Locals and tourists-in-the-know looking for craft beer, fine wine, and small-batch bourbon and vodka, head down Industrial Way in Buellton to the industrial park that is home to Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company, Avant Tapas and Wine, and Ascendant Spirits.
In mid-December, a new neighbor opened shop, bringing excellent food and a chic space that fits the vibe. Industrial Eats, a craft butcher shop and restaurant specializing in meats and wood-fired fine food, serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Owners Jeff and Janet Olsson have operated New West special occasion catering in Buellton for 15 years. The husband-and-wife team decided the time was right to open their own restaurant, next to their catering business.
Jeff, the executive chef, has decades of experience in high-end restaurants across the country, including Bobby Flay’s flagship restaurant in Manhattan, Miller’s Red Sage restaurant in Washington, D.C., and the first certified organic restaurant in the United States, Restaurant Nora, also in the nation’s capital.
Chef Jeff and hospitality expert Janet met while working together for Flay. Both were at Industrial Eats during my recent visit and greeted me and other customers as I took a seat at the far counter overlooking the two wood-fired pizza ovens.
The attractive, casual dining room has a modern loft feel with high ceilings and long pub tables and chairs, which provide seating for a few dozen diners. Menus are changed often and handwritten on brown sheets of butcher paper hung on the wall behind the gourmet cheese-and-meat counter.
The attentive staff offered me a sample of the deliciously meaty soup of the day—smoked brisket chili—served with jalapeño cornbread.
Jeff then handed me his signature small meat plate that includes several “tasty meats” such as prosciutto, mortadella, coppa, rabbit, and pork terrine, as well as baguette slices, mustard, and baby pickles.
Next up, the superb, spicy pancetta-wrapped white shrimp, chilies, and garlic piled on two slices of buttered toast.
I then observed a chef pulling my perfectly baked ricotta, Parmesan, and fresh arugula pizza out of the oven.
“I think pizza is a great form of food,” Jeff told me.
Other pizzas on the menu that day included rosemary, Parmesan, and sea salt; tomato, fennel sausage, mozzarella, and basil; and maitake mushroom, lamb chopper cheese, and truffles.
Remarkably, everything on the menu that needs cooking is baked in the wood fired ovens—on purpose.
“We don’t have a stove that we can cook an egg on, we have to cook everything in the pizza oven,” Jeff explained. “So we do an egg dish in the morning, but it’s cooked in the pizza oven. We did a veal sweetbread dish last night, and that’s cooked in the pizza oven, in one pan.
“I suppose only having those pizza ovens keeps your food honest and direct and doesn’t let you get overly complicated,” Jeff added. “It keeps your food simple, mature, and wonderful.”
Industrial Eats serves gourmet sandwiches, too, such as beef tongue pastrami reuben; oak-smoked turkey breast on pain au levain with basil, mayo, and arugula; and hot ham, fontina, and grainy mustard.
The craft butcher shop’s refrigerated case displays everything from pickled beef tongue to duck confit to house-made bacon.
Industrial Eats is proud of its brand-new, bright red Berkel prosciutto slicer, which ensures that the prosciutto is sliced wafer thin. It’s considered the gold standard for “front-of-the-house theatre slicing.”
There are wines and beer on tap, including such labels as Carr Chardonnay, Stolpman Sangiovese, Buttonwood Merlot, Brother Thelonious Abbey Ale, and Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin oatmeal stout.
And coffee lovers will be in awe of the 70-year-old copper Salvatore espresso machine, described on Industrial Eats’ Facebook page as, “the coolest coffee machine on the Central Coast.”
Jeff’s friend, Italian craftsman Salvatore Cisaria, spent more than 100 hours refurbishing this particular espresso machine at his espresso machine shop in Solvang.
“[Salvatore] said when he was done refurbishing it he would put it in a restaurant if I ever opened it,” Jeff said. “And so it’s sort of on permanent loan from him, but it’s an incredible antique.”
It’s clear that everything that comes out of the espresso machine, pizza oven, cheese case, and prosciutto slicer at Industrial Eats is exceptionally good.
Sun wine and food columnist Wendy Thies Sell accepts exceptional story ideas. She can be contacted at wthies@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 9-16, 2014.