Our weekly Events Wire newsletter is your guide to Northern Santa Barbara County concerts, arts, and local happenings—delivered every Friday.
Thanksgiving is Liz Addamo’s favorite holiday, “Oh, hands down!” She has hosted family and friends at her Orcutt home for Thanksgiving for the last seven years. “I come from a huge family. I’m the oldest daughter of five, I have five, and my sister has five,” Liz told me as we sat together in a […]
BevMo’s longtime cellar master just might have the best job in the wine world. Wilfred Wong is paid to travel the globe, visit the world’s premiere wine regions, and taste an unfathomable number of fine wines; he tastes and evaluates at least 8,000 wines every year, plus beer and spirits. It’s his task to stay […]
Expect the unexpected at Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company in Buellton. During my last visit a few weeks ago, a big, retro school bus pulled up, decorated with a giant 30th birthday party banner. The door opened and out walked the birthday girl and a dozen of her closest girl friends, eagerly arriving at Figueroa Mountain’s […]
My favorite discovery this year, made while exploring the back roads of wine country, has to be Avant Tapas and Wine. The contemporary restaurant and bar is at the end of Industrial Way in Buellton, upstairs at Terravant Wine Company—a large, 5-year-old custom crush winery that produces 300,000 cases of wine a year. Much of […]
Sitting down with chef Rick Manson a few weeks ago in the handsome dining room of the new Far Western Tavern in Orcutt, the respected chef shared something profound: “I don’t believe that simple food should be trusted to simple cooks,” he said. “It’s a tough cuisine to master,” Manson went on to say, “and […]
Awarded “California Vineyard of the Year” in 2010 by the California State Fair, named one of the “Top 25 Vineyards in the World” by Wine and Spirits Magazine, and called one of the “Ten Best Vineyards” by Food and Wine magazine, the esteemed Bien Nacido Vineyards is something special. The parcel east of Santa Maria […]
Sore backs, finger cuts, dirt and sweat, and a whole new respect for wine are all things Bob and Kathy Thomson walked away with after a morning spent picking grapes in Santa Maria Valley wine country. On Sept. 14, Cottonwood Canyon Winery invited customers to participate in the first day of the 2012 grape harvest. […]
Restaurants come and go. But every now and then, one comes along with the recipe for success, and stays forever. Such is the case with the Hitching Post in Casmalia, celebrating its 60th anniversary in the capable hands of the Ostini family. Santa Barbara County’s Historical Landmark No. 37 was built a century ago in […]
Residents living the good life at the Trilogy resort community in Nipomo come from all over the United States seeking a relaxed, wine country lifestyle, buying homes nestled alongside two coastal golf courses. Many, like Rick Altimus, assumed that their weekends here would be filled with tee offs, chip shots, and hopefully, lots of birdies. […]
Wine grapes in Santa Barbara County are ripening beautifully this year—a welcome change after low crop yields the last couple of years, brought on by unseasonable weather. “The nearly perfect summer weather this year has resulted in an outstanding crop across the board,” said Chris Hammell, vineyard manager for Bien Nacido and Solomon Hills Vineyards […]
You’ve made an impact in your community when your first name is a household name. Such is the case with Chef Rick, the highly regarded and telegenic local chef who earned a loyal following while serving “up tempo American cooking” for 22 years at his Orcutt restaurant, Chef Rick’s Ultimately Fine Foods, and on local […]
One of my favorite nights out is a winemaker dinner—a five- or six-course gourmet meal with a different wine expertly paired with each course. The chefs and the wineries pull out all the stops, creating special gourmet dishes and serving their best new releases or library wines. It is always great fun sitting family-style at […]
