The County’s Finest One-Off Food Night | Clean Slate’s Just 8

Solvang’s Clean Slate Wine Bar Offers Intimate Pairings from the Cellar of Matt Kettmann

Matt Kettmann pours at Clean Slate Just 8 Super Club | Photo: Wine Club Marketing Inc.

Melissa and Jason Scrymgeour | Photo: Wine Club Marketing Inc.

No one who has attended a Just 8 Supper Club at Solvang’s Clean Slate Wine Bar would ever, ever say that they just ate. For these exclusive evenings — generally occurring once a month, and plan ahead, as they fill up quickly — offer a kitchen firing at the peak of its creativity, providing an eight-course feast. What’s more, alongside each course are wines, two curated pours per course, from the primo cellar of Matt Kettmann, my colleague here at the Independent and a Wine Enthusiast reviewer. (He warns early in the evening, an army of bottles in front of him, “That’s your job to pace yourself!”) Everyone sits along the bar at the otherwise-closed-for-the-night Clean Slate, melding into one sated, happy food family by evening’s end.

“I knew I could get eight really good pours out of a wine bottle, and we could fit eight people at our bar,” explains Jason Scrymgeour, co-owner of Clean Slate with his wife, chef Melissa Scrymgeour. “Then eight is just a cool number — there’s the Magic 8 Ball,” he adds, referring to what has become the logo for the event. Scrymgeour settled on the idea after attending one of the Apples to Zucchini Cooking School benefit cellar raid dinners, to which Kettmann had donated wines. Kettmann checked out Clean Slate — discovered, as he puts it, “Oh shit, this is legit, real-deal cuisine” — and a partnership was born.

Chef Melissa and her team relish the evenings, as it gives them the chance to get a bit more fancy while experimenting. Clean Slate on a not Just 8 night has a menu that leans Cajun — Melissa hails from Louisiana and learned to cook in the kitchens of her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother — but that doesn’t mean a Just 8 won’t shy away from a bit of molecular gastronomy too. The evening I had the ridiculous good fortune to attend last fall offered agar-assisted caper pearls adorning a vivacious rethink of a salad niçoise — they looked like gorgeous, briny tears on the perfect plate.

As usual at Clean Slate, you eat of the season and as locally as possible — Melissa will be sure to name-check all of her purveyors — so one course might be an upscale but far from fussed-over savory herb churro angled into a bowl of delight, a k a a Tutti Frutti Farms butternut squash and Rogue River Blue Cheese fondue. My ecstatic note read, “I want to be embalmed in this sauce!” and when I indecorously ran my index finger around the bowl to be sure to get every last drop, Melissa kindly said, “We have no pretensions here — we don’t judge.” Forget about a mere open kitchen — this intimate space means the kitchen is pretty much cooking with you, not just for you.

Chef Melissa at a Just 8 Supper Club at Clean Slate Wine Bar | Photo: Wine Club Marketing Inc.

The evening does lead into deep discussions about southern and central Californian wine, with Matt and Jason acting as somms. (While Kettmann provides the wines, Scrymgeour has a background assisting small wineries with their marketing and assembles Clean Slate’s normal 50 wines by the glass list, as if a BTG list that large is normal.)

Developing the food menu comes first, and then the whole team chooses the beverage pairings. But they also like to shake things up — say, offer both a sparkling and a pinot noir with the opening beurre noisette and onion cookie sandwich for completely different experiences, or a riesling and a syrah with a king salmon Thai pumpkin curry. By evening’s end, you’ll end up rethinking the “rules” of accompaniment. And maybe get a course in unusual wine descriptors, too. Kettmann got to take us through why/how Plaster of Paris, cherimoya, and boar’s hair (yep, hair) made sense to him as he does his due diligence reviewing a hundred plus wines a month. Expect so much of the delicious unexpected, not just from Sta. Rita Hills but Temecula, not just cabernet sauvignon but cabernet pfeffer.

Just 8 Supper Club at Clean Slate Wine Bar | Photo: Wine Club Marketing Inc.
Just 8 Supper Club at Clean Slate Wine Bar | Photo: Wine Club Marketing Inc.
Just 8 Supper Club at Clean Slate Wine Bar | Photo: Wine Club Marketing Inc.
Just 8 Supper Club at Clean Slate Wine Bar | Photo: Wine Club Marketing Inc.
Just 8 Supper Club at Clean Slate Wine Bar | Photo: Wine Club Marketing Inc.

The progression from lighter to more substantial dishes and the thoughtful sizing of portions keeps one from feeling stuffed by the last course, so you get to leave maybe not quite light but certainly enlightened by the range of culinary delights. Of all things the fall menu concluded with carrot halwa, a dish from Clean Slate’s curry night repertoire. The North Indian dessert simmers grated carrot in milk, long and slow, and then gets a healthy shot of cardamom. Chef Melissa gives it crunch with a variation of her mom’s praline recipe, subbing walnuts for pecans. Given the Chavez Family Farm carrots star, someone joked, “Hey, this is really just a salad.”

Upcoming Clean Slate Just 8 Supper Club events are Thursday, March 13, and Thursday, April 6. The cost is $250 per person. See cleanslatewinebar.com/event for reservations. Clean Slate Wine Bar is located at 448 Atterdag Road, Solvang, cleanslatewinebar.com.