When local chef Michael Cherney found out one of his restaurant ventures had received the Michelin Bib Gourmand Award, he felt like waiting for Ashton Kutcher to come around the corner to tell him he’d been Punk’d.
“I seriously thought it was one of my friends or employees playing a joke on me,” said Cherney, co-owner of Solvang’s peasants FEAST, about getting the email from Michelin.
Cherney learned that his eatery was one of Michelin’s 15 new California-based Bib Gourmand recipients at the end of November.
“I was in bed, I had just woken up, checking emails and social media. I saw that something had come in from Michelin. I immediately forwarded it to a few people who’ve had experiences with Michelin in the past, to make sure it wasn’t a hoax,” Cherney told the Sun via email. “But even once I figured out it was a real email, I couldn’t believe it. I thought they had made a mistake. … We are the only new Michelin Bib Gourmand between Santa Barbara and San Francisco. I still can’t wrap my head around that. … I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet.”
Cherney described his reaction to the news as pure shock, and the achievement as “something that we never imagined would happen for our labor-of-love restaurant.”
He and his wife, Sarah, founded peasants FEAST in 2020, and the Solvang restaurant’s menu is composed of sandwiches, soups, salads, and similar familiar diner favorites that check off the Michelin Guide’s list of desired traits to achieve Bib Gourmand status: recognizable, easy-to-eat, and reasonably priced. The Michelin website describes the honor as a “value-for-money” award.
“We put everything we had into opening this restaurant,” said Cherney, whose eatery kicked off with patio-style dining and takeout orders in the midst of its mid-pandemic grand opening. “We did it for the community, to show our appreciation and support of other ‘peasants’—the working class, the agricultural community, the people who grow our food.
“Never did we imagine we’d be recognized in return by receiving this huge honor from the Michelin Guide.”
Cherney said he and his wife share this honor with each and every one of the restaurant’s staff members.
“We are super thankful for our team. They deserve all the praise,” Cherney said. “They work their butts off keeping this place running. We owe everything to our crew. Without them, we’d have nothing.”
For patrons visiting peasants FEAST during the month of December, Cherney recommends keeping an eye on the center of the menu for seasonal specials, although the restaurant mainly sticks to its usual offerings during the holiday season, with occasional exceptions.
“We don’t have anything special planned, as we are closed on most major holidays so our hard-working staff can be with their families. However, we’ve been doing a seasonal fig grilled cheese at the restaurant and people really seem to enjoy it,” said Cherney, who recommends pairing the sandwich with a bowl of cauliflower soup.
As the new year approaches, Cherney said the recent Bib Gourmand win isn’t the only achievement he and his wife are celebrating.
January will mark the first anniversary of peasants DELI & MARKET, the couple’s second food venture in Solvang, located within walking distance of peasants FEAST. Currently, the Cherney duo is in the process of expanding the deli by adding on a curated arcade in an adjoining space.
“At peasants DELI, just surviving the first year is a huge accomplishment,” Cherney said, noting that his signature hot pastrami has been a constant best seller. “We can’t keep it stocked. It takes us two weeks and two days to make, and we usually sell out every day that we have it on offer.”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood is stoked for the arcade. Send comments to cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 15-22, 2022.
