Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Sip This: Outpost’s Tipsy Turvy Mocktail

In an effort to provide alternative food and drink dinners, Executive Chef Damien Giliberti and team are creating a Cinco No Drinko fest on May 5 by the firepits at The Goodland (5650 Calle Real, Goleta; 964-6241). Along with four scrumptious courses of food — think cilantro, hibiscus, and white tortillas to honor the Mexican flag as well as lamb barbacoa tacos — the evening will feature a series of nonalcoholic cocktails (including a mole with corn and a hibiscus with coconut milk), and then a star of the current menu, the Tipsy Turvy.

Want to read the rest then do so at the Independent's site.

Bella Vista’s Biltmore Bargain

(Chef Marco Fossati in the Biltmore garden)

A parmesan wheel is an impressive hunk of formaggio, pretty much four feet in diameter, two feet tall — a Mack truck tire worth of cheese. Striking all by its mighty self, the wheel is really something to see when hollowed out and turned into a mixing bowl of sorts for your supper. But that’s the kind of treat in store for you if you head to Bella Vista at the Four Seasons Biltmore for a Wednesday Chef’s Table.

It’s almost like an extension of Restaurant Week, a rare chance to sample fine dining at a reduced rate ($45 per person). The menu kicks off with a choice of two first courses, proceeds to a pasta dish — perhaps a Gnocchetti “Cacio de Pepe” that gets prepared tableside in that giant parmesan wheel and finished with extravagant summer truffle — and then a dessert, which some weeks will be a sampler.

Want to read the rest then do so at the Independent's site.

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Pico Brings Burger Night to Santa Barbara



When Pico opened in the Los Alamos General Store three years ago, they wanted to support North County locals by offering half-off meals every Wednesday night to card-carrying residents. “But when winter came,” Chef Drew Terp explains, “we knew we were not going to make any money if we kept charging half price.”

Instead, Terp started making a secret burger menu every Wednesday night just for those regulars. Week one, they sold 19 burgers. Week two, 70. Week three, Terp says, “We sold out of burgers in an hour.”

Want to read the rest then do so at the Independent's site.

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Poetry on the Air!

Want to hear me talk about poetry? Here's a PA Spotlight segment from KCSB with reporter Jenny Boyar. We talk the SB poetry scene, about my book, and I read a poem too.