‘Deliberately dynamic menus’ The Ballard Inn has new executive chef, new restaurant

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By MARILYN MCMAHON

NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

The Ballard Inn in Santa Ynez Valley has a new executive chef, Bailey Smith, and a new name for its restaurant, Plume.

At Plume, the property’s refreshed dining room now sports a cool color palette juxtaposed with a warming, dual-sided fireplace. That’s where inn guests and other diners will indulge in Chef Smith’s currently weekendonly, pop up-style dinner service, which launched Jan. 13.

Only offered Friday and Saturday nights for the next couple of months, Plume’s “deliberately dynamic menus will shift from one cuisine to another, bringing an element of fun and affording the culinary team room for creativity as the restaurant settles into a singular concept,” said Frank Kastelz, The Ballard Inn’s general manager.

Plume’s “playful” weekend dinner menu themes will also be reflected in The Ballard Inn’s upcoming breakfast and brunch service menus, slated to launch this month with cuisinecrossover dishes like a version of a Hawaiian loco moco and French toast topped with coconut-infused cream.

Plume’s pop-up dinner service began with a Japanese-inspired menu crafted by Chef Smith, utilizing locally sourced, seasonal Santa Barbara wine country ingredients.

The first menu featured dishes such as the inn’s fan-favorite milk buns with sesame seeds and honey butter; a radish and watercress salad with fried shallot and Wafu dressing; eggplant katsu (Tonkatsu) with red cabbage; Karaage fried chicken with Finley Farms little gems and Thai chili aioli; or local rockfish, sourced from Travis Meyer of HAHA Fishing, served with an in-season cauliflower purée.

A Mizugashi (dessert) section of the upcoming menu will include an exotic dragon fruit and mango sake jelly, house-made vanillamatcha ice cream, and “ChocoShrooms” — a flavorful play on chocolate-dipped mushroom snacks found in Japan.

Table-side ordering and service will include a limited wine and beer menu, as well as specialty cocktails, one of the newest highlights of The Ballard Inn’s food and beverage programs.

Dinner cocktail menu options might feature the likes of a matcha julep with shiso bitters and pickled serrano — American rye-based as opposed to Japanese whisky-based — or a gin-based milk tea with umami bitters.

Chef Smith describes his kitchen practices as “intentional,” using cooking methods he attributes to some of his most recent work as part of the culinary team behind Chef Nikolas Ramirez’s Na Na THAI pop-ups at Bar Le Côte in Los Olivos.

“There’s purpose behind our food preparation and our selection of specific ingredients, something which has really been highlighted for me since I’ve been learning about Thai cuisine,” said Chef Smith. “For example, I handcraft our sauces, using tools like a mortar and pestle. No machines here.”

A Santa Ynez Valley native, Chef Smith attended culinary arts school, then began his career cooking in the kitchens of some of the region’s most well-known restaurants, such as The Landsby’s Mad & Vin, S.Y. Kitchen, Solvang’s former Succulent Café and Los Alamos’ Plenty on Bell.

He first experienced life in the hospitality industry as a child when he would join his grandparents during summers at a motel and restaurant, now the Cuyama Buckhorn in New Cuyama. His grandparents left the Buckhorn and opened a nearby establishment, The Place, continuing Chef Smith’s informal restaurant education.

“I picked up kitchen fundamentals from my grandparents,” he said. “And I’ve compounded those basics with all of the lessons I’ve learned from esteemed chefs and restaurateurs as I’ve moved through the restaurant world.” email: mmcmahon@newspress. com

He has an affinity for bread and baking, skills that are now displayed on The Ballard Inn’s menus and will be put to further use when he introduces items from the Inn’s new wood-fired outdoor oven.

The Ballard Inn will eventually launch new stay-and-dine packages, as well as other culinary platforms. Further details and more information about the expanded dining concepts and future plans for the Inn will be announced.

Fyi

The Ballard Inn is located at 2436 Baseline Ave. in Ballard, near Solvang.

The restaurant is currently open for dinner Friday and Saturday evenings, starting at 6 p.m.

Reservations are not available.

Dinner service is walk-in only, and Friday and Saturday dinners will only run until each evening’s menu items are “sold out.”

To reach The Ballard Inn and Restaurant directly, call 805-6887770. Private event inquiries should be directed to chuy@ballardinn. com. Information is also available on www.ballardinn.com, on Instagram @ theballardinn and Facebook facebook. com/theballardinn.

The calendar appears Mondays through Saturdays in the “Life & the Arts” section. Items are welcome. Please email them a full week before the event to Managing Editor Dave Mason at dmason@newspress.com.

TODAY 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Santa Ynez Tribal Health Clinic will provide free dental care for local children during its third annual Give Kids A Smile event. The free day of exams, cleanings and more will take place at the clinic, located on the Chumash Reservation at 90 Via Juana Lane, Santa Ynez.

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Entangled:

Responding to Environmental Crisis,” runs through March 25 at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. The museum is open from 10 a.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. It’s closed on Sundays and college holidays. For more information, call 805-565-6162 or visit westmont.edu/museum.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. “Interlopings:

Colors in the Warp and Weft of Ecological Entanglements” is an exhibit that runs through March 12 at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1212 Mission Canyon Road, Santa Barbara. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The exhibit features weavings dyed with pigments from nonnative plants on Santa Cruz Island. The weavings were created by artists Helen Svensson and Lisa Jevbratt. For more information, see sbbotanicgarden.org.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Coast artist and London native Annie Hoffman’s exhibit “Seeing Ourselves in Colour” will be displayed through Feb. 28 at Gallery Los Olivos, 2920 Grand Ave., Los Olivos. For more information, visit anniehoffmann.com.

10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. “The Search for the Modern West,” an exhibit, continues through Feb. 20 at Sullivan Goss: An American Gallery, 11 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara. The gallery is open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. For more information, see sullivangoss.com or call the gallery at 805-730-1460.

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibit “Parliament of Owls” runs through Feb. 5 at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol, Santa Barbara. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays. For more information, go to www.sbnature.org.

7:30 p.m. “The Gin Game” is being performed at 7:30 p.m. today through Feb. 4 and 2 p.m. Feb. 4 and 5 at the Center Stage Theater, upstairs at Paseo Nuevo. Tickets for the Pulitzer Prize-winning play cost $18 for general admission and $15 for students and seniors for tonight’s preview show. After that, tickets cost $21 for general admission and $18 for students and seniors. To purchase, go to centerstagetheater.org. There is no late seating.

Feb. 3

7:30 p.m. “The Gin Game” is being performed at the Center Stage Theater, upstairs at Paseo Nuevo. Tickets cost $21 for general admission and $18 for students and seniors. To purchase, go to centerstagetheater.org. There is no late seating.

Feb. 4 2 and 7:30 p.m. “The Gin Game” is being performed at the Center Stage Theater, upstairs at Paseo Nuevo. Tickets cost $21 for general admission and $18 for students and seniors. To purchase, go to centerstagetheater.org. There is no late seating.

FEB. 5

Free admission will be available on this day at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Ventura County, the Museum of Ventura County’s Agriculture Museum and the Santa Paula Museum. For more information, visit socalmuseums.org.

2 p.m. “The Gin Game” is being performed at the Center Stage Theater, upstairs at Paseo Nuevo. Tickets cost $21 for general admission and $18 for students and seniors. To purchase, go to centerstagetheater.org. There is no late seating.

FEB. 8 8 p.m. Transform Through Arts will present 10 dance companies in “Colors of Love” at the Center Stage Theater, upstairs at Paseo Nuevo in Santa Barbara. General admission costs $30 in advance and $35 at the door. Tickets are $25 for students. To purchase, go to www. centerstagetheater.org.