Food & Drink

Katerina Axelsson was tinkering in a wine lab when she unlocked the flavor matrix for wine.  She’s always been fascinated by human biology—particularly biotech—and relocated from Southern California to Cal Poly to pursue a chemistry degree, before getting a master’s degree in bioinformatics.  So naturally, data science professor Alexander Dekhtyar, who oversaw Axelsson’s master’s program, […]

The first time in three years that chef Michael Cherney saw someone eat the food he prepared was on the patio of his new restaurant in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. “They were eating a grilled cheese sandwich, and they were pulling it apart and the cheese was all gooey,” Cherney said. “I’ll never […]

If you haven’t been out to eat yet, and you can, I suggest you do so right now. Because the only variable that experts can’t predict is when customers will be patronizing food and drink businesses again, but it needs to happen for any of the Central Coast’s fantastic programs to work.  Judy Mahan—who has […]

Clacking together like stones, oysters clatter against the sink.  My friend asked for a shucking knife, and I produced a butter knife. She looked at me and laughed.  “I know what I’m getting you,” she says.  I shrug with a chuckle. What can I say? Sometimes, you just have to make do with what you […]

Winery visitors get the option of wines by the glass or wines by the bottle these days.  But that’s only if they also purchase food.  And as long as the alcohol and nibbles are on the same check, paid for by the same credit card.  This is the world we’re living in right now. But, […]

Little six-packs are waiting for you in Santa Ynez. No, it’s not beer—and it’s not wine. Pony Espresso started bottling fresh cold brew during the pandemic for those caffeine-dependent customers who prefer their coffee chilled. Nero Cold Brew is 100 percent radical, according to the bottle, and 100 percent delicious, according to Pony Espresso co-owner […]

From day one, Missy Morales knew she was sure about one thing.  No cartoon character cakes.  “I can do it. I won’t do it. I didn’t want to be stuck making a Mickey Mouse cake every weekend. It would have driven me crazy,” she said.  Instead, Morales had a whimsical, colorful look she wanted to […]

Everything changed in a matter of days, and it took a while for S.Y. Kitchen to adjust.  The Santa Ynez fine dining restaurant had to let most of its employees go after California and Santa Barbara County put stay-at-home orders into place. Then it had to figure out how to make things work with a […]

“Somehow I got banana up my nose!” And so today’s kitchen adventure begins.  My 10-year-old daughter is mashing bananas for muffins and apparently had a mishap. She’s always loved baking, since long before she could read and follow a recipe on her own. Now she’s competent not only at mixing dry ingredients into the wet, […]

A film strip of wine-drinking soon-to-be risotto-makers moved about in their kitchens above Chef John Wayne Formica’s head.  “Risotto is all about technique,” he tells the camera recording the Zoom cooking class as he runs through some of the ingredients on the afternoon’s to-do list. Mushrooms, stock, wine, onion, and more.  It’s the second virtual […]

With beer sales at less than half of what they were before the pandemic started, Naughty Oak Brewing Company is in survival mode to make it through to the other side of the stay-at-home orders.  “We’re seeing most of our support from the membership club. And we’re just trying to be there with to-go stuff, […]

You miss perusing the grocery store aisles at a leisurely pace. You miss eating out. You miss being served. You miss curling up on a friend’s couch to gossip, drink a glass of wine, and eat some snacks. You miss freedom—the freedom that comes with being able to do whatever you want, when you want.  […]