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The massive rainstorm we experienced last month immediately unleashed a torrent of beautiful mushrooms, the most delicious and obvious of which are golden-hued chanterelles.
I recognized as much a few weeks ago while reporting this overdue story about Motley Crew Marketplace, where there were a bunch of mushrooms overflowing their bins as a dusty forager tried to sell them more.
Then I went up north to my mom’s house in Aptos, where I spent an afternoon with UCSB alum John Benedetti, the proprietor of Sante Arcangeli Family Wines. (He also cofounded Sante Adairius Rustic Ales but got out before that Capitola brewery became a craft cult superstar.) I’ve known John for probably a decade now, and have tasted his wines from quite good to enthusiastically great through my critical lens at Wine Enthusiast. He and Ryan Beauregard also once dragged me home after a night of too much sushi and sake and who knows what else in South Lake Tahoe many winters ago, but that’s a different story.
After meeting at his house in Corralitos, John drove me 1,700 feet up into the redwoods to visit Split Rail Vineyard, a stunning oceanview property of chardonnay and pinot noir that he’s singlehandedly brought to the forefront over the past decade. We went for the wines — including the briny Split Rail chardonnay that quenched our sunny day thirst — but he suspected there might be some shrooms, and they greeted us before we even stepped foot in the vines.
With me mostly pointing and John doing the unearthing, we gathered five pounds without really trying. He told me this past Tuesday that he got nine pounds in 15 minutes, so it got even easier.
That night, I cooked them in the most basic, and I’d say best, way: dry fry with some salt until they release and evaporate their water (which was a lot), and then sautéed with butter, garlic, and thyme. Served with some choice links from Corralitos Market & Sausage Company, they were maybe better than the Thanksgiving dinner to come a couple days later.
The leftovers in eggs the next morning were a hit too, as was the chanterelle cream sauce I made the next night to go along with the wagyu steak that John gifted me. That was pretty much the same cooking process, just doused and reduced in a bit of heavy cream. Cue more chanterelles into more eggs on Thanksgiving morning.
The party continues. My friend Bryan Hope, who founded Sustainable Wine Tours 20 years ago and now repairs e-bikes through his company Energized Bikes (I wrote about that here), happened to pick chanterelles when he was in Aptos last week as well. I swung by his house this past Tuesday morning and then fried up another batch to go with lemony chicken and cilantro-spiked pasta.
Then on Wednesday, I met up for lunch at Convivo with Elise Magistro, the Santa Ynez Valley–based proprietor of Luretík Olive Oil, which I wrote about last year in this article. I’d been wanting to introduce here to Convivo’s chef-owner Peter McNee given their shared fondness for food and Italy. (I’ve written about my adventures with Peter a few times, perhaps most memorably from this Santa Cruz Island trip.)
Sure enough, after tasting Magistro’s just-bottled Olio Nuovo and last vintage’s Meriodone blend and enjoying the always refreshing charred avocado salad — this season with pineapple guava — Peter prepared us a couple dishes showcasing his latest batch of Gaviota Coast chanterelles. One starred the mushrooms in miso butter with hazelnuts and celery root giving texture, while the chanterelle spaghetti included crispy leeks, zucchini batons, and manchego cheese. He’s almost out of chanterelles, so these dishes might be gone by the time you read this, but there’s always the chance for more after the next rain.
The lunch was also my first time watching an olive oil deal go down, as Convivo will start using Luretík’s oil to finish dishes very soon. Those wanting to know more about the olive oil company should attend this Saturday’s “Know Thy Farmer” lunch at Pico in Los Alamos, where Magistro will be discussing her orchard and the whole process. The three-course menu will feature Luretík in varying ways. Tickets for the December 6 event are $50, and you can learn more here.
Dedicated Full Belly Filers should recall my past mushroom tales from 2023, 2024, and earlier this year. I can’t wait for the 2026 version. Chanterelles are especially hard to misidentify, but forage on public property or your friend’s ranch at your own risk.
Remembering Tayden Tomblin
My otherwise magical Thanksgiving week (Stanford-Cal game, Half Moon Bay golf, 49ers game, etc.) was shattered by the news of the tragic death of Tayden Tomblin.
He was the 17-year-old son of my good friends — and Santa Barbara community pillars — Tyler and Rosalyn Tomblin. I’d just huddled under Tyler’s umbrella at UCSB soccer’s rainy Big West finals, talking about Tayden’s thriving life and his dream to be a cardiologist. I hadn’t seen him much myself in recent years, due to his independent nature and quest for slaying impressive amounts of fish with hook and spear.
The boy was on to good things, and his body still is. Per Tayden’s wishes, his pristine organs were donated to people in need. We all must believe that his death will support many more promising lives.
His fellow San Marcos High students are hosting a paddle out in his honor on Wednesday, December 10, at 3:30 p.m., at East Beach. They told me about Tayden’s impact on their lives in this story.
You can donate to his family here.
Walk at Wanderment Farms on Sunday
When I first visited the place now known as Wanderment Farms a decade ago, it was a scraggly vineyard known as Paredon barely clinging to life on a rocky cliff perched over the Carpinteria coast.
When I later talked to the woman who bought the 56-acre spot a few years later, I assumed Margo Redfern’s glasses were overly rose-tinted as she spoke of her hopes to turn the angry land into a happy model of regenerative farming.
When I went there again earlier this year for a story about agave — one of the more than two dozen crops she’s cultivating across 14 planted acres — I was blown away by how quickly a dedicated farmer can turn marginal land into a magical wonderland. It is a thriving demonstration of farming in tune as much as possible with the earth, with 70 percent of the land intentionally left wild, serving, explains Redfern, as “a sanctuary for the flowers, fauna, beneficial insects, and wildlife that keep our ecosystem humming.”
And now they have an artist/chef in residence named Libby Holland. To celebrate, they’re throwing a party on Sunday, December 7, 2–5 p.m., inviting the public to wander the fields on a 3 p.m. farm tour and enjoy Holland’s seasonal small bites. The tiered-ticket event supports the Santa Barbara Unity Shoppe Food Drive and Toys for Tots, with sales going to the Shoppe’s food bank. They’re also collecting non-perishable food and unwrapped toys at the event.
Tickets are available at wandermentfarms.com. And you can read a longer interview with Redfern about Wanderment Farms here.
From Our Table
Here are some stories you may have missed:
- George Yatchisin realizes that Single Fin Cider and Dom’s Taverna paella go hand-in-hand.
- Our copy chief Tessa Reeg put on her wine dinner cap to enjoy the savory autumn harvest gathering at Gainey Vineyard.
- Izadora Hamm learns how to snap pics of food before she eats it with Eat This, Shoot That!
- Here’s my story about Motley Crew Marketplace, an awesome butcher shop and small grocer in Buellton.
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