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A Farm Dinner and the Film "Esfuerzo"

This taco is amazing--and that's in a day when tacos are everywhere in any form you can think of.

This one appeared at a dinner at Buttonwood Winery & Vineyard in Solvang. The tortillas were made with locally grown green Oaxacan corn dried and processed into masa.

The masa was formed into balls and hand-pressed into tortillas that were grilled just before the dinner.

The lamb, raised at Buttonwood, was braised for two hours, then seared, placed on the tortillas and topped with a poblano-tomatillo salsa, a radish slice and cotija cheese.

The tacos were part of a farm-to-table dinner that showed off not only Buttonwood farm products but a documentary film about the role of migrant Mexican vineyard workers.   

Stars of the film attending included Armando Zepeda, Buttonwood's vineyard manager (above), who planted the first vines there in 1983.

His grandson Fidencio Flores (above) farms the grapes with which he makes Esfuerzo wines, which were served at the dinner. Buttonwood's cellar master Lupe Flores, Fidencio's father, was present too, as well as Alana Maiello, who conceived and produced the documentary. 

The showing took place on the darkened farm, with a full moon rising beyond the screen. Now appearing at film festivals, it's called "Esfuerzo" (effort) like the wines.

The three poured at the dinner were the 2017 Pinot Gris and Rosé of Pinot Noir and the 2015 Grenache.  Here Fidencio Flores pours the Pinot Gris. 

Fidencio collaborated on the dinner with chef Conrad Gonzales (above), who has a restaurant, Valle Eatery and Bar, in Lompoc and a taco shop in Los Alamos. The two plan to develop purple corn tortillas as well as the Oaxacan green corn tortillas and market them to chefs.  

Armando Zepeda contributed grilled tri-tip strips and his signature BBQ chicken, seasoned with spices from a nearby market.

Farm produce appeared in every course and decorated the tables on the tasting room veranda. 

Appetizers included caprese skewers with farm-raised cherry tomatoes and basil. 

Really fresh corn got nothing more than a coating of crema.

These jalapeños were stuffed with goat cheese and topped with a ribbon of bacon.

Dinner started with a summer salad combining watermelon, tomatoes, cucumber, mint and cheese.

Then came the tacos, followed by chicken, steak and the Grenache. 

Farm-raised rainbow potatoes and a black bean salad accompanied the meats. 

The dessert combined the best of the vineyard and the farm--rosé gelato and sweet tamales flavored with fresh peaches. Buttonwood is famous for its peaches, which are sold in season at the farm and at farmers markets. 

The dinner only increased interest in the film and appreciation for the Flores family and others who worked so hard to bring such good food and wine to the table. 

Buttonwood Winery & Vineyard is just outside the town of Solvang, at 1500 Alamo Pintado Road. (805) 688-3032. Esfuerzo wines are produced by the Flores Family Vineyards, which has a tasting room at 140 Industrial Way, Buellton, CA 93427. (805) 245-1578. Hours are ll a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.   

Down on the Farm--in Irvine

Who could resist a watermelon that is just your size?

Certainly not the little fellow in the photo. And certainly not me.

Both of us were touring Tanaka Farms in Irvine, where hundreds of kids get to taste produce right out of the field. They come in groups from school or with their parents, ride around in a wagon pulled by a tractor and snack on carrots just out of the ground, crisp green beans, freshly plucked cherry tomatoes, and corn on the cob so sweet you could serve it for dessert.

Well, maybe some are little doubtful (above). But it's so much fun, who cares?

Tanaka Farms has turned its 25 acres into a family destination place, a sort of produce Disneyland with dressed up scarecrows instead of Disney Characters. Tours include a cookout, where you pick and season vegetables and the staff grills them for you. Strawberry tours take place in spring, and a pumpkin patch opens up in the fall. Right now, watermelon tours are the big draw.

After the tours, you can shop at Tanaka's produce stand and sign up for CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes delivered to your home. Tanaka is also supplying produce to Winder Farms, which has just launched home food deliveries in California.

Along with produce, Winder sends meats, artisan breads, dairy products, prepared foods and more to your home. Right now, deliveries are only in Orange County and from Santa Monica to Palos Verdes, but Los Angeles proper is on the horizon. 

At Tanaka's produce stand I bought the liveliest, freshest organic kale imaginable, on sale for 99 cents for a big bunch. And I took home a CSA box (above) that included more kale as well as green beans, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, a huge Maui onion and a couple of melons.

I've turned half the kale into chips, and part of the watermelon went into the most refreshing drink you could have on a hot day--Agua de Sandía, a Mexican watermelon cooler. Here is how to make it.  

AGUA DE SANDÍA
Mexican Watermelon Cooler 

1 cup seedless watermelon chunks
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup ice cubes (about 4)
2 tablespoons agave syrup

Combine the watermelon chunks, water, ice cubes and agave syrup in a blender container and blend until foamy and most of the ice is dissolved. Pour into a tall glass and drink at once.

Makes 1 serving. 

Celebrating a Danish Christmas

Every Christmas, I turn Scandinavian. It's a return to my Danish roots and early years of eating my mother's butter cookies and listening to stories of julenissen, the Christmas elves who distribute gifts and consume the porridge you set by the fire.

Each year, I arrange a batallion of tiny julenissen on my mantel. Dressed like Santa Claus, these mischievous gnomes are as full of life as if they were real.

It's also important to fill the house with Scandinavian baked goods.

I'll make the cookies myself, but the breads come from Olsen's Danish Village Bakery in Solvang. Who could resist the tempting baked goods displayed in the counter there?

During the week, I'll have cardamom bread, which Olsen's bakes in a large braid.

And for Christmas morning I'll bring out pretzel-shaped  kringle, a large almond-sprinkled loaf that oozes with almond custard.

Solvang is dressed in its holiday gear now, and a day there will fill even the worst grouch with holiday spirit.

Just look at the horses and their red-trimmed cart  waiting to give tourists a ride.

If you plan to buy breads at Olsen's, order them before you go,   because they sell out rapidly.

There was plenty of kringle this trip, but I grabbed the last two loaves of cardamom bread from under the nose of a woman who took so long to make up her mind that I got waited on first. And it was only 11 in the morning.

Cardamom bread is $4.95 and kringle is $9.50 at Olsen's Danish Village Bakery, 1529 Mission Drive, Solvang, CA 93463. Tel: (805) 688-6314.

Fresh Fare at a Paso Bistro

Sept. 2, 2015 - Just in, an email request from Leslie Thomas to update this article, written in 2010, because of changes that have transpired.

As you read it, keep in mind the following: 

"Thomas Hill Farms has absolutely no affiliation with Thomas Hill Organics Restaurant in Paso Robles California.

It is not known at this time whether or not the restaurant follows the original business model.

Please update the article on your website that mentions this. Joe is since divorced."

The original article follows:

Hot (in one sense), cold and for sure the best creme brulee that I have tasted in a long time turned up at Thomas Hill Organics Market Bistro & Wine Bar in Paso Robles.

It was a jalapeno creme brulee, not as spicy as it sounds, but aromatic, creamy and so delicious that it almost outshone everything I ate.

Almost, because all the dishes were very good as well as interesting, not the same old trendy combinations. 

Located in the center of town, Thomas Hill Organics has its own farm, which ensures a constant supply of fruits and vegetables. There's no distributor involved, so everything that comes into the restaurant is really fresh.

That's why a thin crusted margherita pizza (above) was better than most. The tomatoes, fresh tomato sauce and basil on top were at their peak.  

Owners Debbie and Joe Thomas get whatever they don't grow themselves from local purveyors. That includes meats, seafood, bread and a good selection of local wines.

The menu changes to keep pace with what the farm produces. Another stand-out the night I was there was a salad (right) of fingerling potatoes and smoked trout with haricots verts, corn and watercress, a hazelnut vinaigrette and a drizzle of creme fraiche.

A deep red puree of beets, tahini and orange juice--odd but intriguing--came with a stack of pita. Debbie Thomas (at top) brought out an extra that was not on the menu, fried green tomatoes with chunky remoulade sauce.

The restaurant has seating inside, but the place everyone wants to be is the courtyard, where there is live music at night. 

I went there with Mira Advani Honeycutt, who owns Cabernet Cottage in Paso Robles, a place where winemakers stay and often the scene of parties involving the local wine crowd.

She brought the wine, a  Minassian-Young 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from dry-farmed vineyards in Peachy Canyon, Paso Robles. 

The next day, we drove through hilly vineyard and farming country to the Thomas Hill Organics farm.

Joe Thomas is a serious artist, at raising fruits and vegetables as well as painting them on canvas and on the logos for tee shirts sold at the restaurant.

That day, he was working out an arrangement of pears that he would photograph and later paint.

Anyone who grows nine kinds of pomegranates has to take an unusual interest in farming, and Thomas seems to revel in it, even to discussing the heartbreaks philosophically. Rabbits ate his entire crop of green beans this year, and they also go for his chile pepper vines. 

Thanks to his generosity, we came away with freshly picked apples, tiny Asian pears, plums, melons, cucumbers, chiles and tomatoes.  The heavily laden trees were dropping fruit on the ground, none of which could be used. Surprising that the farm supplies only the restaurant, when such a large crop cries out to be sold at farmers markets. 

The restaurant does put out some produce for sale, and Thomas said that some goes to a Community Supported Agriculture project headquartered at a nearby winery.

What's coming into season next includes quince. Thomas, photographed with a quince tree and wearing a shirt with one of his logos, told how he cooks the fruit with red wine and spices down to a soft paste in a slow-cooker. That's something to try when quince appears in markets this fall. 

Thomas Hill Organics Market Bistro & Wine Bar, 1305 Park St., Paso Robles, CA 93446. Tel: (805) 226-5888.

Eating Great Pizza in Templeton

The best pizza I've eaten recently was perfect from top to bottom. Scattered over a layer of fresh tomato sauce were vegetables so recently harvested that I could sense the warmth of the sun where they grew.

There were thin slices of grilled green and yellow zucchini, red and green bell pepper strips and both regular whole milk mozzarella and fresh mozzarella. Just-picked basil had been sliced and placed on top. The ultra thin, crisp crust was what Griff's Pizzeria calls a cracker crust.

No wonder everything was so fresh. Griff's is in Templeton, a town surrounded by farms and vineyards. This is the Central Coast wine region, and Templeton is only a short drive from Paso Robles, a center for wine touring. 

On Saturday's there's a farmer's market (above) that's worth attending if you're in the area.

As a matter of fact, what I had was a Farmer's Market pizza, one of six cracker crust pizzas on Griff's menu.

Others include the San Simeon, with a creamy garlic white sauce, shrimp, artichoke hearts and tomatoes, and Main Street, composed of  mozzarella, Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions and roasted garlic.

The Chanteclair amounts to breakfast on a pizza. It's topped with Black Forest ham, baked eggs and aged Swiss under a crisp layer of shaved Parmesan. All the cracker crust pizzas come with either a semolina or whole wheat crust.

Griff's has regular pizzas too, if you're addicted to red sauce, pepperoni, salami and meatballs. Even some of these sound creative, like the Tuscan Special, with a blend of garlic butter sauce and cheese, roasted chicken breast, roasted red-skinned potatoes, balsamic caramelized onions and fresh tomatoes, topped with Parmesan and fresh herbs.

Or the Flower Child, which has roasted vegetables, toasted cashews, crumbled feta, fresh herbs and pesto sauce made, I presume, with Templeton-grown basil.  

Griff's Pizzeria & Bistro, 105 S. Main St., Templeton, CA 93465. Tel: (805) 434-1760.

A Tale of Two California Soups

Turn off Highway101 at Los Alamos and you're headed toward a very good place to eat, Cafe Quackenbush.

Open for breakfast and lunch, the cafe is an art gallery, so you sit surrounded by paintings and craft items.

The counter where you order and a few tables are in one room. The main part of the gallery is in another room that is also equpped with tables for dining. Or you can eat outdoors and enjoy the quiet, pleasant ambience of the town.

To show how informal the cafe is, you may see chef/owner Jesper Johansson rush by as he waits on tables, then rush back to the kitchen.

He'd made a wonderful soup the day I stopped in, jalapeno sweet corn with lime and cilantro.

Half of the corn had been roasted to deepen the flavor. Johansson had put in leeks and other aromatic vegetables along with a touch of jalapeno. Made without meat stock, the soup was pleasantly limey. Cilantro leaves floated on top.

I ordered only a cup. That was a mistake. A bowl would have been a wiser choice. 

Cafe Quackenbush, 458 Bell St., Los Alamos, CA 93440. Tel: (805) 344-5181.

The next stop was Paso Robles, where the heat was intense. Hot soup on a hot day? Of course. It's considered an antidote.

The place I had it was Panolivo Family Bistro, which is run by a French couple, Beatrice and Didier Cop. Beatrice is the chef, and the food is prepared with French attention to detail. 

The soup of the day was tomato-fennel, made with locally-grown tomatoes. Like the soup at Cafe Quackenbush, it was vegetarian, relying only on the fresh full flavor of the vegetables, which included carrots, celery and garlic.

A house-baked French roll came on the side, and I asked for a glass of a local wine, Clayhouse Adobe White, a fruity, off dry blend of seven varietals.

In the hot weather, that was enough for lunch. But I am still thinking about the dessert I left behind, a two-chocolate (white and dark) bread pudding, which demands a return trip.

Or should I have the Super Decadent Chocolate Trio, which includes a double chocolate brownie, chocolate truffle ice cream and dark chocolate sauce? Or maybe both?

Panolivo Family Bistro, 1344 Park St., Paso Robles, CA 93446. Tel: (805) 239-3366.

Meeting Up with James Dean

There I was, having ice cream with James Dean at his last stop before the head-on collision that killed him.

That accident happened September 30, 1955, and Dean's final moments have been turned into a tourist attraction.

His photo greets you as you drive into the gas station at Blackwells Corner on State Highway 46 in Lost Hills.

Dean may have stopped there to fill the tank of his Porsche 550 Spyder and then gone inside the cavernous Blackwells shop, which some call the nut house, because it sells the pistachios and almonds that grow in this part of the San Joaquin Valley. 

At the back is an oldtime soda fountain, where Dean sits at the counter, dressed for the road in a leather jacket.

The huge shop was eerily empty when I came in.  Sitting next to Dean made it even eerier (you can see us in the photo above, which was taken by Mira Advani Honeycutt). 

The figure is only a dummy, but it feels as if Dean is actually there, perhaps trying to recreate that day and change its fateful outcome.   

I don't know what he ordered--someone else in the shop set the drink cup in front of him-- but I asked for a cone packed with butter pecan and dulce de leche ice creams, then left for a smooth drive back to Los Angeles.

Dean went in the opposite direction, to the end of his short life--he was only 24--near the meeting of  State Highways 46 and 41, now known as the James Dean Memorial Junction.

It's a barren place, notable only for that tragic crash. The sign there keeps Dean's memory alive. No matter how hot it is outside, you can't help but shiver as you drive by and ease up a little on the gas pedal.  

Blackwells Corner, 17191 Highway 46, Lost Hills, CA 93249. Tel: (661) 797-2905.

Santa Barbara Brings Its Best

On a good day, you can drive to Santa Barbara from Los Angeles in a couple of hours.

But on a really good day recently, Santa Barbara came to Los Angeles, making the drive unnecessary. Better yet, the entourage of growers, winemakers, hotel people and area boosters came well equipped with food and wine for a Santa Barbara style dinner. 

The setting was similar to what you might find where they live--the pool terrace at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, overlooking the ocean that both cities share.

A roaring fire and heaters kept the chill away, a young moon sparkled overhead, and an immense span of white tablecloth--it was a really long table-- gleamed right back.

The idea was to show off what Santa Barbara contributes to our daily fare, as if we didn't already know. 

Chef Brian Parks of Coast Restaurant and Bar in the Canary Hotel (Shutters' sister hotel in Santa Barbara) came down to cook. And 98% of what he worked with was sourced in Santa Barbara County, from hydroponically grown baby lettuce to cultured abalone and grassfed beef.

For the first course, Parks wrapped spot prawns in thin slices of abalone (above) and placed them on jellied vegetable consomme with micro greens.

The two wines poured with this course were Jorian Hill 2007 Viognier and Municipal Winemakers 2009 Bright White, which is a Riesling from Kick On Ranch in Los Alamos. That's Municipal's Dave Potter toasting with it at right. 

An entire head of baby romaine arrived next, unadorned except for a creamy herb and Parmesan dressing.

Grilled sea bass with blooming arugula, fennel and tangerine segments provided a chance to decide  what wine goes best with fish, red or white.

Frank Ostini of The Hitching Post, whose restaurant and wine were immortalized in the film "Sideways," provided the red, the 2006 Hitching Post Pinot Noir from the Cargasacchi Vineyard.

Doug Margerum of the Wine Cask and Margerum Wine Company contributed the white, a Cimarone 2009 Sauvignon Blanc from Happy Canyon, the newest AVA (American Viticultural Area) in Santa Barbara County.

Roasted grassfed sirloin, accompanied by Bloomsdale spinach, Nantes carrots and spring garlic soubise, arrived after nightfall, but you didn't need light to appreciate the quality of the meat.

The wines were Jorian Hill's 2007 Syrah and Margerum's Piocho 2007, a Bordeaux blend from Happy Canyon Vineyards.

Our Daily Bread Bakery in Santa Barbara supplied the makings of a bread pudding that was divided into thirds. One portion was accompanied by bourbon blueberries, another by brandied cherries, and the third by strawberries with chocolate.

Frank Ostini brought a wine sweet as honey to go with the dessert, the Hitching Post 2007 Late Harvest Gewurztraminer. And Municipal Winemakers provided its 2009 Sweetness, which is another Kick On Riesling and as perfectly named a dessert wine as you can find. 

It was a night when the food purveyors were in the spotlight. A couple of them, Driscoll's Berries and Coleman Family Farm, distribute in the Los Angeles area--Coleman at the Santa Monica Farmers Market.

Others sell at farmers markets in and around Santa Barbara. including Shepherd Farms, Murray Family Farm, BD Farms and Rancho San Julian Beef.

Still more were Kanaloa Seafood Company, The Cultured Abalone, Scarborough Farms, Westland Produce, Rieger Farms and Global Gardens, names worth checking into when you make that two-hour drive north.

Touring Artesia's Little India

What better way to start a tour of Little India than by eating at a restaurant where the tables look like the Taj Mahal?

The materials may not be as precious, but Rajdhani's gracefully patterned tabletops do call to mind the ornate inlaid walls of the Taj.

More than 20 of us sat down to a Gujarati style vegetarian lunch there before taking off for the shops along Little India's main street, Pioneer Boulevard in Artesia.

The visits to jewelry stores, a sari shop, a market, a craft, fabric and furniture shop, an ice cream parlor and a Bollywood dance class were arranged by the Los Angeles Mumbai Sister Cities Affiliation as a benefit for projects in India.

Soon the shiny steel thalis at each place were filled with breads, rice, snacks and curries, an astonishing amount of food that was replenished repeatedly, beyond anyone's capacity to eat. Amazing that such a gargantuan repast cost just $13.99, including dessert and chhas, a yogurt drink.

First came little yellow squares of steamed dhokla to eat with mint and tamarind chutneys. Meanwhile, papads, rotis and puris were piled on the thalis, and the small steel cups set inside the trays were filled with delicious mixtures--garbanzo and potato curries, tomato with green beans and khadi, a thin, yogurt-based curry.

The Gujarati taste for sweet was apparent in sweet nuances to the curries and in dal as thin as consomme in which floated peanuts, not lentils. 

As we ate, servers brought vegetable pakoras and golden brown, sesame-topped squares of baked handwa. There was no need to choose between plain rice and yellow mixed rice. We could have both. 

To spice up the food, there were fried green chiles and chile-dusted onion strips; for cool relief, mango puree and yogurt.

Gujarat's irresistible shrikhand made choosing among the six desserts easy. Both tangy and sweet, this soft pudding is composed of thickened yogurt flavored with cardamom and saffron and dusted with finely chopped almonds and pistachios.

More dessert and chai were waiting at the last stop of the tour, the ice cream parlor Saffron Spot.

The flavors there were as colorful and exotic as the sari fabrics and gem-encrusted jewelry that we had admired earlier.

Jackfruit, chikoo, rajbhog, pomegranate, lychee, saffron silk, fig, guava and more beckoned from the display.

Tipped off by restaurant critic Jonathan Gold, I made sure to try the most exotic of them all--meetha paan (sweet paan), which is modeled on the seasoned betel leaf packets that one chews as a digestive after meals in India.

It was extraordinary, an herbal, almost minty, totally Indian blend of tastes that I hadn't experienced since I was last in India itself.

Rajdhani Indian Cuisine, 18525 Pioneer Blvd., Artesia, CA 90701. Tel: (562) 402-9102.

Saffron Spot, 18744 Pioneer Blvd., Artesia, CA 90701. Tel: (562) 809-4554.

To learn about activities of the Los Angeles Mumbai Sister Cities Affiliation, go to www.lacity.org/sistercities/mumbai.

Two Fathers and a Restaurant

The dos padres (two fathers) who run Dos Padres Mexican Restaurant in San Miguel are brothers as well as fathers. Tomas and Evodio Martinez are from Acambay in the northen part of the state of Mexico.

Their restaurant is an out-of-the way gem with delicious homestyle Mexican food.  My friend and I found it while driving around quiet, country-like San Miguel looking for a place to have lunch. We had come from Paso Robles to visit the nearby mission and to shop.

The Martinezes don’t advertise, and they don’t have a website.  Word of mouth brings in plenty of customers. As a matter of fact, they’re doing so well they are opening a second Dos Padres in King City this summer.

The restaurant is small, just nine tables. “Tell me what to have, a really good dish,” I ask the waitress, who is Maria, Evodio’s wife.  Chiles rellenos, she suggests. And then she talks up “killer” chile verde.

That, of course, is what I order, a bowlful of pork in green chile sauce topped with melted yellow cheese and accompanied by tortillas.

Yes, it is good chile verde. The pork is cooked separately, then simmered in tomatillo sauce that contains a dash of hot green chile. It is very tender.

Not hot enough? To fire it up, there is super hot roasted red chile and garlic salsa on the table. The two other salsas are pico de gallo (chopped tomato, onion, serrano chile and cilantro) and a mild tomato sauce with green chiles.

Behind the counter, Evodio Martinez is busy slicing off the spines from a crateful of nopal cactus.  But that’s for home, Maria says, some delicious dish in the making for padres, madres (mothers) and their hijos (children).

Dos Padres Mexican Restaurant, 340 14th Street, San Miguel, CA 93451. Tel: (805) 467-0033. Open daily 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.