Anyway, we tried to make the most of my last few days in town. Steph and I had meals planned for my last two nights: one to help us take care of some Cab and Syrah that needed drinking, and one to take care of the insanely delicious Cotes de Tablas Blanc that we bought together at Tablas Creek in Paso Robles. Unfortunately (for the plans, not for me), my PhD advisor invited me to attend dinner at an awesome steakhouse with him and some lab buddies on Tuesday (my last night in town), so we had to improvise a bit.
Our main course was a classic Emily & Steph recipe: Grilled Rib-Eye Steaks with Blue Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms. This was delicious, as always. We tried both a Cab and a Syrah with this and found that the Cab stood up better to the mushrooms, which overpowered this particular Syrah (unlike the 2000 Curtis Crossroads Syrah, which was the wine that inspired us to make this dish so many times before... I taste these mushrooms and I immediately start wishing I had a glass of that Syrah with me...)
Tuesday night brought dinner at Lucky's in Montecito. I never understood why people would "waste" $50 on a steak until I ate at a good steakhouse for the first time. (My budget typically prohibits me from going to steakhouses unless invited for business dinners...) The steaks at Lucky's are very high quality and cooked to perfection, and pretty much everything on the menu is delicious. On this trip I went with Diver Scallops in Escargot Butter and a Charred Bone-In Rib-Eye with Horseradish Sauce (sauce not pictured):
We ordered several sides for the table, all of which tasted great, but I forgot to take pictures because by then I was focused on my steak, which was very much the star of the show. First, though, the scallops made me very happy. I'm such a sucker for fresh scallops, and I try to order them every time the opportunity arises... These were incredibly fresh and cooked to perfection. My steak, too, was perfectly cooked and so very very tasty. Mmmm... Steak....
My flight got me back to Portland at 1am, just in time to go to bed and wake up to sit around watching horribly boring football games while my wonderful mother slaved away in the kitchen preparing a feast. I'm such a control freak that I usually end up either being in charge or heavily involved in the preparations for such things, so it was a special treat (especially given how exhausted I was) to just sit back and let my mommy make me a bunch of delicious food... (Thanks, mom!)
To accompany our beverages we ordered up some brekky. I got a seriously good Chorizo Burrito, (left) while Steph went with an egg and sausage sandwich with a pepper jack sauce (right)... That was one damn fine breakfast burrito...
After the Bucs finished making my day a happier place, we did a bit of sitting around (as bottomless Bloody Marys tend to make a person want to do) before hopping in the car to head to LA to see the totally awesome Ranchero Brothers in concert. We used to go to Largo pretty frequently when I lived in Santa Barbara, but they have since moved to a new location so this was a new experience for us. The plan was to get to LA a bit early, hit a Cuban restaurant for dinner, then hit the show. We were making good time, when it was pointed out to us by a neighboring motorist that we had a flat tire... Sure enough, we had managed to drive over a nail at some point in the last... week? I have no idea... Anyway, we called AAA and they came to put the donut on the car and we were on our way again, but now with only enough time to grab take-out from the restaurant. Behold the ambiance as we ate our Cuban sandwiches:
After dinner we made it to the new Largo, and the show was fantastic. (Stools where Rhett and Murry would sit shown below, since there was no photography allowed during the show.) When you see the Old 97s, it's easy to be distracted by Rhett (given that he is a freaking rock star) and forget about how totally and completely awesome Murry (the band geek) is. Rhett was having some throat issues during the show, making him a bit raspier than usual, but he still rocked it. Murry told some of the most hilarious stories I've ever heard and did some seriously impressive yodeling to boot. I was hoping to hear Up the Devil's Pay, but at least I got my yodeling fix in a different song and once they played Valentine I was content with whatever. They played a lot of the super-old material and some newer stuff, including the hilarious and awesome Jack the Necrophiliac as their finale, which brought the house down. Jon Brion came out to tear things up on the piano during the encore, which is always amazing to see. In summary: totally awesome show. So glad the New Kids concert got canceled so I could come see this...
We started out at Curtis, where I worked in the tasting room for a few years when I lived in Santa Barbara. (The corner of the counter that I still think of as "mine" is shown below.) Most of the people I worked with there over the years have moved on, but there was a familiar face in the tasting room on Saturday and he poured us some really nice wines. From there we headed (far) up the road to Foxen for still more fantastic wine. Foxen is one of my favorite wineries in the area and I can't recall ever being disappointed with the quality of their wines. We drove over to Los Alamos next to stop at Bedford Thompson, where the fun is as much about great conversation with the winemaker as it is about the wine.
Our original vague plan (conceived on the drive up) was to head in to Los Olivos for lunch, but a winery in the opposite direction had just been recommended to us, so we instead went two doors down from Bedford Thompson to eat at the Quackenbush Cafe. With a menu of mostly sandwiches and salads (pretty much all of which look delicious) it was a great stop for lunch. I went with Dungeness Crab Cakes (plated atop on crispy wontons with a really nice coleslaw and served with a salad dressed in a nice balsamic vinaigrette), which were made pretty much entirely out of crab (minimal filler) and were seriously delicious. Steph ordered a smoked pork tenderloin sandwich with roasted yellow peppers and feta, which got good reviews as well.
After lunch we headed east on a dirt road. In theory, this road would eventually take us past Dierberg-Star Lane winery before intersecting with the 246 freeway. On the way we were treated to some breathtaking views of the mountains and valleys in the area (pictures below taken while our 90's station on XM radio was hilariously blasting "High Enough" by Damn Yankees), and eventually we arrived at the winery as promised. The wines here (particularly the Merlot and the Pinot) were pretty darn nice, though I found it funny that they gave separate glasses for Bordeaux and Burgandy varietals (which is good) but that neither glass had been properly cleaned (which is bad, particularly if you're implying that glassware is so important).
We intended to hit a couple wineries along the 246, but we didn't have a map (because we're too cool for such things) and ended up turning west (towards home) rather than east (towards those wineries), meaning we needed a new plan. We headed into Solvang at this point to check out Stolpman, where we hadn't tasted in a few years. After trying their wines again, I can't imagine why we stopped going for so long. I love everything they pour at Stolpman (their L'Avion Roussanne in particular kills me) and the staff are always extremely friendly and helpful.
We knew we needed to make something to pair with a Syrah, since I had shipped almost a case of Syrah from my cellar in Portland to enjoy with friends here. In the end we pulled together ingredients for Grilled Tri-Tip with Roasted Onion and Blue Cheese Cream Sauce. We've made this a few times before, but we had to change things up a bit this time since our memory of the necessary ingredients was a bit inaccurate while we were grocery shopping... and it was te best the sauce has ever tasted. We are brilliant.
This was a really nice day with a mix of old and new. Today we're off to watch the Bucs game, then driving to LA for what promises to be an amazing concert. More on that later...
If I were to say that this movie was totally amazing I would probably be accused of stretching the truth, but I will say it was much better than I'd dared to hope. The acting is fairly sketchy since the cast members (other than Peter Gallagher) were chosen for their ability to dance, but I found the plot to be refreshingly unpredictable at several points. Sure, the movie was totally cheesy and clichéd, but it was totally cheesy and clichéd in a really fabulous way... Plus, we got to see Cooper and Jonathan again! I can't wait for the DVD release so I can get me some extended dance sequences...
In culinary news, we had some fantastic ahi sashimi for dinner, thanks to the big hunk of super-fresh fish we bought off of the dude on the pier at Avila Beach. Served up on sushi rice with a sprinkling of scallions and toasted sesame seeds, then seasoned some spicy mayo* (bottom picture) and a drizzle of soy sauce to taste, this was some seriously good dinner (and it actually paired perfectly with the $5 Trader Joe's Viognier we drank with it, not wanting to open a fancy wine when there was so much spiciness involved). Good stuff...
*To make your own spicy mayo, combine mayonnaise with a hearty squeeze of Sriracha and a few drops of sesame oil to taste.
It's extremely dry and windy here, and within 2 hours (my first sighting of the fire was apparently within 15 minutes of when it started) the fire had grown seriously bigger. It's hard to photograph, but there were some ridiculously high flames on that mountain. If it wasn't for the fact that it was destroying hundreds of acres and over 80 homes, I would say it's absolutely beautiful. The night took on a bit of the feeling of being in a town in a state of emergency. The power was going out all over town... The streets were filled with people standing around watching the fire burn (pictures above were taken outside of Steph's apartment as we did the same)... Ash fluttered through the air and landed in eyes... The entire city reeked of smoke (and still does)... We could hear helicopters flying over fairly regularly (and still can, actually)... The fire has moved across the mountain and out of sight towards Montecito now, but apparently it's still burning strong...
Super Cuca's seems to be a bit of a controversial choice for the title of Favorite Trashy Mexican Food in Santa Barbara (with many supporters of La Superica Taqueria out there), but I maintain that there's none better. Tradition dictates that Steph and I each order a Super Plate (she the carne asada, me the carnitas) and a Shrimp Quesadilla to split (which ensures ample leftovers for lunch the next day). The Super Plate is your basic pile of goodness featuring rice, beans, meat, pico de galla, and a little bit of cheese, and served with freshly made corn and/or flour tortillas (carnitas version pictured below).
The Shrimp Quesadilla is sort of genius (although it got a bit mangled on it's trip to the cutting board when we got home, it's usually beautiful as well as delicious...). When we first ordered this a couple years ago, we thought it would be one of those lame ones with a few bay shrimp and a handful of orange cheese melted between tortillas. We were very very wrong. One of the restaurant's giant homemade flour tortillas is filled with large grilled shrimp, cheese, lightly caramelized sliced onion and zucchini, green bell pepper, mushroom, and tomato. The onions and zucchini are absolutely brilliant and match perfectly with the shrimp. So very yummy...
As we listened to the sounds of the state of emergency outside, we sat at a table featuring this lovely spread of tasty, tasty food and waited to see if the power would stay on long enough to provide entertainment for us until the jet-lagged among us had to go to bed... (It did.) All in all, an interesting welcome back to the US city that feels most like "home" to me... In a few hours we're heading up to Paso Robles for a bit of wine-tasting and a reunion with an old friend...
Update: Steph just received a 5am reverse-911 call warning that people in this neighborhood may need to evacuate (although that seems unlikely given that the fire looks like it's moved over the ridge of the mountains and away from us). They said "on the north side of [Steph's Street]," but Steph lives on the south side of tha street, so it should be fine either way... Fires can't cross streets, right?