has also built practically every bar and counter in this town.

Joeb Muscio is one of our encyclopedically knowledgeable foragers from whom we purchase wild mushrooms, asparagus, ramps, mulberries and eggs. We have some amazing hunters of boar and quail and ranchers of cattle, goats, rabbit and sheep.

Sometimes we have an iPhone-owning, Mercedesdriving homeless philosopher who quotes René Descartes, paints like Matisse and occasionally camps on my front porch to use our wireless.

Transplanted from Germany, Ramona Clayton set up her Terramonary Stoneware Studio a few years ago producing beautiful and useful pottery. We even had a stone sculptor for a season from whom I borrowed a saw in order to cut some local grass-fed beef marrowbones. We roasted the bones in our stone oven and served them with local olive oil, bread, garlic and parsley. That’s the sort of thing we do here.

“Sometimes we have an iPhone-owning, Mercedes-driving homeless philosopher who quotes René Descartes, paints like Matisse and occasionally camps on my front porch to use our wireless.”

So in 2003, against almost every person’s advice and armed with very little money and a bootstrapping way of forging ahead, I began Full of Life Flatbread—first by building my stone oven and then literally everything else inside.

Many people over the years have referred to my business plan as a sort of ‘build it and they will come.’ I wish I were that bold. Instead I worked hard, got to know the local community and explored the greater Valley. Along the way I have built a cadre of farmers, ranchers, food artisans and, of course, winemakers—all of whom I consider to be producing world-class products.

Los Alamos is a very proud outpost, and I am proud to be part of its heritage now. The friends and people who have helped us grow are an amazing breed. The talents of master woodworker Richard Motz helped me to create

And I have no regrets. While Los Alamos never became “the next Los Olivos,” as some predicted, it is coming along very nicely. Café Quackenbush is still here. Charlie’s is still here and will always be here. Jamie Gluck has opened Bell Street Farms with a kitchen run by my former sous-chef, Evan Klein. Connie has opened the C Gallery and has brought an artistic liveliness that I think the town didn’t realize it was missing until she opened shop. The old Victorian has been renovated, as has the Union with its beautiful bar. Years ago the iconic Skyview Motel was remodeled. The antique shops are still here. The funk is still here. Flatbread is still here.

This morning I drove into Los Alamos via Highway 135 from Highway 1. As I came down into the Los Alamos Valley from the west, the lupine and poppies, along with endless runs of wild mustard, dominated the roadside and hills beyond. The vineyards are showing signs of life with bud break. Coming into Los Alamos it looks much like it did in 2002, but there is an excitement in the air that I can feel, that I think the whole town can feel. I’m glad I decided to stop here 10 years ago and that Flatbread is here.

Clark Staub is the founder of Full of Life Foods in Los Alamos, California. A self-taught baker and chef, he is an enthusiast for many things. His Full of Life Flatbread Pizzas can be found frozen in many grocery stores, his restaurant is open every Thursday through Sunday and he can be found baking around the country with his portable wood ovens.

The Edible Daylily More Than Just a Pretty Face

by Nancy Oster

Banana Berry Truffle, Holy Guacamole, Cherry Chapeau, Lemon Curry, Mango Martini and Pistachio Eyes

are the names of just a few of the growing number of daylily

Shybrids available today.

ound delicious enough to eat? Well, the Chinese have been eating daylilies for centuries. Dried daylily buds are a traditional ingredient in hot and sour soup and mu shu pork. Dried buds are sold in Asian markets labeled as lily buds, Golden Needles or gum jum.

In his book Stalking the Wild Asparagus, naturalist Euell Gibbons recommended eating young green shoots in the early spring, the tasty buds and flowers in late spring and summer and the tuber-like swellings on the roots in the fall and winter.

I’d picked up a copy of Peter Gail’s book The Delightfully Delicious Daylily in the late ’90s but had only experimented with using the petals as a colorful ingredient in salads. So when a friend invited me to visit Penny and Phil Ben’s daylily farm in Arroyo Grande, I welcomed the opportunity to expand my experience beyond what we commonly think of as landscaping plants for offices and parking lots.

Daylily West in Arroyo Grande

My initial visit was during the Daylily West’s annual Bloomfest last June. We set out in the late morning, hoping to catch the flowers at their finest. Daylilies typically open with the sun and begin to wither at dusk. A cool coastal morning can delay the morning bloom, but the sun was shining as we drove towards Arroyo Grande.

Daylily West is about four miles off the freeway along a road of small rural ranches; it’s easy to miss if you don’t watch the mailbox numbers. As we pulled into the driveway Chloe, Lacy and Skip, the farm’s Australian Shepherds, took a break from gopher patrol to greet us and notify Penny and Phil that we had arrived.

Walking a rose-bordered path toward the house that Penny and Phil designed and built when they bought the 10-acre property 24 years ago, Phil explained that they just wanted enough space for Penny to care for and ride her three show horses. Growing daylilies wasn’t in the original plan.

Opposite: Sautéed daylily buds, garnished with daylily flowers.

It all started when Penny decided to plant a few vegetables. When Phil saw Penny’s 30+ tomato-laden plants, he suggested that perhaps she should find a way to sell some of her surplus vegetables. That’s how Penny ended up selling vegetables at three farmers markets in the early ’90s. Penny laughs. “How many tomatoes can one family eat?”

As we approached the daylily field, the sun-warmed petals were beginning to release their subtle fragrances. Penny clearly has an instinctively green thumb, which is supported by Phil’s horse manure composting skills. As a result, everything planted on their farm blooms in profusion.

The daylilies are no exception. Noting my surprise at the range of pinks, reds, oranges, yellows, purples and multicolored combinations, Penny says, “There are a lot more choices than what you see in planters around businesses. There were about 30,000 registered daylilies when we started selling them in 1995. Now there are about 70,000.”

The Enduring Daylily

One of the reasons for daylily popularity is that they are extremely easy to grow, as Penny found out. “Someone gave me a couple of daylilies for the yard,” she says. “I never even planted them. I just left them on the ground behind the house—in clumps with the dirt on them. Within six months the roots had dug into the ground and they were blooming.”

Daylily flowers from the organic garden of Nina Gelman-Gans.

Daylilies aren’t just yellow and orange anymore—these are just some of the many colorful varieties.

The daylily’s hardiness is legendary. The ubiquitous orange daylily Hemerocallis fulva originated in Asia thousands of years ago. Daylilies arrived in Europe via the Chinese silk routes and were brought to America by early settlers. Clumps similar to the ones Penny was given were carried across the country on horseback and in wagons by westward-bound pioneers. Many of those planted around cabins escaped into the wild spaces and are sometimes referred to as ditch lilies because these “naturalized” daylilies will grow anywhere.

“The plants need about six hours of sun a day and they like warm soil,” Phil says, but they will grow in partial shade too. He gives them a feeding of steer manure in the winter and mulches them with compost, but they will grow in just about any soil, amended or not. They like water and do best with good drainage. The plants can be divided every few years and shared with friends.

Penny only sells varieties that she knows grow well in our area with evergreen leaves and an abundance of flowers. On my second visit I asked Penny about one of the plants I bought from her that probably needs more light. “That’s what shovels are for,” she tells me: “If you think it needs a better place, just move it.”

Penny and Phil sell their plants online at the Daylily West website and to mail-order and walk-in customers.

The plants are dug up and processed just before shipment. Planting instructions are included…or you can just throw them on the ground behind the house.

Can You Really Eat Them?

Although most parts of the daylily are edible, some people may have an allergic reaction to them. If you are trying them for the first time, start with a nibble and wait an hour before trying more. Never eat landscape plants that might be sprayed with pesticides or plants growing near a busy roadway, and do not confuse daylilies with true lilies, or lilium, which are not edible. And while most people can eat daylilies, they may be toxic to pets, depending on the variety and the amount ingested.

The pea- to almond-sized swellings on the root ends can be eaten fresh like jicama or boiled, but the roots contain some toxins so it is recommended that they be eaten in moderation. Yield is very small per plant so it’s probably not worth digging up plants to harvest, especially the really expensive varieties.

The young spring shoots can be eaten like green onions. However, even though the daylily is related to the onion, the flavor isn’t as interesting as onions or spring garlic.

Daylily flowers taste like butter lettuce. Some are sweeter than others so taste before using. You can sprinkle the petals

Crazy Larry

Codie Wedgeworth Ashwood Rings of Saturn

Frequent Comment

Coming Up Roses

Funky Break

Cheetah Safari Rosy Rhino

Dance on a Moonbeam

Javanese Jewel

Lil’ Red Wagon

Renie’ Delight

in a salad, stuff and sauté the flowers like squash blossoms, or use the flower as a container for spreads, guacamole or sour cream. Be sure to remove the pistil and stamens before using.

I’ve saved the best for last…the buds. Choose buds that are just about to open. I sautéed a handful of buds in a mixture of olive oil and butter, then seasoned them with salt and pepper. Absolutely delicious! Phil told me that an Asian market contacted him about 10 years ago wanting to buy 2,000 kilos of daylily buds shipped fresh daily. That’s how popular the buds are in Asian cuisine.

Asian markets sell the dried buds as a vegetable ingredient and a thickening agent (you can use newly wilted flowers to thicken soups but check inside for bees before you pick the flowers). Have you eaten lily buds without knowing it?

Chinese restaurants in the U.S. hesitate to use daylily buds in their dishes because a few customers might experience gastric distress or have an unexpected allergic reaction to them.

If you have a really productive plant, you can pickle both the fresh buds and the newly formed seed capsules.

Garnish and Decoration

Even if you decide not to risk serving daylilies, the flowers can still be used to garnish plates and platters. Penny says, “When our grandkids come to dinner during the bloom season, they’ll run to the kitchen to get pie pans and go

down to the field to pick flowers. They mound them in these pans and we put them on the table for the centerpiece.”

But remember the flowers wilt quickly. You can refrigerate a newly opened flower in a plastic container with a small square of wet paper towel if you want to keep it fresh-looking for an extra day.

Penny also uses the long-stemmed flower clusters (called scapes) in flower arrangements, often with purple statice. She says, “If you put them in direct sunlight, unopened buds will bloom as the older flowers wilt.”

A Field of Pretty Faces

Penny and Phil don’t grow their daylilies for food, they grow them for their beauty, variety and endurance.

It only takes a few minutes of walking among the rows to become seduced by these cheerful flirty flowers. It comes as no surprise the Victorian language of flowers identified the daylily as a symbol of coquetry or flirtatious behavior. But beneath this mesmerizing floral beauty that fades quickly are tenacious roots that run deep and a long history intricately intertwined with our own. A survivor plant, the daylily definitely deserves a second look.

Nancy Oster has eaten all parts of the daylily, even the tubers. She would like to thank local organic gardeners Nina Gelman-Gans and Hetty Surtleff for thinning their plants so that she could sample the tubers and early spring shoots. She is anticipating serving colorful salads and flowergarnished fruit plates this summer.

Stamen

Seed pod

Bud

Bract

Petal

Scape

Crown

Pistil

Roots

Bloom Scar

Spent

Bloom

Pistil

Midrib

Throat

Sepal

Proliferation

Foliage

Stamen

Ovary

Stigma Style

Anther Filament

Recipes

Sautéed Daylily Buds

11 ⁄ 2 cups daylily buds

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small shallot, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper, to taste

Wash and dry daylily buds. Heat butter and olive in skillet and sauté shallot until lightly caramelized. Add daylily buds and sauté until softened. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Daylily Pickles

Recipe adapted from Joy of Cooking, by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion R. Becker (Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1953)

2 cups daylily buds or young pods (3–5 days old)

2 tablespoons kosher salt

11 ⁄ 2 cups water

11 ⁄4 cup vinegar

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 small green chili, seeded and minced (optional)

Prepare a clean, hot, sterilized pint jar. Gather and wash 2 cups of buds and pods. Dissolve salt in 1 cup water. Soak the fruits in this mixture for 24 hours. Drain and pack them in a jar.

Simmer vinegar, ½ cup water, garlic and chili for 5 minutes. Pour this mixture over the pods. Seal the jar and refrigerate. Let pickles marinate for four weeks before eating.

Ways to Use Daylily Flowers

Confetti garnish

Roll two petals together and use a sharp knife to cut thin slices. Scatter on top of any dish that needs a little color.

Salad ingredient

Add petals to a green salad.

Appetizer

Serve individual petals with a dollop of your favorite spreadable dip or soft cheese at the base of each leaf.

Container

Remove the pistil and stamens from the center of the flower and pipe or spoon into the center horseradish to serve with prime rib, individual portions of sweetened cream cheese to serve with scones or nut bread, guacamole to serve with tortilla chips, flavored butter for each bread plate or tartar sauce alongside a serving of fish.

Flower garnish

Add a fresh flower to the top of a bowl of pumpkin soup just before serving or arrange flowers on top of a frosted cake.

Stuffed flowers

Use the stuffing from your favorite stuffed squash blossom recipe; sauté in olive oil. This would work best with flowers picked at the end of the day when they are more supple.

Flower tempura

Dip in tempura batter and deep fry to as a colorful addition to tempura.

Biscuits or scones

Chop a couple of daylilies and add to the dry ingredients before you add the wet ingredients when making biscuits or scones.

Resources

Daylily West

2420 Green Place

Arroyo Grande, CA 93420 805 481-5344 daylilywest.com

American Hemerocallis Society daylilies.org

The Delightful Delicious Daylily by Peter Gail (Gooseneck Acres Press, 1995)

Specializing in Local, Seasonal, Organic and Pesticide Free Produce

Offering local grass-fed meats, poultry, fresh fish, baked goods, goat cheese, olives, oils, fresh hummus, artisan kombucha, coffee, teas and much more!

Subscriptions start at just $26.50/per box. You control your produce box delivery via our website!

• Delivery options include weekly or every other week

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Market Hours: Monday–Friday 10am–7pm 3204 State Street, Santa Barbara • 805 895-7171

Ken Jacobsen, Michelle Martinich, Jeff DeVine, and Laurie Leighty

A Farmers Market Tour With Patricia Bragg

by Kathleen Anderson Ross

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIN FEINBLATT

Each farmers market has its own personality. And at a recent Sunday farmers market in Goleta, I had the pleasure of a tour with one of Santa Barbara County’s local personalities—Patricia Bragg. Anyone who has shopped in a health food store, natural foods store or even a mainstream grocery store has probably heard of the Bragg products. Patricia Bragg, ND, PhD., president and CEO of Bragg Live Food Products and chair of the nonprofit Bragg Health Institute headquartered in Goleta, is a well-known popular figure—and a faithful visitor to our farmers markets.

“You are what you eat, drink, breathe, think, say and do!” says Patricia, who travels most of each year, circling the globe 30 times so far, teaching this message. The company celebrates its 100-year anniversary this year and the Bragg message is just as relevant as ever.

The Bragg Story

Patricia’s father, Paul C. Bragg, ND, PhD, pioneered the natural health movement when he opened the first U.S. health food store in 1912, starting a movement and a company that today includes 17 health products and 10 books translated into many languages and sold in countries worldwide.

As such an early pioneer, it’s hard to separate the man from the myth. But as the story goes, his commitment started very young. According to Paul, in order to heal himself from tuberculosis, he traveled to Switzerland as a teenager and developed a combination of diet and exercise while praying to God, promising that he would dedicate his life to helping others achieve better health if he survived. Paul regained his health, and he went on to tirelessly promote all things health-related for the rest of his long life. He had a radio show and a television show called “Health and Happiness.” He began to offer and promote organic products. He introduced

Patricia Bragg with her arms full of produce and flowers at the farmers market in Goleta.

pineapple and tomato juice, and he introduced fresh juicing by importing hand juicers from Europe. He carried the kind of fevered confidence that comes from walking the talk, and the spark of his message influenced Olympic athletes, film stars and business leaders.

Beginning in the 1920s, he toured the United States giving free lectures, called Bragg Health Crusades. While on the road, he gave advice and inspiration to people who would go on to further grow the natural health movement—founders of what would become GNC, Herbalife, Rodale—who were all personally touched by Paul Bragg and his enthusiastic message. Exercise guru Jack LaLanne had been a sickly teenager when he attended a Paul Bragg lecture. It changed his life, and he went on to change the lives of many others.

The Bragg Message

Patricia, a petite and vibrant octogenarian, says that Paul used to tell people, “The more time you spend with Patricia, the taller she gets.” If you have ever met her, chances are good that you remember learning something about health from her, and the encounter may even have changed your life. Perhaps you shop at the farmers markets more often, eat more vegetables, drink organic raw apple cider vinegar regularly, have slimmed down a bit, or try not to cross your legs. She is not shy about telling you whatever part of her vital message she feels is most important for you to hear. Kindly, but emphatically, she will advise you to lose weight, not to overeat, to stand up straight.

“You can never grow all of the food you need, so you will always need farmers markets.”

Patricia Bragg has always loved gardening. On her 120-acre farm in Goleta she has an organic vegetable garden, rose garden and a variety of more than 300 fruit trees. Some of the apples produced on her farm are used to make Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. Some are donated to Santa Barbara and Goleta school districts for healthy lunches and to the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County. She also has chickens and compost bins to feed and keep the soil healthy. And she is actively involved in what has become a multimillion-dollar Santa Barbara company. “My life is always very busy from 5am until I put my head on the pillow. I love life, and I feel like 18,” she says.

At the Farmers Market

Patricia is passionate about supporting our local organic farmers. “Don’t panic. Go organic!” she says to me as we walk down the aisles. Paul taught her how to garden and to enjoy the feeling of her feet in fresh earth, and he taught her an appreciation for farmers. In the early days of traveling with him on lecture tours, local farmers would bring baskets of fresh fruits and vegetables to share with them. Wherever they were, Paul and Patricia got a sense of the area through the people and the food they grew. To this day, Patricia travels with a small suitcase which she calls her “portable kitchen,”

equipped with garlic press, hand citrus juicer, knife, two each salad bowls, forks, plates, glasses—everything she needs to prepare a healthy meal anywhere.

She says there are around 7,200 farmers markets in the United States. She has made friends all over the world, and she sees many of them at the farmers markets. At home in Santa Barbara, she loves frequenting our local markets. “I’m a citizen of the world. We’re all brothers and sisters.”

Patricia is an organized shopper, bringing her own reusable tote bags. She advises bringing a list to the farmers market. Even though she grows much of her own food, she says, “You can never grow all of the food you need, so you will always need farmers markets. We must support our wonderful organic farmers who do so much for us.”

Patricia’s Shopping List

Valencia oranges

Beets

Onions

Apricots

Celery

Peaches

Carrots

Nectarines

Radishes

Cherries

Tomatoes

Figs

Avocados

Apples: seasonally

Turnips

Snap peas

Fresh herbs

Green beans

Lettuces

Cabbage Plants

Flowers

First on Patricia’s list: Valencia oranges. “I squeeze the juice myself and drink it right after squeezing. Even in a hotel, I’ll ask them to bring the oranges, and I juice them myself.” She says that she drinks orange juice about three or four times a week.

As she greets and chats with friends—shoppers, farmers, the market manager—she shops efficiently and is equally interested in the farmers’ produce and their well-being. At the Fairview Gardens booth, she’s happy to hear that the Fairview Gardens Farm Stand is reopening.

She delights in the spectacular quality of produce at the market. “An onion a day keeps the doctor away,” she tells me. So I ask her what her favorite vegetables are and she begins, “Beets, onions, lettuces, celery, turnips. I love turnips. Snap peas. They are so delicious raw in a salad. String beans—so good raw. Radishes. I love radishes.” She also loves flowers, and she likes to buy plants at the market to plant in her garden.

During this centennial year, continuing Paul Bragg’s visionary health legacy, she has established the Bragg Health Institute “to spread health worldwide and inspire youth and people of all ages to achieve optimal health, physically, mentally and spiritually and live productive, caring, happy, fulfilled lives,” she explains. They award scholarships to students pursuing health degrees and for health research.

Santa Barbara

Farmers Market

SATURDAYS

Downtown Santa Barbara Corner of Santa Barbara & Cota St. 8:30am – 1:00pm

SUNDAYS

Camino Real Marketplace In Goleta at Storke & Hollister 10:00am – 2:00pm

TUESDAYS

Old Town Santa Barbara

500 & 600 Blocks of State St. 4:00pm – 7:30pm

WEDNESDAYS

Solvang Village

Copenhagen Drive & 1st St. 2:30pm – 6:30pm

BraggHealthKids.org, actively involved with the Goleta Union School District, is a part of Bragg Health Institute. Patricia says that the purpose is “to teach kids to eat healthier earlier.” Working with a producer of children’s television, BraggHealthKids.org will educate and address the growing health concerns of children with entertaining, healthy-lifestyle online videos and DVDs distributed to major schools with accompanying health lesson plans and curriculum. During a recent television taping with a group of local children, Patricia advised the kids, “What you eat today, walks and talks tomorrow!”

I couldn’t agree more and immensely enjoyed our walk and our talk at the Sunday Goleta Farmers Market

Kathleen Anderson Ross writes about sustainability, well-being and inspired living. She posts regularly on her blog: kathleenandersonross.com.

Recipes

THURSDAYS

Camino Real Marketplace In Goleta at Storke & Hollister

3:00pm – 6:00pm Carpinteria

800 Block of Linden Ave. 3:00pm – 6:30pm

FRIDAYS

Montecito

1100 & 1200 Block of Coast Village Rd. 8:00am – 11:15am

Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar Drink

It is reported that Hippocrates prescribed apple cider vinegar mixed with honey for a variety of ills. Singer Katy Perry says this drink is her “secret of secrets.”

Makes one serving

1 cup purified water

2 teaspoons Bragg Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar

1 teaspoon raw honey, or to taste

Stir and enjoy. Or heat water, then add the apple cider vinegar and honey and drink as hot beverage.

©CHRIS CURTIS | Dreamstime.com

Bragg Famous Raw Garden Salad

(FROM VEGETARIAN HEALTH RECIPES)

Makes 4–6 servings

2 stalks celery, sliced

1 ⁄ 2 cup sunflower sprouts

1 ⁄ 2 red bell pepper, chopped

2 green onions, chopped

1 ⁄ 2 cucumber, sliced

1 ⁄ 2 cup red cabbage, chopped

2 carrots, grated

3 medium tomatoes, diced

1 raw beet, grated

1 turnip, grated

1 cup green cabbage, chopped

1 ripe avocado, diced

Mix all veggies together and serve on a bed of romaine, butter or leaf lettuce. For variety, add peas, green beans, radishes and/or any seasonal vegetables you see at the farmers market. Toss with a light oil and vinegar dressing and serve.

Resources

National Farmers Market Week: August 5–11, 2012

Directory of Farmers Markets: search.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets

The Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market: sbfarmersmarket.org

Bragg.com

BraggHealthInstitute.org

BraggHealthKids.org

Paradise Found The Perfect Picnic

by Pascale Beale

The day announced itself with one of those breathtaking sunrises awash with color and a touch of warmth carried on the breeze coming in off the ocean. It was a day to spend outside. It was the perfect day for a picnic.

A few hours later I was driving the car down a potholefilled dirt path, which was, in theory, a road in the local national forest, but “weather” had obviously taken its toll on the now nonexistent tarmac. You might well ask why I was putting my fellow passengers and myself through this bumpy and dusty drive, but when going on a picnic half the fun is finding an unusual place to eat al fresco. Although, perhaps I should have heeded Mrs. M. W. Ellsworth’s words of wisdom, penned in 1900 in Queen of the Household:

“If the party is to drive or ride, let not the distance be too great. There should be a stream or spring of pure water, materials for a fire, shade intermingled with

sunshine, and a reasonable freedom from tormenting insect life. Charming as is the prospect of picnicking in some grand dell, some lofty peak, or in some famous cave or legendary ruin, there are also other considerations which would not be forgotten. One does not feel too comfortable when banqueting in localities where Dame Nature has had her queer moods, and has left imprinted certain too observable evidences of her freakiness. Such places may be included within the excursion itself, but let the feast and the frolic take place where weird effects are not the prevailing characteristic of the locality.”

I particularly like her comment about “tormenting insect life” as many a good picnic can be ruined by a plethora of pesky ants or insistent wasps, but I digress. The road was horrendous and the dreaded words “Are we there yet?”

Pascale’s secluded Santa Barbara County meadow picnic spot.

emerged from one of the children. “Soon, soon,” I answered cheerfully, inwardly praying that the idyllic spot would emerge around the next bend. The car lurched across a dried-out stream crossing, dust flew. I caught furtive and slightly anxious looks in the rearview mirror. I slowed down to 10 miles an hour as we climbed over the rise in the next hill and there it was: a flower-filled meadow overlooking the valley with an abandoned water trough adrift in a field of tall grass. Sunlight dappled through the trees as we all piled out of the car. The dog danced and chased butterflies. Smiles were in abundance. After spending a few minutes surveying the landscape we found the perfect spot and proceeded to unload the car. I grew up in England and in France. I only mention this because these two countries have grand traditions when it comes to picnics and my family was no exception to this rule, on either side of the Channel. There were hampers for rowing regattas and cricket matches in England, and there were elaborate picnic baskets with tables, chairs, linens, glasses and silverware in the French Alps. Close to 200 years of perfecting the art of eating outdoors had led to writers waxing lyrical about its merits. Think of Dickens, Trollop, Chekov, Jane Austen’s exceedingly proper affair in Emma and D. H. Lawrence’s rather more exotic and sultry versions in Women in Love, to name a few. And painters have lauded its merits— Manet’s Le Dejeuner Sur L’Herbe is probably the most famous. Suffice it to say that I felt I had certain customs to uphold.

As James Beard wrote in his book James Beard’s Treasury of Outdoor Cooking, “Do not rush. Relax. Enjoy yourself. Take your time.” The perfect recipe for a lovely picnic

Pascale Beale grew up in England and France surrounded by a family that has always been passionate about food, wine and the arts. She was taught to cook by her French mother and grandmother. She is the author of A Menu for All Seasons—Spring, A Menu for All Seasons—Summer, A Menu for All Seasons—Fall and A Menu for All Seasons—Winter Visit her website at PascalesKitchen.com

We carried our two picnic baskets to the chosen spot, unpacked a tablecloth, plates, glasses and other necessary items. Blankets and jackets were laid out on the ground and everyone helped unpack the food. The picnic was centered on a vegetable quiche with various salads, bread and cheese laid out alongside.

Someone brought chocolates; another, a fruit salad and a rather delicious chilled wine. I realized that we epitomized the original meaning of the word “picnic,” which, taken in its pre-1860 definition, meant a meal at which each guest brought a dish or contributed something to the event. A potluck, in other words. America, with its multi-ethnic population, has perfected the art of potlucks, each person bringing a piece of their culinary history with them to the meal, and picnics are the perfect vehicle for this.

Unlike the elaborate Victorian picnics, which required significant planning and a prodigious number of dishes to be deemed a success—according to Mrs. Beeton in her book Household Management, no less than 35 would do—picnics today can be as simple as a couple of sandwiches enjoyed on the beach whilst wiggling your toes in the sand, or dipping your feet into a cool stream after a walk to your picnic spot. This is exactly what we did on that warm afternoon. There was a stream nearby (perfect for keeping the water and wine chilled) and the children were soon playing in it. The water burbled appealingly as it meandered downstream and we ate strawberries sitting on rocks dotted up and down the banks. One or two of us dozed in the afternoon sunlight.

Recipes

Summer Pea and Mint Salad

Makes 8 servings

Zest of 1 lemon

Olive oil

4 shallots, peeled and sliced

2 pounds English peas, shelled

1 pound snap peas, trimmed and sliced

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon wine vinegar (champagne or white wine)

1 bunch chives, finely chopped

1 bunch mint, finely chopped

Pour a little olive oil into a large pan placed over medium heat. Add in the sliced shallots and lemon zest and cook for 3–4 minutes, until lightly browned. Add in the shelled peas and snap peas, a large pinch of salt, some fresh pepper and cook for 3 minutes more. Set aside.

In the bottom of a large salad bowl pour 1 ⁄ 4 cup olive oil. Whisk in the vinegar, a pinch of salt, some freshly ground black pepper and stir until well combined.

When you are ready to serve, add the peas and herbs to the salad bowl and toss to combine well. This is excellent served with olive bread.

Note: If your picnic is more than an hour away, then reserve the vinaigrette and add it to the peas and other ingredients just before serving.

Prosciutto and Goat Cheese Quiche

Makes 8 servings FOR THE CRUST

9 ounces (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted

5 ounces (10 tablespoons) slightly softened butter, cut in small pieces

1 large egg

1 tablespoon olive oil

Zest of one lemon

Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400°. Butter a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. You can use a square or round tin for this. Set aside.

Place all the ingredients in the bowl of the food processor fitted with a metal blade. Use repeated pulses until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs and then use longer pulses until the dough forms a ball.

Wrap up the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it until ready to use. You can make the dough ahead of time and leave in the fridge. You will need to remove from the fridge approximately 20 minutes before using it. Remove the pastry from the fridge. On a lightly floured board, roll out the pastry dough in an even manner to the size of the mold.

Trim the edges of the dough with a sharp knife. Cover the dough with parchment paper or foil and then place pie weights on top.

Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until the dough is a pale golden brown. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes.

FOR THE FILLING

Olive oil

6 shallots, peeled and sliced

8 ounces spinach

1 tablespoon butter

4 ounces mushrooms, thinly sliced

8 eggs

2 tablespoons crème fraiche

6 ounces prosciutto, cut into small pieces

4 ounces crumbled goat cheese

Salt and pepper

In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, pour a little olive oil and then add the sliced shallots. Cook until soft and lightly browned, about 4–5 minutes. Whilst the shallots are browning, in a large frying pan or heavy skillet, pour a little olive oil and cook the spinach over high heat for 2 minutes. It should be just wilted. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Return the same pan to the heat, add 1 tablespoon butter and, once melted, add in the mushrooms. Sauté until lightly browned. Set aside. Combine the eggs, goat cheese, crème fraiche, prosciutto, pinch of salt and some pepper in a medium bowl and whisk well together. Set aside.

Once the vegetables have cooled slightly, place all the shallots over the bottom of the quiche crust. Place the spinach over the shallots and then place all the mushrooms over the spinach. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables and bake in the center of the oven for a further 20 minutes.

The quiche can be made a few hours ahead of time. Do not refrigerate before serving. To serve, cut the quiche into equal parts and serve with the salads.

Lemon-Lime Quatre-Quart (Pound Cake)

Quatre-quart means four parts in French. It is a term that applies to most pound cakes, because the amounts of the four main ingredients are in equal proportion.

Makes 8–10 servings

8 ounces butter (2 sticks), cut into small pieces

8 ounces (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) sugar

8 ounces (11 ⁄ 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons) flour

4 extra-large eggs or 5 large eggs, separated

Zest of 1 large or 2 small lemons

Zest of 2 limes

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons lime juice

Preheat oven to 400°.

Melt the butter in a saucepan placed over medium heat. Once the butter has melted add the sugar and stir until melted. Add in the flour and stir until completely absorbed by the mixture and then remove from the heat. Add in the lemon and lime zest and stir to combine. Add in the lemon and lime juice and stir to combine. Don’t worry if the batter looks as if it has separated—it’s meant to look like this.

When the cake mixture has cooled enough to touch comfortably, add in the egg yolks and stir together. Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl so that you have soft peaks, plus an additional 30 seconds—the egg whites should not be stiff. Very gently fold half of the whisked egg whites into the cake batter. Once the batter looks completely homogenous, very carefully fold in the remaining egg whites.

Line a metal 8-inch square pan with parchment paper (do not use glass) or you can use paper loaf molds—these are very useful for picnics. Pour the cake mixture into the pan. Place the pan onto a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Serve with seasonal berries and some whipped cream, crème fraiche or ice cream.

MIKE VERBOIS

SUMMER EDIBLE EVENTS

SATURDAY JUNE 16

Honeybee Awareness Day

Whole Foods Market

JUNE

FRIDAY–SUNDAY JUNE 29–JULY 1

The Chardonnay Symposium

Byron Vineyard and Winery and other locations

Come to the Santa Maria Valley for an insightful weekend of education and exploration designed to enlighten wine consumers, industry professionals and media on Chardonnay wine producing regions and wine making styles, and their effects on America’s favorite wine; thechardonnaysymposium.com

JULY

SUNDAY JULY 22

BYOB Wine & Dine: Alsatian Whites

6–9pm at Max’s Cucina, Santa Barbara Speaker Graham Tatomer, winemaker at Tatomer and assistant winemaker at Melville, will discuss Alsatian white wines—Dry Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Sylvaner. $50 plus tax/tip; advance reservations by credit card required. 805 898-9121; maxsrestaurantsb.com/events

A day filled with events to help educate the community about the threatened status of honeybees and their importance to agriculture. Vendor sampling and educational events. Free. RSVP to spsbrmarketing@wholefoods.com reserve a spot. For more info, visit wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/santabarbara

SATURDAY JUNE 30

25th Annual Santa Barbara

Wine Festival

2–5pm at the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum

Swirl, sip and savor wines from premier Central Coast wineries complemented with sweet and savory delectable delights on the beautiful grounds of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. For details and to purchase tickets visit sbnature.org

SATURDAY JULY 28

4th Annual Riverbench Triathlon

Noon–4 pm at Riverbench Winery

An afternoon of top toss, horseshoes and bocce. Find your partner, name your team and get ready for an exciting competition. Sign up one team that can compete in all three categories. Prizes will be awarded to winning teams. Sign up via email info@riverbench.com.

SATURDAY JUNE 30

Red, White & Blues Festival

3–7pm at Buttonwood Farm Winery

Bring a blanket and a picnic, and dance to some great blues music by Michael John & the Bottom Line in this event co-sponsored by Buttonwood Farm Winery and Longoria Wines. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased online at buttonwoodwinery.com/events

FRIDAY JULY 6

Opening of De Su Propia Cosecha Tasting Room

Lompoc Wine Ghetto, 1501 E. Chestnut Come join the celebration at the new De Su Propia Cosecha Tasting Room. The grand opening will feature wine tasting, food, prizes and special grand opening prices. For more info, visit desupropiacosecha.com

SATURDAY JULY 28

In the Vineyard & On the Farm

Bernat Family Vineyard, Los Olivos Dine in the vineyard with a meal prepared by Los Olivos Cafe chef Chris Joslyn using produce from the farm of Debby and Shu Takikawa accompanied by Bernat wines. $125 per person. To reserve, call 805 688-7265 ext. 214 or email matthew@buysantabarbarawine.com.

SATURDAY JUNE 16

Father’s Day BBQ & Vineyard Walk with Jim Stollberg 11am–2pm at Riverbench Winery

Vineyard Manager Jim Stollberg will be conducting an educational walk through the vines while discussing sustainable vineyard operations. Wine tasting and BBQ will follow the walk. $35 per person. Please call 805 937-8340 or email krysta@riverbench.com to reserve a spot.

SATURDAY JUNE 30

Summer Movie Series: When Harry Met Sally

7:30–10:30pm at Zaca Mesa Winery

Bring your own blanket or lawn chairs and watch a movie in the vineyard. Flavors Food Truck will be offering gourmet tri-tip sandwiches and salads (cash only). $15. For more info and to purchase tickets, visit zacamesa.com

SATURDAY–SUNDAY JULY 14–15

The French Festival

11am–7pm, Oak Park, Santa Barbara

Join the fun at the largest French celebration in the Western United States. The festival features a wide variety of entertainment, from cancan to the poodle parade, as well as lots of great food, from crepes to quiche. Admission is free. For more information call 805 963-8198 or visit frenchfestival.com

SUNDAY AUGUST 19

BYOB Wine & Dine: Rosé

6–9pm at Max’s Cucina, Santa Barbara

Speaker Fred Brander, winemaker at Brander Vineyard, will discuss Rosé wines—both still and sparkling. $50 plus tax/tip; advance reservations by credit card required. 805 898-9121; maxsrestaurantsb.com

AUGUST SEPTEMBER

WEDNESDAY–SUNDAY AUGUST 1–5

Old Spanish Days Fiesta

A celebration of Santa Barbara’s heritage, through music, parades, fiestas, dancing and family events. The theme this year is “Viva La Familia.” Serious foodies frequent the mercado at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. Full listing of events can be found at oldspanishdays-fiesta.org

TUESDAY & SATURDAY AUGUST 21 & 25

Food Production Around the World Film Series

Antioch University, 602 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara

Antioch presents screenings of the films Nothing Like Chocolate on August 21 and Forks Over Knives on Augurst 25. All events are free and open to the public. For a full detailed calendar, visit antiochsb. edu/community

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 9

Santa Barbara Taste of the Town

Riviera Park Gardens, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara’s premiere tasting event to benefit the Arthritis Foundation and featuring 40 local wineries and 40 local restaurants. Contact Jeanne David at jfdavid@arthritis.org or call 805 5634685 for additional information.

SATURDAY AUGUST 4

”All Buttonwood” Farm Dinner

This is the ultimate farm-to-table feast. Served pond-side in the middle of the winery’s 39-acre vineyard, it features farm-raised meat, farm-grown fruits and vegetables and wines—all raised, grown and produced on Buttonwood Farm and prepared by New West Catering. $100 includes full meal and wine. RSVP at 805 688-3032.

SUNDAY AUGUST 26

Bouillabaisse Festival

1–5pm at Brander Vineyard, Los Olivos

The popular Bouillabaisse Festival is back celebrating this delectable French seafood soup along with wine and music. The competition features some of the Central Coast’s finest chefs. $90. Event is a fundraiser for Hospice of Santa Barbara and tickets can be purchased at hospiceofsantabarbara.org

THURSDAY & SUNDAY AUGUST 9 & 12

Memphis-style vs. Santa Maria-style BBQ

Visiting Memphis chefs Felicia Suzanne Willett, Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman will give guests an opportunity to compare the regional differences and flavors of Memphis BBQ and Santa Maria BBQ—all paired with handcrafted Margerum wines. Wine Cask dinner, August 9 and BBQ, August 12; Call for more info: 805 686-8500.

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23

BYOB Wine & Dine:

Pinot Noir Session 1

6–9pm at Max’s Cucina, Santa Barbara Speaker Aaron Walker, winemaker at Pali Wine Co., will discuss Pinot Noir wines—California vs. Oregon. $50 plus tax/tip; advance reservations by credit card required. 805 898-9121; maxsrestaurantsb.com

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 30

BYOB Wine & Dine:

Pinot Noir Session 2

6–9pm at Max’s Cucina, Santa Barbara

Speaker Dan Kessler, winemaker at Kessler-Haak, will discuss Pinot Noir wines—California vs. Oregon. $50 plus tax/tip; advance reservations by credit card required. 805 898-9121; maxsrestaurantsb.com

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 15

Bread & Roses

4–8pm QAD in Summerland

Bread & Roses is the Fund for Santa Barbara’s largest annual celebration with a gourmet buffet-style dinner from our region’s finest restaurants, wines from local vintners and both a live & silent auction. $75 only available in advance. fundforsantabarbara.org

SAVE THE DATE OCTOBER 1–30

epicure.sb: A Month to Savor Santa Barbara

Coming this October, Santa Barbara will feature a monthlong foodie festival with many diverse epicurean offerings showcasing regional cuisine, libations and culture. Sol Food Festival, Harbor & Seafood Festival, California Lemon Festival, California Avocado Festival and Celebration of Harvest. For more info, visit epicuresb.com

Dining Guide edible

Santa Barbara County has its own unique food traditions—from Santa Maria barbecue to Santa Barbara spot prawns and the world-class local wines that accompany them—so we’d like to help you find some of the area restaurants that create the distinctively Santa Barbara dining experience. Restaurants are invited to advertise in this guide because of their emphasis on local, seasonal ingredients and their commitment to real food.

South County

Backyard Bowls

Santa Barbara Locations:

331 Motor Way 805 845-5379

3849 State St., La Cumbre (next to Vons) 805 569-0011

Goleta Location: 5668 Calle Real 805 770-2730 backyardbowls.com

Santa Barbara’s most innovative breakfast and lunch spot featuring Acai Bowls and smoothies. They also offer oatmeal, yogurt, smoothies and more. Mon–Fri 7am–6pm; Sat–Sun 8am–6pm. La Cumbre open till 9pm.

Bouchon

9 W. Victoria St. Santa Barbara 805 730-1160 bouchonsantabarbara.com

Bouchon sources all of its ingredients using an “as-fresh-and-as-local-as-possible” approach, and Chef Greg Murphy is a familiar sight at the local farmers markets. Experience fine dining, excellent regional wines and relaxed service in a warm, inviting ambience. Private dining in the Cork Room is available for groups of 10–20. Dinner nightly from 5:30pm.

Cadiz

509 State St.

Santa Barbara 805 770-2760

cadizsb.com

Cadiz is a Southern Mediterranean restaurant and lounge serving fresh ingredients bought from local farmers markets by Executive Chef, John Pettitt. Tue–Wed and Sun: 5pm–12am. Thu–Fri 5pm–2am.

Carlitos Café y Cantina

1324 State St.

Santa Barbara 805 962-7117

carlitos.com

Enjoy fresh Mexican cuisine across from the historic Arlington Theatre on State Street in a sun-filled patio while the beautiful dining room features lovely views and a Cantina stocked with 100% Blue Agave tequilas. Member Santa Barbara Sustainable Seafood Program. Open daily 11am–10pm.

Cava Restaurant & Bar

1212 Coast Village Rd. Montecito 805 969-8500

cavarestaurant.com

Experience the bold flavors of superb Latin cuisine from Spain, Mexico and South America in a romantic setting in Montecito. Member Santa Barbara Sustainable Seafood Program. Open daily 11am–11pm, weekend breakfast from 8am.

Coast Restaurant

31 W. Carrillo St.

Santa Barbara 805 879-9100

canarysantabarbara.com

Coast Restaurant and Bar offers savory, accessible comfort food in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara at the Canary Hotel. The food at Coast reflects Santa Barbara’s plentiful bounty of local seafood and farmers market produce. Restaurant serving 7am–10pm daily. Bar open Mon–Thurs 11am–11pm and Fri–Sat 11am–midnight.

Fresco Café

Five Points

3987 B State St. Santa Barbara 805 967-6037 frescosb.com

Fresco Café North 5940 Calle Real Goleta 805 692-8999 fresconorth.com

Each of the three Fresco Café locations is independently owned and operated and all offer freshly prepared food—emphasizing organic and natural ingredients and served in a warm atmosphere by friendly and welcoming staff.

Giannfranco’s Trattoria

666 Linden Ave.

Carpinteria 805 684-0720

giannfrancos.com

Experience authentic Northern and Southern Italian regional cuisine at this family-owned and -operated trattoria in downtown Carpinteria. Chef Giovanni prepares each dish from the freshest local and imported foods to offer his creative take on Tuscan grill specialties. Weekday lunch served 11am–3pm. Weekend lunch served noon–3pm. Dinner served 5–9pm. Closed Tuesday.

Goodland Kitchen & Market

231 S. Magnolia Ave.

Old Town Goleta 805 845-4300 goodlandkitchen.com

The Goodland Market is a grab-and-go eatery in Old Town Goleta, specializing in delicious, locally sourced and affordable meals. They prepare food in small batches and utilize produce from local farmers to provide an exceptional culinary experience. Mon–Fri 8am–2pm.

Miró

Bacara Resort & Spa

8301 Hollister Ave. Goleta

805 968-0100 bacararesort.com

Miró offers extraordinary New American cuisine and an interior inspired by the Spanish artist Miró and breathtaking views of the Pacific. Chef de Cuisine David Garwacki's dishes are accented with unique international flavors. Miró Wine Cellar houses an extensive collection of wines spanning 13 countries and 75 international appellations.

Pizza Guru

3534 State St. Santa Barbara 805 563-3250 pizzaguru.com

Locally owned and operated, Pizza Guru serves traditional and eccentric gourmet pizzas, salads, panini and pastas made fresh daily from locally sourced, organic ingredients. They also specialize in vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free pizzas. Open Mon–Sat 11am–9:30pm, Sunday 11:30–8:30pm.

Renaud’s Patisserie & Bistro

Loreto Plaza at 3315 State St.

Santa Barbara 805 569-2400

1324 State St.

Santa Barbara 805 892-2800 renaudsbakery.com

Renaud’s is a bakery specializing in French pastries and French-style cakes, as well as a bistro offering an extensive menu for lunch and dinner. Open daily 7am–3pm, and until 5pm Mon–Sat at Loreto Plaza.

Seagrass

30 E. Ortega St.

Santa Barbara 805 963-1012

seagrassrestaurant.com

Seagrass offers a fresh Santa Barbara Coastal Cuisine fine dining experience, procuring the highest quality ingredients available and superior local bounty. Open Mon–Thu 5:30–10pm; Fri–Sat 5:30–10:30pm; Sun 5:30–9:30pm.

Sly’s

686 Linden Ave.

Carpinteria 805 684-6666

slysonline.com

Sly’s is known for great food, with an emphasis on farmers market and local produce, great cocktails and great times in Carpinteria, the last great little beach town on the Central Coast. Open 7 days for lunch 11:30am–3pm, dinner Sun–Thur 5–9pm, Fri and Sat 5–10pm and weekend brunch 9am–3pm.

Sojourner Café

134 E. Cañon Perdido St.

Santa Barbara 805 965-7922

sojournercafe.com

The Sojourner has been serving unique dishes created with wholesome natural ingredients for over 30 years. They purchase organic produce from local growers, carry local wines and beers and are known for their innovative desserts. Serving lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. Open daily 11am–11pm, Sunday 11am–10pm.

The Bistro

Bacara Resort & Spa

8301 Hollister Ave.

Goleta 805 968-0100

bacararesort.com

The Bistro offers a casual and relaxed ocean side atmosphere with Mediterranean fusion cuisine that can be enjoyed indoors or al fresco. The Bistro provides exquisite cuisine while still catering to families.

The Wine Cask

813 Anacapa St.

Santa Barbara 805 966-9463

winecask.com

The Wine Cask Restaurant offers fine dining in their exquisite Gold Room and the Wine Cask Bar Café offers casual dining in the courtyard, patio or by their cozy fireplace. Their food is sourced from area farms and local purveyors. They also have a tasting room where you can sample some of the finest wines of Santa Barbara County. Restaurant nightly from 5:30pm; bar and café Mon–Fri 11am–10pm, Sat–Sun 4–10pm; Tasting Room daily noon–6pm. bouchon santa barbara

North County

Avant Tapas & Wine

35 Industrial Way Buellton 805 686-9400

avantwines.com

Avant offers a selection of savory tapas, gourmet pizzas and desserts that are the perfect counterpoint to the over 30 wines available for tasting at their stateof-the-art production facility. Open Monday, Thursday and Sunday 11am–8pm, Fri–Sat 11am–10pm.

Bell Street Farm

Eatery & Market

406 Bell St. Los Alamos 805 344-4609

bellstreetfarm.com

With farm fresh cuisine and sophisticated yet comfortable design, Bell Street Farm offers a distinct environment to enjoy a meal, snack or a wine tasting. The market showcases picnic baskets and accessories for creating a portable meal, as well as gifts and merchandise from local artisans. Open Fri– Mon 10am–6pm.

Dos Carlitos Restaurant & Tequila Bar

3544 Sagunto St.

Santa Ynez

805 688-0033

doscarlitosrestaurant.com

Dos Carlitos offers inspired Mexican and Latin cuisine handcrafted from the freshest ingredients to accompany its award-winning 100% Blue Agave margaritas. Dos Carlitos is a place to enjoy friends and family in a relaxed outdoor patio or casual indoor setting. Member Santa Barbara Sustainable Seafood Program. Open daily 11am–10pm.

Fresco Valley Café

442 Atterdag Rd.

Solvang

805 688-8857

frescovalleycafe.com

Each of the three Fresco Café locations is independently owned and operated and all offer freshly prepared food—emphasizing organic and natural ingredients and served in a warm atmosphere by friendly and welcoming staff.

Full of Life Flatbread

225 W. Bell St.

Los Alamos

805 344-4400

fulloflifefoods.com

On weekends Full of Life Flatbread converts their production flatbread bakery space into a restaurant and offers an extremely innovative menu based almost entirely on what is grown locally and in season. Open Thu–Sat 5–10pm, Sunday 4–8pm.

Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café

2879 Grand Ave.

Los Olivos

805 688-7265

losolivoscafe.com

The Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café brings together the best flavors of the Central Coast. Their awardwinning wine list offers over 500 wines, primarily from Central Coast winemakers, to enjoy with their fresh, seasonal and local cuisine, or to enjoy at home. Open for lunch and dinner daily 11:30am–8:30pm.

Root 246

420 Alisal Rd.

Solvang 805 686-8681 root-246.com

Root 246 in Solvang offers a full menu of farm-to-table creations and one of the most extensive selections of local wine. The contemporary yet comfortable setting includes a main dining room, a “chefs room” for private dining, two lounges and an outdoor patio. Wed–Sun: bar opens at 4pm with dinner at 5pm.

Succulent Café & Trading Company

1555 Mission Drive Solvang 805 691-9444 succulentcafe.com

Succulent Café is a family-owned business specializing in handcrafted and artisan culinary goods. Featuring buttermilk biscuit sandwiches at breakfast, gourmet sandwiches and salads at lunch and unique local centric plates at dinner. Lunch Wed–Sun 11am–3pm; breakfast Sat–Sun 9am–2pm; dinner Thu–Sat 6–9pm.

The Hitching Post II

406 E. Highway 246

Buellton 805 688-0676 hitchingpost2.com

From Santa Maria–style barbecue to more contemporary cuisine such as smoked duck breast, ostrich, homemade soups and outstanding pastries, The Hitching Post II also offers their own world-class Hartley Ostini Hitching Post Wines. Open daily except major holidays. Cocktails/wine tasting Mon–Fri at 4pm, Sat–Sun at 3pm. Dinners only Mon–Fri 5–9:30pm, Sat–Sun 4–9:30pm.

The Supper Club brings together a small group of people for prix fixe dinners at one of the restaurants in this guide. To find out about the next Supper Club, visit ediblesantabarbara.com.

Edible Santa Barbara Supper Club

edible Source Guide

The Edible Source Guide is a compact listing of all of our advertisers with a description of what they do and the details of their businesses. Please visit these advertisers to pick up your free copy of Edible Santa Barbara and let them know how much you appreciate their support of Edible Santa Barbara.

BREWERIES AND DISTILLERIES

Telegraph Brewing Company

Handcrafting unique American ales that embrace the heritage of California’s early brewing pioneers and use as many locally grown ingredients as possible. Visit the tasting room Thursday 4–6pm, Friday 4–8pm, Saturday 2–6pm. Telegraph beer is available at many restaurants and grocery stores in Santa Barbara County and throughout California. telegraphbrewing.com

St-Germain Liqueur

St-Germain is the first liqueur in the world created in the artisanal French manner from freshly handpicked elderflower blossoms. To find out more, visit their website at stgermain.fr

CATERERS AND CHEFS

Daily Greenz

Offering lunch delivery service of fresh, locally sourced, organic salads from Carpinteria to Goleta. 805 636-3812; dailygreenzetc.com

New West Catering

Uniting the artistry of fine restaurant cuisine with the versatility of full-service catering, New West Catering is your unparalleled choice for special events in the Santa Barbara County wine country and beyond. 805 688-0991; newwestcatering.com

Nimita’s Cuisine

Nimita Dhirajlal delights in sharing the art of Indian vegetarian cooking using organic, local ingredients. She offers classes, catering, weekly deliveries, as well as prepared foods such as curry, daal, chutney and raita. nimitascuisine.com

COMMERCIAL KITCHEN SPACE

Goodland Kitchen

Goodland Kitchen, located in downtown Goleta, rents the use of its licensed and insured facility on an hourly basis to local food producers and re-packagers. It is also available as a teaching venue and for special event food processing. 805 845-4300; goodlandkitchen.com

FARMERS MARKETS

Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market

Eight markets, six days a week. See schedule on page 50. 805 962-5354; sbfarmersmarket.org

FARMS AND RANCHES

Drake Family Farms

Making locally produced farmstead artisan goat cheese in Ontario, California. At Drake Family Farms every goat has a name and their goat cheeses are made on the farm with milk exclusively from the farm’s own animals. Available at local farmers markets and on their website at drakefamilyfarms.com

Fat Uncle Farms

Fat Uncle Farms grows almonds in Wasco, just northwest of Bakersfield and they sell fresh whole raw almonds as well as roasted and flavored almonds and many other almond products at the Saturday, Tuesday, Friday and Thursday farmers markets. 866 290-0219; fatunclefarms.wordpress.com

Rancho San Julian Beef

Rancho San Julian Beef produces high quality beef from cattle raised humanely and healthfully on an agriculturally sustainable ranch in Santa Barbara County. Available at the following farmers markets: Saturday in Santa Barbara 8:30am–12:30pm, Tuesday in Santa Barbara 3–6:30pm and Friday in Montecito 8–11:30am as well as on their website rsjbeef.com

FOOD PRODUCTS

Bragg Live Foods

Made with organic, natural ingredients, the Bragg Family of Health Products have been produced and perfected over the past 100 years. A Santa Barbara company. 800 446-1990; bragg.com; braggbooks.com

Full of Life Flatbread All Natural Pizza

Each of their frozen line of artisan flatbread pizzas is handmade by their bakers in small batches. Almost all of their ingredients are sourced local from growers and artisans, which reduces food-miles, helps the environment and ensures high quality. Available at grocery and natural food stores throughout the country. fulloflifefoods.com

Joëlle Olive Oil

Joëlle Olive Oil offers a full line of fresh, cold-pressed, extra-virgin olive oil estate grown in California. Award winning in international competitions, all of their oils are unfiltered, extra-virgin and date-stamped for year of production. joelleoil.com

Niman Ranch

Niman Ranch produces the finest-tasting all-natural meats by raising livestock traditionally, humanely and sustainably on more than 650 U.S. family farms. nimanranch.com

Simply Pies

Simply Pies specializes in delicious organic pies, potpies, quiches and cheesecakes that are handcrafted with fresh, local organic ingredients. Vegan, gluten free and sugar free options. Open Tuesday–Friday 7:30am–5:30pm; Saturday 10am–5:30pm. 5392 Hollister Ave., Santa Barbara. 805 845-2200; Email: orders@simplypiessb.com; simplypiessb.com

GARDEN SUPPLIES

Gardner & Bloome

Gardner & Bloom natural and organic soils and fertilizers are made from high-quality ingredients that are people, pet and planet safe. kelloggarden.com

Tecolote Book Shop

GROCERY STORES & PRODUCE DELIVERY

Isla Vista Food Co-op

A community-owned food co-op open to the public and highly regarded for its sustainable business practices and high-quality foods. Highlighting tri-county local, organic, fair-trade, farmer-owned, vegan, vegetarian, kosher, raw, gluten-free and all-around sustainable ways of being. Open daily 8am–10pm. 6575 Seville Rd., Isla Vista. 805 968-1401; islavistafood.coop

Lazy Acres

Santa Barbara’s best source for wholesome, natural and organic foods and products with real people dedicated to providing unmatched personal service. Monday–Saturday, 7am–11pm, Sunday 7am–10pm. 302 Meigs Rd., Santa Barbara, 805 564-4410; lazyacres.com

Los Olivos Grocery

Los Olivos Grocery offers a wide selection of local products, wines, beers and produce. Their delicatessen is a valley favorite, with a wide lunch menu. Breakfast is served on their enclosed patio. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, BBQ is offered. Open daily 5am–10pm; 2621 W. Highway 154, Santa Ynez; 805 688-5115; losolivosgrocery@ymail.com

De Su Propia Cosecha Winery and Tasting Room Grand Opening

Friday July 6th 5:30–7:30 pm Lompoc Wine Ghetto 1501 E Chestnut Ct. Suite A

New Frontiers Natural Marketplace

New Frontiers Natural Marketplace is a full service natural foods grocery store and deli. Located in Solvang at 1984 Old Mission Dr. (corner of Alamo Pintado and Mission Dr.) Call 805 693-1746 for hours and additional information. They are also located in San Luis Obispo at 1531 Froom Ranch Way (on Los Osos Valley Rd. near Home Depot).

Pacific Health Foods

Offering organic groceries, vitamins, a helpful staff and the best smoothies in town. Open Mon–Fri 9am–6:30pm; Sat 10am–6:30pm. Located at 944 Linden Ave., Carpinteria; 805 684-2115. For more info, visit the Pacific Health Foods Facebook page.

Plow to Porch Organics

Rabobank

Rabobank is a valued financial partner for thousands of individuals, businesses, farmers and ranchers, food and agribusiness companies and other select institutions in many California communities, meeting the financial needs of local families, businesses and organizations with great banking products and personalized service. rabobankamerica.com

RESTAURANTS

See our Edible Dining Guide on page 58.

SCHOOLS

Antioch University Santa Barbara

Antioch University Santa Barbara is dedicated to academic excellence and provides students with an intimate campus environment, offering degrees in psychology, liberal studies and organizational management. 602 Anacapa St.; 805 962-8179; antiochsb.edu

SPECIALTY RETAILERS & PRODUCTS

Chocolate Maya

Chocolate Maya scours the world for pure, luscious chocolates and offers incredible savory bars, truffles, bonbons and gift baskets as well as a wide choice of organic and fair trade chocolate products. Monday–Friday 11am–6pm, Saturday 10am–4pm. 15 W. Gutierrez St., Santa Barbara. 805 965-5956; chocolatemaya.com

C’est Cheese

C’est Cheese is your local source for the finest cheeses and artisanal foods. In addition to cheese, they offer a host of gourmet foods such as salamis, fine cured hams, olive oils and vinegars, wines, handmade chocolates, catering services, gift baskets and picnic coolers. Monday–Friday 10am–6pm. Saturday 8am–6pm. Closed Sundays. 825 Santa Barbara St., Santa Barbara. 805 965-0318; cestcheese.com

Grapeseed Company

“of one’s own harvest” For more info contact Deanna at 805-345-9355 Offering

Local organic/pesticide free/chemical free and all natural produce delivery service and organic market. The market carries a wide array of seasonal and local produce, meat and food products and is located at 3204 State St., Santa Barbara. Open Monday–Friday 10am–7pm. 805 895-7171; plowtoporch.com

Whole Foods Market

fresh, locally sourced and organic entrée size salads that are chef prepared. Delivery from Carpinteria to Goleta.

Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market, a leader in the natural and organic foods industry and America’s first national certified organic grocer, was named “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store” in 2008 by Health magazine. 3761 State St., Santa Barbara, 805 837-6959; wholefoodsmarket.com

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

American Riviera Bank

Offering a local and sustainable approach to banking. The founders of American Riviera Bank are a carefully selected group of successful, prominent, experienced and influential community and business leaders who understand the unique needs of the Santa Barbara community. Lobby hours Monday–Thursday 8am–5pm, Friday 8am–6pm. 1033 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara. 805 965-5942. americanrivierabank.com

Center for Sustainable Medicine

Specializing in nutrition, allergies, weight management, women’s health and preventative medicine. Dr. Andrea Seiffertt, D.O., Osteopathic physician, Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner. 805 245-4291; oneplanetonehealth.com

The Grapeseed Company creates botanical spa and skin care handcrafted from the byproduct of wine plus antioxidant-rich local and organic ingredients. Flagship store in downtown Santa Barbara: 201 W. Carrillo St.: open Mon–Sat 10:30am–5:30pm. Warehouse store in Carpinteria: 4193 Carpinteria Ave #9: open Mon and Thu–Sat10:30am–5:30pm. 805 456-3655; thegrapeseedcompany.com

Herban Essentials

Herban Essentials uses the highest-quality, 100% pure, therapeutic-grade, steam-distilled or cold-pressed essential oils to make their line of essential oil towelettes, available in Orange, Lemon, Lavender, Peppermint, Eucalyptus, Pet and Yoga. herbanessentials.com

Here’s the Scoop

Here’s the Scoop offers the finest gelato and sorbet made fresh daily from local farms and farmers market fruit. They specialize in seasonal flavors as well as traditional Italian flavors. 1187 Coast Village Rd., Montecito. 805 969-7020; heresthescoop@cox.net

Olive Hill Farm

Gus Sousoures has been making his olive oils for many years in the Santa Ynez valley and now you can taste and buy them, along with other oils, vinegars and gourmet food products at his cozy store in Los Olivos. Open daily 11am–5pm. 2901 Grand Ave, Los Olivos; 805 693-0700; olivehillfarm.com

Tecolote Bookstore

Tecolote Bookstore is an independent bookstore located in the upper village of Montecito at 1470 East Valley Rd., 805 969-4977

Whimsy Antiques

Reuse, recycle, repurpose. Buy vintage. Whimsy Antiques has two locations in downtown Carpinteria: Whimsy Home & Garden at 5042 7th St.; 805 684-7211 and Whimsy Town & Country at 962 Linden Ave.; 805 684-1222; open 11am–5pm daily; whimsyantiques.com

WINERIES AND WINE RETAILERS

Alma Rosa

With certified organic vineyards in the Sta. Rita Hills, Alma Rosa focuses on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, as well as Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir-Vin Gris. All wines are food friendly with the high acid and extraordinary balance for which Richard Sanford’s wines have been known since 1976. Open 11am–4:30pm daily. 7250 Santa Rosa Rd., Buellton. 805 688-9090; almarosawinery.com

Au Bon Climat Tasting Room and the Jim Clendenen Wine Library

Celebrating 30 years of winemaking in Santa Barbara County, Au Bon Climat is world renowned for beautifully balanced and elegant Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The tasting room features a large selections of cellar aged library wines and Jim Clendenen’s eclectic smaller labels. Open daily noon–6pm; 813 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara, next to the Wine Cask. 805 845-8435; www.aubonclimat.com

Avant Tapas and Wine

Avant Tapas and Wine is the tasting room for over 30 vintners producing their wine at the Terravant Wine Company’s state-of-the-art production facility, in Santa Barbara County. Open for tasting Monday, Thursday and Sunday 11am–8pm, Friday–Saturday 11am–10pm. 35 Industrial Way, Buellton. 805 686-9400; avantwines.com

BiN 2860 International Wine Shop

With both local and international wines available, BiN 2860 at Fess Parker Wine Country Inn & Spa has one of the best wine selections in the Santa Ynez Valley. 2860 Grand Ave., Los Olivos. 800 446-2455, 805 688-7788; bin2860.com

Buttonwood Farm Winery

In 1968 Betty Williams came to Buttonwood, creating a life that found expression through a connection with the land. The vineyard now has 33,000 vines with a mix of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Marsanne, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Syrah. Visit the tasting room at 1500 Alamo Pintado Rd., Solvang. Open 11am–5pm daily. 805 688-3032; buttonwoodwinery.com

Cambria Estate Winery

Farming for over 25 years, Cambria specializes in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. They are committed to sustainable practices in both the vineyard and in the winery. Visit the tasting room 10am–5pm. 5475 Chardonnay Lane, Santa Maria; 805 938-7318; cambriawines.com

Casa Dumetz

Making wine from their organic vineyard in Malibu and from the Tierra Alta vineyard in Santa Ynez. Visit Babi’s tasting room Fri–Sat 11am–7pm, Sun 11am–6pm or by appointment. 448 Bell St., Los Alamos. 805 344-1900; casadumetzwines.com

De Su Propia Cosecha

De Su Propia Cosecha, which means ‘of one’s own harvest,’ has opened a tasting room at the Lompoc Wine Ghetto at 1501 E. Chestnut St., Suite A. 805 345-9355; desupropiacosecha.com

Foxen Winery & Vineyard

Bill Wathen and Dick Doré have been making wine together since 1985, when they founded Foxen Winery & Vineyard at the historic Rancho Tinaquaic in northern Santa Barbara County. Visit the two tasting rooms at 7200 and 7600 Foxen Canyon Rd., Santa Maria. Open daily 11am–4pm. 805 937-4251; foxenvineyard.com

Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Cafe

The Wine Merchant specializes in premium California wines with a focus on highlighting the Central Coast. They feature Bernat Wines which are estate grown and made by owner Sam Marmorstein. In addition they carry a line of signature gourmet products. Open daily 11:30am–8:30pm. 2879 Grand Ave., Los Olivos. 805 688-7265; losolivoscafe.com

Qupé

For 30 years, Qupé has been dedicated to producing handcrafted Rhône varietals and Chardonnay from California’s Central Coast. Employing traditional winemaking techniques and biodynamic farming practices, Qupe’s wines are true to type and speak of their vineyard sources. Tasting room is open daily 11am–5pm. 2963 Grand Ave., Suite B, Los Olivos; 805 686-4200; qupe.com

Riverbench Vineyard & Winery

Since 1973 Riverbench has produced some of Santa Barbara County’s finest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. With their initial harvest in 2006, they have now begun producing their own wines with winemaker Chuck Ortman. Tasting room is open 10am–4pm daily. 6020 Foxen Canyon Rd., Santa Maria. 805 937-8340; riverbench.com

Tessa Marie Wines

Sangiovese is the cornerstone of winemaker Tessa Marie’s efforts, but she has recently expanded her portfolio to include several new varieties in her all Italian lineup. The tasting room is open Thursday–Monday 11:30am–5pm and is located at 2901 Grand Ave. Suite C, Los Olivos. 805 688-6081; www.tessamariewines.com

The Hitching Post II

The Hitching Post II offers their own world-class Hartley Ostini Hitching Post Wines. Open daily except major holidays. Cocktails/wine tasting Mon–Fri at 4pm, Sat–Sun at 3pm. Dinners only Mon–Fri 5–9:30pm, Sat–Sun 4–9:30pm. 406 E. Highway 246, Buellton. 805 688-0676; hitchingpost2.com

Valley Vino Wine Bar & Merchant

Newly opened in Solvang, this wine bar features outstanding wines by local winemakers and beer on tap. 1557 Mission Dr., Solvang; valleyvinowinebar.com

The Winehound

The award-winning Winehound features the world’s best wines—from the everyday to a luxury cuvée—all top dogs, no mutts. Open 11am–7pm Monday through Saturday, noon–6pm Sunday. 1221 Chapala St., Santa Barbara. 805 845-5247; thewinehound.com

Wine Cask Tasting Room

Wine Cask partner Doug Margerum has brought his wines to downtown Santa Barbara, including his Margerum Wine Company wines, Happy Canyon Vineyards wines and Cimarone/Three Creek Vineyards and CENT ’ANNI, as well as a selection of imported wines. Wine tasting is available from noon to 6pm every day. 813 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara; 805 966-9463; MargerumWineCompany.com

Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards

Zaca Mesa is a Santa Ynez Valley estate winery dedicated to Rhone varieties. Since 1972, they have handcrafted wines from grapes grown in their vineyards to express their distinct character and genuine quality. Open daily 10am–4pm. 6905 Foxen Canyon Rd., Los Olivos. 805 688-9339 ext. 308; zacamesa.com

You can find this source guide online at ediblesantabarbara.com. Please visit these advertisers to pick up your free copy of Edible Santa Barbara and let them know how much you appreciate their support.

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THE LAST BITE

Skewer chunks of fresh summer fruit with a few bite-sized treats—make your favorite cookies or muffins in miniature form and alternate with fruit on each skewer for an extra-sweet portable treat.

Note: Little squares of waxed paper between the treats and the fruit will prevent sog.

Summer’s here, and there’s nothing more satisfying than enjoying great food outdoors. And a picnic basket means you have all the essentials in portable form—kind of like a kitchen laptop. But as summer wears on and you start to grow tired of the standard-issue picnic lunches, consider something different. A picnic brunch is great any time of day, but especially delicious for a midday break between swims, or a morning-after-the-campout feast.

Yogurt & summer berry parfait

Frittata-in-a-ciabatta sandwiches

Fresh fruit & teeny-treat kebabs

lemonade

Slice a loaf of ciabatta in half and fill with your favorite frittata (recipe at ediblesantabarbara.com).

Square ciabatta loaves fit easily into a plastic food saver.

¼ cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice

½ cup fresh watermelon puree (pour through a strainer to remove seeds)

2 tablespoons simple syrup*

1 cup cold water

* Simmer equal parts water and sugar until sugar has dissolved. For added flavor use vanilla or lavender sugar.

Layer yogurt and assorted fresh berries from your garden or the market in used jam jars for a pretty (and tightly sealable) parfait. Top with a sprinkling of granola for added crunch.

Make the night before—mix all ingredients and pour into a plastic bottle, leaving a bit of room for expansion, and freeze until solid. This can be the ice pack in your basket, and it will be thawing but still cool by the time you’re ready to enjoy it.

Watermelon

Patricia Bragg, ND, PhD.

Pioneer Health Crusader

Health Educator, Author

Paul C. Bragg, ND, PhD.

Originator Health Stores

Life Extension Specialist

A Century of BRAGG Health Products, Proven to Promote

& Enhance Health & Longevity.

Made with organic, natural ingredients of the highest quality, BRAGG Health Products exceed even the most strict manufacturing standards. The BRAGG Family of Health Products – produced and perfected over the past 100 years – includes: BRAGG Organic Apple Cider Vinegar with the “mother enzyme”, that contains amazing cleansing and healing qualities; BRAGG Liquid Aminos with 16 essential amino acids, (the protein building blocks of your body); and BRAGG’S award-winning Organic Extra Virgin, first cold pressed Olive Oil. Also includes BRAGG Natural and Organic Salad Dressings; Bragg Sprinkle (24 herbs & spices), and Sea Kelp Seasonings, first introduced in 1931. We are also excited to announce BRAGG’s six health drinks including our Original Apple Cider Vinegar & Honey drink. Based on Paul & Patricia’s original recipes, these are great healthy, delicious and refreshing drinks! (Two 8-oz. servings per bottle.)