A Peek at Pico, Ten Years In

 When Kali Kopley and Will Henry opened Pico in Los Alamos in 2016, they walked the restaurant floor, taking turns cradling their one-month-old daughter, Winslow. To help celebrate Pico’s 10th anniversary on February 28, Winslow got on stage to join her dad’s band HWY 246 for a song. That’s some serious, personal markers for a business.

But it’s also a great emblem for what Kopley and Henry wanted the place to be when it began. They haven’t swayed from the vision Henry articulated when interviewed by the Indy then: “We want to create a great culinary experience using locally produced vegetables and meats, to make as much of our ingredients in-house as possible, and to pair it with the world’s best wines.” But beyond that, there’s “the mission to make you feel at home,” as not just their website puts it, but more specifically, the page called “Ethos.”

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

Introducing Pico’s John Wayne Formica

Think of Pico’s “Explore the Central Coast Winemaker Series” as Chef John Wayne Formica’s coming-out party. Formica officially became chef of the restaurant, which lives inside the Los Alamos General Store, on March 3, 2020, but then COVID cruelly crashed his party two weeks later. The restaurant, as he puts it, “bobbed and weaved” through the pandemic’s tiers and openings and closings over the next year — Zoom cooking classes for 70, takeout trials, and supporting the Feed the Valley project led by Bell’s down the road. But now, as the vaccines improve our outlook, Pico finally gets to shine under Formica’s vision.

Want to read the rest then do so at the Independent's site. (P.S. You will encounter the pork chop above in the story.)

Htiching the SB Wine Wagon to Some Amazing Pioneers

I'm going to try to tell the story of an event in a single bottle. Last Saturday (11/23) was the Third Annual Heritage Tasting held by the Pioneers of Santa Barbara County, a fantastically temperate fall day at Pico in Los Alamos. (Quick digression--do you want Chef Drew's praline bacon with some Lindquist syrah? Well, do you want the taste equivalent of a millionaire dollar lotto card on your tongue?) And sure, the winemaking starpower was there, with Richard Sanford and Fred Brander and Karen Steinwachs and Doug Margerum, for instance, along one row of tables so tight they couldn't swing a wine bottle without conking one of their compatriots.

And that's just the start of all the goodness that Morgan Clendenen, organizer, cheerleader, wrangler, planner, rogue viral video content maker, promoter, brought together for this spectacular shindig to remind us of them that got us here. You can go read the list at the website, but we're talking back in the days before our AVAs were subdividing like mops for Mickey Mouse to fight.

What anyone there most learned, however, is pioneers don't just get encased in amber. Nope, this group just keeps pioneering--messing with hops in their Sauv Blanc, making one of the first Amaros in the U.S., figuring out how to tame, but only enough, the wildness of an extreme vineyard site like Radian.

That pioneering knows enough, though, not to forget. (Wise winemakers watch paralleling the folly of the tyro creative writer who ignorantly declares, "I don't need to read what's come before--I am new!") So look above at what Frank Ostini and Gray Hartley are doing now--a Chenin Blanc. Frank is quick to point across the tasting at Louis Lucas pouring his own Lucas & Lewellen Wines, saying he was smart enough to hang on to some 40 year old Chenin vines amidst the more profitable chardonnay (because, you know, give the people what they white want). And now Hitching Post is making Forerunner (a lovely forwards and backwards cap-tipping name, no?), a snappy blast of pear, persimmon and a zip of lime zest. Pioneering indeed.

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.

Mushroom Festival Takes Over Los Alamos

Years before Los Alamos became the apple of every gastronome’s gut, Stephan Bedford celebrated all things mycological with an annual Mushroom Festival at his eponymous winery on Bell Street. Now, for its 13th year, the Mushroom Festival has thrown many spores, you might say, and will take over Los Alamos for the January 25-27 weekend.

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

Pico Perfection

Just wanted to make sure you all knew that Pico is nearing perfection. The comfortable yet classy former Los Alamos General Store was excellent when it opened, but keeps finding ways to get better and better, and not the least of that was a redesign of the space. Originally it was set up to look like you still were entering a general store, with the main room featuring cute country housewares for sale, but now the bar is on the right side of the room and looking more like a bar, there are tables in the room--up and down the two levels--it's as if some feng shui master whipped everything into rightful shape.

Chef Drew Terp has had enough time to figure out what works, what grows, what smokes in Los Alamos, and you'll get all the best of that on your plate. Like the ingenious scallop starter above, one scallop, sliced, infused with about as much smoke as the mollusk can hold and not just be vapor, then caressed (it has to be some lovingtender gesture like that) with a hit of lime, tarragon, and that pomegranate seed like a button of flavorful crunch. (The salad ain't bad neither.)

Then there's the secretly simple wild mushroom consomme, a dish name that fails marketing 101--some hypester would no doubt dub it with a moniker like Mad Mushroom Mania! For it packs a vavoominess of shroominess in what looks like mere broth, and then there are tiny pearl onions soft as tears that are all onion without any sting. In this scrumptious bath are several perfect tortelloni you will want to cut with with your fork to make them last over several bites and the pasta will give pleasingly before it breaks as its very fresh and then inside you'll find a ricotta stuffing that no doubt is housemade ricotta, moist enough to delight yet something substantial enough to taste.

There's more, there's always more...ah that grilled pork secreto, part of the shoulder of a mangalista pig, a cut that comes fanned out on the plate like duck breast, pink in the center, grilled crusty goodness at the edges, and all pork flavor (and more of that smoke). And a new dessert, a pot de creme de la creme, as I'd like to call it. Better yet, call Pico for reservations.

The 2017 Foodie Awards

Writer's note: Somehow it's already the eighth version of the Foodie Awards, an idea I helped concoct back in 2010 as a way to tip the toque to all the amazing food happening in Santa Barbara (and it's only got better since, even if this year we saw the first retirement of one of our Lifetime Award winners, John Downey--so that's kind of sad). Kettmann and I split the writing of these, so see if you can guess which 5 I penned. And a hint, the tartare photo above I took this past weekend on a trip to the firing-on-all-cylinders Pico.

The 2017 Foodie Awards on the Independent's site.

Pico Opens in Los Alamos General Store

It may be the best defense when opening a new restaurant: Walk the floor holding your one-month-old. Who’d be callous enough to say anything even slightly mean to you?

But while Will Henry and Kali Kopley did take turns holding their taking-it-all-in daughter, Winslow, at the recent soft opening of their new restaurant, Pico, they weren’t protecting themselves from anything. Instead, the husband-wife-kid trio symbolized just how homey this addition to the burgeoning Los Alamos scene intends to be.

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