Full Belly Files | Holiday Hiccups Don’t Defeat the Feasting

This wasn’t the smoothest of holiday seasons for our family.

My son had his wisdom teeth removed the week before Christmas; my brother’s family left town early because of the incoming storms; my wife’s family canceled Hanukkah plans due to illness; and my daughter was sick the whole time, mostly confined to her room.

But we persevered with our usual days and nights of end-of-year overindulgence, mixing up meals at some of our favorite establishments with ambitious adventures in our own kitchen. I did squeeze a couple of lower calorie, salad-focused days into the mix, but this past week mostly carried forth the feasting in the expected New Year’s style. Maybe I’ll start fasting in 2026.

Here’s a shotgun blast of what we cooked and consumed.

Pork from Royal Nonesuch Farms: Pork chops weren’t on my Christmas list, but when a couple showed up in the mail — still cold though no longer frozen — alongside two bottles of red from Royal Nonesuch Farm, they were quickly cooked. The package was from the farm’s proprietor/winemaker Anthony Yount, who is celebrating the opening of a tasting room up in Paso Robles. He teamed with Lopai Cellars to turn the former Windward Vineyard into a shared tasting room. I’ve written about both of them before here.

Bowling with the Indy Crew: Though our big community party was in the beginning of the month, the Independent’s staff bash was just a week before Christmas at Bowlero. We bowled, drank towers of beer, and then watched the end of a crazy Seahawks-Rams game, which had our art director Xavier Pereyra fired up. He’d even bought the new Hawks jersey just for the game. (By the way, go Niners!)

The Ellwood for Mom’s Bday: My mom’s birthday on December 21 always kicks off our Christmas week. We hit up The Ellwood, which was pretty quiet that Sunday night as most folks were presumably preparing for the week to come. Everything was great as usual — though I was bummed to see the salmon crudo go off the menu — and they really nailed that char siu pork tomahawk chop.

From left: They nailed the char siu pork tomahawk at The Ellwood; Braised short rib at The Ellwood

Animal Day in the Santa Ynez Valley: Instead of our usual bowling outing with my brother’s family, we decided to take a road trip up the Santa Ynez Valley. Our first stop was Vega Vineyard & Farm, where we dined on flatbreads, salads, and dessert, all washed down by a bottle of winemaker Steve Clifton’s fresh albariño. We ordered a bottle of sparkling barbera — Clifton’s SYV spin on lambrusco — to wander amidst the baby sheep, goats, peacocks, and other cute animals waddling on the farm. Then we hit Ostrichland — itself a bit of a zoo that day, as most of the big birds were already full — and then the biggest zoo in the county this time of year: Solvang, in full Christmastime glee. Lines were out the door everywhere — great for business, though not for us — so it was great that we had a reservation for dinner at the Alisal River Grill, which is also all decked out in twinkling lights. The flaky crusted chicken pot pie was on point.

Petrale Sole Sando at Fish Market: We snuck in a round of golf at Glen Annie on the morning of the 23rd, then wound up buying some salmon, scallops, and lunch at the Santa Barbara Fish Market’s café in Goleta. I eat there more than anywhere else in town, and more than half of the time I order the crispy petrale sole sandwich. That day’s version was the best yet, thanks to more than usual spice from the marinated peppers.

Flaeskesteg from Motley Crew: After Motley Crew Marketplace’s Marko Alexandrou told me about this special Danish cut of pork while I was reporting this story on their Buellton butchery, I committed to buying some flaeskesteg myself. It’s a pork loin with the skin attached, so a proper prep delivers crispy cracklins on top with moist meat beneath. After researching a dozen ways to cook it, I went with the skin side-down-in-boiling-water start, then flipped and slow-roasted. It worked out very well, twice, served with a soy-honey-ginger-chili sauce. I still have two more slabs to cook!

The Lark on Xmas Eve: Carrying on a tradition we started four years ago, my mom and my family — albeit this time without my wife or sick daughter, so just three of us — went to The Lark for our Christmas Eve dinner. Despite our reduced corps, the scene was bustling and joyous; the oysters, crudo, duck confit, pappardelle, and lamb ribs were all fantastic; and we had a long chat with Chef Jason Paluska afterward, who gave us one of his special porchettas to go.  

Pretzel Time: My son decided to make some pretzels from an Uncommon Goods kit that we got him last Christmas. They looked funny at first, and danger ensued, as my mom exploded the boiling pot of water when she dumped in the baking soda. But the pretzels wound up pretty tasty.

Breakfast Pie: For as long as I remember, my family has eaten breakfast pie on Christmas morning. This year’s version layered hash browns, Jimmy Dean’s sage and hot sausage, Paluska’s marinated jalapenos from that porchetta, eggs, and cheese. We all wondered why we don’t cook this more often and eat it all week.  

From left: The goose, post boiling water bath; The cooked goose

Goose for Christmas: My grand plan this Christmas was to roast a goose because, well, why not? I can’t recall ever eating goose (though I wouldn’t be surprised if I had), and I was sure I’d never cooked it. Plus, Motley Crew had them for sale, so we went for it.

After more rounds of research —  including tips from Paluska and the Fish Market’s Paul Osborne, who warned about the ample fat rendering — I ground about eight different spices into a rub (thanks new spice grinder!) and used the boiling water pour-over technique to tighten the skin and render some fat. Then it went into the oven, and it came out much sooner and with much less fat than I expected.

It was quite rich, as advertised, and even the breast meat looked more like beef than poultry. There wasn’t a ton of meat for how pricy the bird is, though our Xmas crowd of 10 each had enough samples. I later made a stock from the innards and bones, and rendered the remaining chunks of fat for future frying. The whole thing felt like a success, but I don’t think I’ll be doing it again anytime soon.

Fake meats by Juicy Marbles: I bought my wife a three-pack of Juicy Marbles fake meat steaks for Christmas, and we tried two of them over the weekend. Looking like little filet mignons, they’re easy to prepare and wind up with the texture and flavor of corned beef, although I certainly used a little too much salt. My wife and I liked them; my son did at first and then said they tasted like the color brown; and my daughter wouldn’t touch the stuff.

Mason’s 16th Birthday: My son turned 16 on Monday, so we hit up La Purisima for golf and then Industrial Eats for a late lunch of flatbreads, caesar salad, tempura asparagus, pork noodles, banh mi, and cheesy cauliflower. It was nice to catch up with Janet Olsson, who I hadn’t seen in a year or so. She even gave me some chanterelles to take home. For dessert at home, we put candles in four tartlets for Renaud’s.

New Year’s Eve Party: It’s about 1 p.m. on New Year’s Eve as I write this, and I’ve got to whip up a few different guacamoles and pick out a bunch of wines for the party we’re going to tonight. So Happy New Year, and see you in 2026.

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From Our Table

Though much of the staff was able to take a decent holiday break, the Independent still managed to publish a few stories.

• Leslie Dinaberg wrote about the coming of Ghiradelli Chocolate’s ice cream shop on State Street.
• Nick Welsh dove into the legal battle brewing between The Harbor Restaurant’s newish owners and the City of Santa Barbara.
• Meghan Clark Tiernan wrote about the Baja dinner at El Encanto and the happy hour guide known as Ali’s List.  
• I covered the big news that Municipal Winemakers is closing the doors to its iconic Funk Zone tasting room.
• For Wine Enthusiast, I covered the rising number of wine improvement districts across California, pondering whether the tiny add-on fee to wine bottles could revive wine country tourism.