Full Belly Files | I Started Out on Sandwiches

Gino's sandos | Credit: Matt Kettmann

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Like anyone who reads articles and books about food, I’m inundated with stories about how people grew up cooking meaningful dishes that were intertwined in their childhoods. There’s an endless supply of anecdotes about hand-rolling pasta with grandma and folding dumplings with mom and preparing the barbecue with dad. I don’t really have anything like that.

I had a great childhood, being quite close to my parents, grandparents, and extended family, and good food was a constant. There were lots of competent, even great, cooks around, and I have plenty of stories about eating it. But, aside from some chocolate chip cookies here and there, I don’t have any stark memories of making old family recipes with anyone. (I did learn from my meticulous pharmacist grandpa to make afternoon Old Fashioneds for my grandma, but that’s a different tale.)

So I’ve spent plenty of time scouring memories for what triggered my interest in cooking. I keep coming back to summertimes in Capitola, when my large family and many of our friends’ families would descend on the beach town next to Santa Cruz for weeks. That’s when, at some point, I got very precious about my sandwiches — layering meats, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pepperoncinis, and so forth onto gently toasted, mustard-coated bread, often enhanced with a splash of salad dressing.

I don’t remember how this happened, or even exactly where I would eat the creations. But I do recall spending time on the combinations and being proud of the results. Which is how I often feel about cooking today.

It’s a fitting memory, given that The Independent’s first-ever Sandwich Week started yesterday, with about 40 different $9 sandwiches now being sold at 27 different establishments until next Wednesday, July 2.

After years of success with Burger Week (which started in 2018) and Burrito Week (which began in 2021), we’ve added this new celebration to the mix. In our usual tradition, that means sending out our reporters to describe each of the sandwiches while showcasing the people and places making them.

I set a personal record in eating samples for myself this round, although I’ve heard that some actually did seven burgers earlier this year. I clocked five restaurants and eight sandwiches, and I’d heartily chomp them all down again.

My first was the pambazo at Del Pueblo Café in Goleta, an enchilada-soaked torta stuffed with chorizo, potato, carrot, cheese, sour cream, and lettuce. Then, with the help of my friend the photographer Macduff Everton, we took down the spicy grilled chicken and gochujang fried chicken at Validation Ale. On a Tuesday, I enjoyed two from Gino’s — the pizza crust-wrapped sausage and veggie, though they are actually serving seven different ones — and then two more from Valentino’s: another veggie on a soft roll and The Tyler, which oozes with chicken, bacon, ranch, jalapeños, and more. My last stop was Norton’s for the tuna melt.

None of these were much like the simple sandwiches that I cut my cooking teeth on decades ago. But they were each uniquely delicious, and so are the three dozen other sandwiches available right now across town for $9. So get out, get some sandos, and enjoy.

Norton’s tuna melt
Validation Ale’s spicy grilled chicken
Validation Ale’s gochujang fried chicken

Recent Bites & Bevvies

Sandwiches haven’t been the only thing on my plate as of late, and I’m finishing up a week of exploring the Languedoc region of France as you read this, so there will be some international flare next week. So minus France, but in the typical rapid rundown, my recent adventures featured:

Dinner at Harry’s: For a dinner at Harry’s Plaza Café for my mother-in-law’s birthday, we took over that semi-private room toward the back. The CEO Martini never fails to surprise me with power.

Lunch at Au Bon Climat: I stopped by the Au Bon Climat/Lindquist Family Vintners facility on Bien Nacido Vineyard for one of their epic, everyday lunches. It’s sad to see so much of that once historic estate be turned over to stark-white hoop houses, with acreage now apparently below 200 from the peak around 900, but that’s farming. We barrel tasted, then enjoyed oven-roasted chicken and a cold lo mein noodle salad by cellarmaster Enrique Rodriguez, who took over daily chef duties after Jim Clendenen died in 2021.

There was the usual span of about a dozen wines: older marsanne (1993), roussanne (2007), and syrahs (2010, 2022) by Bob Lindquist (who joined us for lunch), pinot noir (2002, 2016) and chardonnay (2017-2019) by longtime ABC winemaker Jim Adelman (who’s retiring this year), and a 2021 sangiovese by current winemaker Marc Piro, who’s now mostly running the show with second-gen co-owner Knox Clendenen and Sarah Atwood. Knox’s sister and ABC co-owner Isabelle Clendenen gave me a bottle of her strawberry-infused chenin blanc to go, which my wife and I found to be a fantastic combo. More is on the way in 2025 …

Kit Kuyper and Ryan Hofmann at Hawks Hill Ranch

Hanging at Hawks Hill: A less than 24-hour roll through Paso Robles started with a tour and tasting at Hawks Hill Ranch with owner Kit Kuyper and GM Ryan Hofmann. The vineyard is postcard-ready, and the wines — made by Anthony Yount and Don Burns — are bold but smooth. Their vineyard tour with tasting in multiple spots and a lunch on a hilltop in an ancient manzanita grove is highly recommended.

Toasting Ridge in Paso: Northern California’s famous Ridge Vineyards, which is based in both the Santa Cruz Mountains and Sonoma County, are opening a tasting room in Paso Robles, where they’ve been sourcing old vine zinfandel from the Dusi family since 1967. They also make grenache blanc from Paso, and will be showcasing those wines as well as their NorCal stuff at the new spot, which is close to Tin City.

To celebrate, they hosted a dinner at the newly opened Primal House, a butchery/market/brewery/eatery/etc., where former Pico’s former chef Drew Terp is now cooking. His lamb three ways was deftly paired to three vintages of Ridge’s Dusi zin.

Crazy Cocktails at The Remedy: After Ridge, I went with my friend Joel Peterson, who’s the head of the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, to a newer cocktail spot off of the town’s main square called The Remedy. A 12-seat speakeasy attached to the rear of Alchemist’s Garden, The Remedy’s drinks are rather insane and theatrical. Campari made into caviar ballas, liquid nitrogen lifting peppermint aromas, a glass on a swing — that’s just the start. Worth a visit, though plan to spend about $30 a drink.

Dim Sum at China Pavilion: For Father’s Day, my wife organized a bunch of friends, 19 to be exact, to gather for dim sum at China Pavilion. With kids at one table and adults at ours, the ordering got a little out of hand, so we all left with food for the rest of the week. We also dusted a half-case of wine that I brought, making for a strong start to a Sunday.

Cab Retrospective at Brander: The Brander Vineyard is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, with numerous events happening throughout the year, including an anniversary concert on July 12 and a bigger celebration in August. In anticipation, I joined Fred Brander, winemaker Fabian Bravo, and a number of other wine country luminaries to taste thorough a dozen vintages of Brander’s reserve cabernet sauvignon. Many of us thought that the 2000 vintage was the best, and not just because it was the oldest. There was much talk, especially amongst Bryan Babcock and Mikael Sigouin, of doing more to bring attention to the value of Santa Barbara’s Bordeaux bottlings.

Mole at Buellton’s La Tequila: Raul Alarcon, most recently a lead bartender at Toma Restaurant, just took over La Tequila, a Mexican restaurant on Highway 246 in Buellton. He invited me to check out the food, so I tried a couple agave wine margaritas, the pina xcaret (a cheesy adobado appetizer), the boldly flavored mole enchiladas, and the extra crunchy churros. I’ll be back!