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.
But he discovered that sometimes he’d rather forego time on the links to attend Chef Charles Weber’s cooking classes, offered at the Monarch Club.
“On a Saturday at noon, I’d [usually] be on the golf course, playing tennis. I love the swimming pool [too], but this is fascinating,” Altimus insisted. “I have more fun coming to his cooking class. Well, I call it ‘eating class.’ It’s so informational. He’s so personable … he’s so outgoing … he has so much charisma!”
The personable, outgoing, and yes, charismatic Weber is the executive chef at Adelina’s Bistro, the upscale restaurant at Monarch Dunes.
The restaurant is open to the public, but the chef’s classes are for members only, one of the perks of living there.
The moment Weber’s classes are announced, residents nearly beat down the doors to get on the sign-up list.
“We’ve got kind of a food cult going on,” Weber said. “So it’s fun!”
On the Saturday in August when I visited, his 30 students were happy to pay $10 for the sold-out class and were an especially jovial group.
“Food and alcohol do that, though,” Weber explained playfully. “We have a great group of people every time we do a class. They’re really into it! Today we served alcohol for the first time. That really made them happy.”
Every month Weber either teaches a class or prepares a winemaker dinner for Trilogy members.
He likes to highlight an ingredient during each class. For his recent olive oil course, Weber demonstrated baking an olive oil semolina cake. Another session featured sea salts. Students learned how to brine with salt, learned to cure salmon with salt, and watched Weber roast a leg of lamb in his lavender-flavored salt crust.
The class I attended was more of a party—a paella and sangria party. Weber cooked the Spanish rice dish in a 26-inch paella pan on top of a classic Weber grill, outside on the patio overlooking Monarch Dunes Golf Club.
His students gathered ’round the grill, interacting with Weber and oohing and aahing as he added traditional paella rice, broth, saffron, tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, shrimp, clams, beef short ribs, and Spanish chorizo to the bubbling pan.
Enthusiastic attendees exclaimed, “Look at that. Look at that!” “Isn’t that beautiful?” “It smells great!” “Boy, it smells so good!”
Weber then invited his hungry students inside the adjacent classroom: “Come on. Get in line for the paella.”
They helped themselves to Weber’s fruity and refreshing sangria, chilled by frozen grapes.
Then, the chef served each member the fragrant, piping hot paella, topped with a decadent dollop of roasted garlic and sherry aioli.
Many attendees went back for seconds and discussed among themselves how they could make it at home, throwing their own paella parties.
One thing is certain: Most of them will be back for future classes. Weber’s next topic is geared toward gentlemen. Several of the ladies living at Trilogy have requested a barbecuing class for their husbands.
Non-Trilogy residents will miss out on the classes, but they shouldn’t miss a chance to try Chef Weber’s creations at Adelina’s Bistro.
“The restaurant’s open to the public. We’re kind of a hidden secret,” Weber said. “We’re doing a lot of fun stuff with the food.”
The menu changes every week, if not more. Weber cooks with the seasons, selecting local produce whenever possible. Even the seafood is usually local, sourced out of Avila.
Weber’s award-winning, three-decade culinary career rooted in classic French technique took him from Chicago’s Pump Room, La Tour Restaurant, and the Park Hyatt, to the Hyatts in San Francisco and Monterey, and then to Napa where he opened the popular tapas restaurant ZuZu.
During his time in Napa Valley, Weber prepared the 90th birthday dinner for none other than California wine legend Robert Mondavi.
And now delighting foodies in Nipomo since July 2011, Weber has many loyal customers who live just a tee-shot away from Adelina’s Bistro.
“We have great spaces for dinner parties: 20 or 30 people, as well as the restaurant is just a great beautiful place, especially in the evening at sunset with windows along the wall,” Weber told me.
“It’s a really nice place to eat,” he said of the impressive, contemporary atmosphere. “And the food is very simply prepared, very fresh, and it’s unique.”
Adelina’s Bistro is at 1645 Trilogy Parkway, Nipomo. The phone number is 343-7510. For more information and to see menus, visit adelinasbistro.com or Facebook.
Sun food and wine columnist Wendy Thies Sell invites you to tell her about your favorite chef. Contact her at wthies@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 4, 2012.