{"id":7921,"date":"2017-06-15T19:09:57","date_gmt":"2017-06-16T02:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=7921"},"modified":"2017-06-15T15:12:39","modified_gmt":"2017-06-15T22:12:39","slug":"local-lowdown-the-dish-on-santa-ynez-valleys-new-eateries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=7921","title":{"rendered":"Local Lowdown: The Dish on Santa Ynez Valley\u2019s New Eateries"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bacon

Bacon & Brine burger by Tenley Fohl Photography.<\/p><\/div>\n

From refined ranch cooking to gourmet burgers and creative couplings of unexpected ingredients to upscale wine country cuisine, the Santa Ynez Valley has a host of terrific new places to dine out and indulge in this summer.<\/h4>\n

By Leslie Dinaberg<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Beer & (Big) Bites in Buellton<\/b><\/h4>\n

\u201cThe Kitchen\u201d<\/b><\/span> <\/a>at FigMtnBrew is now open and, as Executive Chef Brian Champlin<\/a> vows, this place definitely has, as he modestly states, \u201cunder-promised and over-delivered!\u201d The eatery now offers a full menu of beer-friendly gastropub fare such as creative burgers, fried chicken sandwiches, tacos, salads and more. Our group particularly loved the <\/span>21+ and over grilled cheese<\/b><\/span>, <\/span>Davy Brown nachos<\/b><\/span> and <\/span>chorizo cheese fries<\/b><\/span>\u2014but honestly, everything that came out of the kitchen was delicious, especially paired with craft beers like Fig Mtn Mosaic and Paradise Rd. Pilsner.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jeff

Jeff Hawxhurst, left, and Brian Champlin of The Kitchen at FigMtnBrew, courtesy photo.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe wanted to provide top-notch food with great prices,\u201d says General Manager Jeff Hawxhurst, a longtime local chef who started his career as a teenager working at the original Habit in Goleta and most recently worked with the Chumash Casino Resort<\/a>. \u201cThe casual environment helps us keep prices affordable while offering fresh farm-to-table cuisine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Champlin also has impressive foodie credentials, most recently as co-owner and executive chef of Succulent Caf\u00e9 in Solvang. Taking the farm-to-table concept up a notch, \u201cOur brewery actually gives our spent grain to a local farm who then feeds it to their cattle. We are then able to serve the local beef on our menu. It\u2019s a sustainable cycle that ensures we know what\u2019s in our food and where it is coming from. We call it \u2018brewery-to-farm-to-table\u2019 cuisine.\u201d <\/span>The Kitchen, Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company, 45 Industrial Way, Buellton,
\nFigMtnBrew.com<\/a>.<\/b><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Refining Ranch Cuisine at The Bear and Star<\/b><\/h4>\n

The Bear and Star<\/b><\/span><\/a> (a nod to patriarch Fess Parker<\/a>\u2019s California and Texas roots) gets its culinary inspiration from the 714-acre Fess Parker Home Ranch located seven miles away, where 75 head of Wagyu cattle are raised and finished with the spent grains and pomace from the family brewery and winery, along with chickens, quail, rabbits, pigs, bees and a number of heirloom fruits and organic vegetables.<\/p>\n

\"The

The Bear and Star by Kodiak Greenwood.<\/p><\/div>\n

This impressive ecosystem was developed under Chef\/Partner John Cox\u2019s passion and vision. Also integral to the restaurant is a 30\u2019 custom reverse-flow Texas smoker that he specially designed for slow smoking and barbecuing many of the dishes. Cox, formerly with Sierra Mar at Big Sur\u2019s renowned Post Ranch Inn<\/a>, has created an inventive ranch-inspired menu offering lunch and dinner items like Wagyu Fries<\/b><\/span> with garden herb aioli; deviled ranch eggs<\/b><\/span> with Santa Barbara urchin and espelette; fried green tomatoes<\/b><\/span> with \u201ccheese wiz\u201d and BBQ spice; Parker Ranch Wagyu burger<\/b><\/span> with smoked cheddar, tomato jam and butter pickles; crispy catfish<\/b><\/span> with re-fried black-eyed-peas and \u201cblackened\u201d smoked tomato sauce; Wagyu meat loaf<\/b><\/span> with potato puree, garden vegetables and pan jus; Parker Ranch chile<\/b><\/span> with cheddar, chives and cornbread crouton; local stuffed quail<\/b><\/span> with farro risotto, bay laurel and red wine demi glace; and an array of steaks<\/b><\/span>, ribeyes<\/b><\/span> and filets<\/b><\/span>, among other items.<\/p>\n

Highlights for breakfast are dishes of cheddar biscuit and country gravy<\/b><\/span>; steel cut oatmeal br\u00fbl\u00e9e<\/b><\/span> with local blueberries and caramelized palm sugar; and smoked Wagyu hash with farm eggs<\/b><\/span>, root vegetables and lemon-thyme hollandaise.<\/p>\n

The Parker family\u2019s acclaimed wines are prominently featured and the offerings also showcase expressive small-production wines from Santa Barbara County\u2019s most sought-after wineries, and beyond, as well as a stunning<\/span>
\nwine-walled private dining room. The Bear and Star, Fess Parker’s Wine Country Inn<\/a>, 2860 Grand Ave., Los Olivos, 805\/686-1359, thebearandstar.com<\/a>.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Bottlest Winery Bar & Bistro<\/b><\/h4>\n

Already offering<\/b><\/span> one of the most unique wine-tasting experiences in California\u2014with its expansive \u201cWine Wall\u201d of 52 constantly changing wines available by the taste, half glass or full glass\u2014the new Bottlest Winery Bar & Bistro<\/a> has stepped up its cuisine tremendously, with a new restaurant concept from Executive Chef Owen Hanavan, the former Head Chef of Barbare\u00f1o, whose culinary r\u00e9sum\u00e9 includes time spent at Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara<\/a> and the Michelin-starred COI Restaurant in San Francisco.<\/span><\/p>\n

Utilizing a bounty of locally sourced organic produce, meats and fish, a recent sampling of Chef Owen\u2019s creations was so delicious that it\u2019s hard to name a favorite dish. Definitely high on my list are the beautifully plated \u201c<\/span>Sixteen Spiced Pork Shoulder<\/b><\/span>\u201d (with almond rice pilaf, date glaze, romanesco broccoli and lemon oil), melt-in-your-mouth <\/span>New York strip<\/b><\/span> (with sousbise, duck fat potato, chimichurri and crispy leeks) and <\/span>yellowtail<\/b><\/span> (with poached tuna, rice cracker, nori vinaigrette and micro cilantro). In addition to the elevated evening cuisine, the lunch and midday menus include a variety of small plates (the <\/span>lamb meatballs on housemade potato chips<\/b><\/span> are divine), as well as sandwiches, salads and pizzas sure to please every palate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Bottlest

Bottlest Winery Bar & Bistro, photo by Bottle Branding.<\/p><\/div>\n

Also a crowd pleaser is the view of Terravant Winery<\/a>\u2019s popular custom-crush facility, which shares the space with Bottlest Bistro and the soon-to-be-launched bottlest.com<\/a> online wine experience, where you can craft your own wine (and labels) from start to finish, based on a sliding scale of personal preferences. For more information, visit bottlest.com. <\/span>Bottlest Winery Bar & Bistro, 35 Industrial Way, Buellton, 805\/686-4742,
\nbottlest.com\/bistro<\/a>.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Blissful Bellies at Bacon & Brine<\/b><\/h4>\n

Hyper local<\/b><\/span> culinary entrepreneurs Chef Pink and Courtney Rae DeLongpr\u00e9\u2019s Bacon & Brine<\/a> sits at the top of the ever-evolving Santa Ynez Valley food chain. This delicious addition to the Solvang scene opened last summer to eager fans and customers of the duo\u2019s previous sandwich shop. With guidance from Chef Pink, we ate our way through much of the menu, an impressive gastronomic collection of delights that evidence the couple\u2019s full commitment to utilizing local organic vegetables and organic grass-fed pasture-raised animals. In fact, none of their food items come from more than 10 miles away, except spices and seasonings, which are all fair-trade.<\/p>\n

\"Bacon

Bacon & Brine by Tenley Fohl Photography.<\/p><\/div>\n

Beef, chicken and vegetarian options mingle with the pork menu items (all of the cattle and poultry come from Shadow Creek Ranch, a small Santa Ynez Valley farm), but the flavors are even more impressive than the menu\u2019s provenance. Our favorites include Korean Fried Chicken<\/b><\/span> (KFC), \u201cThe Hipster\u201d sandwich<\/b><\/span> (buttermilk fried chicken, shredded lettuce, pickle and aioli on a doughnut bun), the kimchi burger<\/b><\/span> (wagyu beef, bacon, housemade \u201clegit\u201d kimchi, farm egg, chives and bacon aioli), fried Brussels sprouts<\/b><\/span>, roasted beets<\/b><\/span> and the to-die-for salted caramel bacon doughnuts<\/b><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Chef Pink<\/a>, the \u201cbacon\u201d half of this business, is a 17-year food and restaurant industry\u00a0<\/span>veteran who has worked with California chefs and restaurants stretching from Los Angeles to San Francisco, as well as in New York and Paris kitchens. She\u2019s also a bit of TV food celebrity, appearing on Spike TV\u2019s Bar Rescue<\/i>, Food Network\u2019s Cutthroat Kitchen<\/i> and FYI\u2019s Man vs. Child<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The \u201cbrine\u201d half of \u201cBacon & Brine\u201d is Courtney Rae DeLongpr\u00e9<\/a>, a proponent of healthy eating with a passion for food, nutrition and small-scale homesteading, which led to her studies of traditional old-world food preparations, segueing to her fermentation craft.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to share with the surrounding community our personal mix: fine dining techniques using local ingredients and our use of fermentation to create flavor profiles, which let those ingredients shine,\u201d says Chef Pink. \u201cI\u2019m meshing my years of training as a proper chef, with our philosophies of hyper-local organic, whole, sustainable food systems\u2026and my love of, and allegiance to, a great food experience that\u2019s accessible to everyone.\u201d Bacon & Brine, 1618 Copenhagen Dr., Solvang, 805\/688-8809, baconandbrine.com<\/a>. Hours vary by season.<\/b><\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Originally published in the Summer 2017 issue of Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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