Taste of Santa Barbara Menus Unveiled

Matt Kettmann moderates a panel of winemakers at last year’s Taste of Santa Barbara wine festival at the Presidio | Credit: Courtesy

This edition of Full Belly Files was originally emailed to subscribers on May 10, 2024. To receive Matt Kettmann’s food newsletter in your inbox each Friday, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

Coming off of last week’s romp through Mexico City with my oldest buddies (see my highlight reel under “KIACDMX24” here), I was going to skip Full Belly Files this week as I pondered how to best spin that south-of-the-border ride into travelogue gold. You can expect that report next week.

But then I got off of our advisory board meeting on Thursday morning with the Santa Barbara Culinary Experience, the Julia Child Foundation–connected nonprofit that puts on the annual Taste of Santa Barbara event. Since I wrote all about it in last week’s newsletter, a number of details have emerged, and they’re quite appetizing and interesting. So, back-to-back thematic redundancies aside, I thought I’d pen a short FBF this week to let you all know what you’ll be missing if you don’t get tickets.

In addition to the below, there are still tickets available for a number of other events as well, including “Lights! Camera! Julia!” on Saturday night, May 18, at the Metro 4 — read this article I did about that based on my interview with the showrunner for the MAX series Julia — brunch at The Lark, and the after party at Mattei’s Tavern, both on Sunday, May 19.

The TOSB Soiree, Friday, May 17, 6-9 p.m. Casa de la Guerra

Bites and sips from Taste of Santa Barbara 2023 | Credit: Courtesy

At this first-ever Friday night affair, top chefs are each making two dishes each to serve to the crowd.

Massimo Falsini of Caruso’s in the Rosewood Miramar will be serving what whimsically named “I Grew up in Trastevere, You Should Try This Carbonara” as well as a baja kanpachi with spring legumes and ramps.

Longtime Loquita leader Sergei Simonov, who’s now working on new Acme Hospitality restaurant down south, is returning to prepare a Paella de Mariscos with scallops, jumbo prawns, and mussels plus provençal tomatoes with whipped goat cheese.

Famed Julienne and Wildwood chef-turned-Market Forager purveyor Justin West is making braised beef cheeks and a cream of chicken soup with vegetables inspired by a Julia Child recipe that he received on a CD-Rom from the first computer his family ever owned. It was the first dish he ever cooked himself. “I was 13 years old and my parents were returning from a vacation and, under the supervision of my caretakers (mom and dad’s friends), I prepared this soup for their welcome back dinner,” said West.

Alex Bollinger from El Encanto is making red abalone “Mermaid Style”, with butter, garlic, parsley, and chives, as well as a vichyssoise, another Julia recipe. “This was the first Julia Child recipe that I made for my family when I started cooking around the age of 11,” said Bollinger. “It was my father’s favorite soup.”

Originally from London, baker extraordinaire Sandra Adu Zelli of Gipsy Hill Bakery, is handling the desserts for the evening: seasonal mini fruit pavlova, citrus tartlets, and then a chocolate opera cake, inspired by Julia’s Reine de Saba cake.

Live music will be performed by the Spanish guitar duo Calé, and Cutler’s Artisan Spirits will be crafting cocktails. Santa Barbara vintners will be pouring top-shelp wines by Sandhi Wines, Star Lane Vineyard, Rusack Vineyards, Tyler Winery & Lieu Dit Winery, MarBeso Wine, Barden by Margerum, and Foxen.

Full details and tickets here. Use the promotional code SOIREE24 to get $50.

More bites from last year’s Taste of Santa Barbara | Credit: Courtesy

The TOSB Wine Experience, Saturday, May 18, 2-5 p.m. (or 1 p.m. for VIPs), El Presidio

We now have full details for the Saturday wine experience as well, including a list of the nearby wineries who will be pouring (click here for that) as well as panel topics and food offerings.

The latter list includes: smoked carnitas tacos by Big G’s Barbecue, Jose’s shrimp ceviche by Dusk Bar; pulled osso buco from Las Cumbres Ranch with chimichurri, herbed crème fraiche, and bone marrow butter by Gala; shrimp ‘n’ grits shooters and gumbo roll “Soulshi” by Momma’s Soul Food Fusion; ceviche tostadas by The Victor Restaurant and Bar; and savory pours by Luretik Estate Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

As for panels, which will be moderated by yours truly, they are:

Sideways Revisited, 2:15 p.m.: On the 20th anniversary of the film that changed the world of pinot noir and the Santa Ynez Valley, Frank Ositini (Hitching Post), Eli Parker (Fess Parker), and Laura Roach (Sanford) will be discussing its memories and impacts.

New Grapes from the Old World, 3:15 p.m.: One of my favorite topics, we will be discussing “new” grape varieties in Santa Barbara County hat have deep roots in the Old World, specifically including mencia from Spain (with a Santa Barbara version poured by Kyle Knapp of Press Gang Cellars), clairette blanche from the Rhône Valley (Nate Axline, RZN Wines), and gamay noir from Beaujolais (Colin McNany, MarBeso Wine).

Pinot Noir Pros, 4:15 p.m.: Our final panel of the day will be a discussion of pinot noir with three winemakers who are in different stages of their winemaking careers: Doug Margerum of Margerum Wine Company, who’s been in the wine business for more than 40 years; Ernst Storm of Storm Wines, whose career stretches back two decades; and Dusty Nabor of Dusty Nabor Wines, who only started making wine about 10 years ago.

Full details and tickets here. Use the promotional code TOSB24 to get $10 off the GA ticket.