Welcome to the "805 Eats" dining blog where we'll keep you up-to-date on restaurant and food happenings in the 805. To send tips and comments, email edit@805Living.com.

Lights! Camera! Eat!

NOW THROUGH FEB. 5

Celebrities and everyday diners are getting the red carpet treatment in Santa Barbara  this week, thanks to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.  

Now in its 27th year, the 10-day celebration of all things cinematic already has feted current Oscar nominees Viola Davis of “The Help,” Christopher Plummer of “Beginners” and director Martin Scorsese (”Hugo”), with more glitz and glamour to come. But the event  also is the inspiration for the second annual Film Feast, during which more than 25 area restaurants, bars and tasting rooms will offer prix fixe menus, thematic cocktails and special wine flights, many of them at a discount.

 Movies past and present helped guide the creation of several Film Feast menus. At Adama Vegan Comfort Cuisine on Chapala Street, diners have the option of ordering the three-course “Like Chocolate for Elephants” meal, which at $24 per person includes a choice of adobo, mole poblano or pipian verde. And at The Wurst, the pop-up/backdoor eatery at Blue Agave on Cota Street, the “Run, Lola, Run” menu includes soup or salad followed by a distinctly Germanic kielbasa smothered with sauerkraut and grilled onions and served on toasted bread for $14.50.

In addition to offering a glamorous, multicourse meal at $78 per person at its onsite restaurant, Miro, Bacara Resort & Spa on Hollister Avenue is featuring a $24 “Sip with the Stars” cocktail trio that includes the Martini Scorsese and the Gordon Gekko. And at Kunin Wines on Anacapa Street, Film Feasters will find a three-tastes-for-$5 deal that concludes with a “dazzling dessert wine.”

For an alphabetical listing of Film Feast menu details by location, click here.

Rosti Tuscan Kitchen comes to aid of cancer research

JAN. 16-18
Three days and three restaurant locations could add up to nearly endless possibilities for cancer research.

From Jan. 16-18, diners at any of the Rosti Tuscan Kitchen locations in Encino, Calabasas and Santa Monica have only to say the words “Concern Foundation” to see 15 percent discounted from their bills and donated to the Concern Foundation for Cancer Research. The Los Angeles-based non-profit organization has raised more than $45 million for cancer research and currently funds more than 60 projects around the world.

Open for lunch and dinner, Rosti features a menu that could keep Concern Foundation supporters coming back for seconds and thirds without repeating themselves. In addition to pizzas, calzones and panini, it offers kitchen-sink salads (think roasted beets with apples and candied pecans), seafood (including linguini Vongole with fresh clams in your choice of white wine or tomato sauce) and dishes like Pollo al Mattone, named for the Italian brick used to press the herb-marinated chicken as it cooks. If ever you needed an excuse to go out for dinner, this is it.

Rosti Encino, 16350 Ventura Blvd., (818-995-7179); Rosti Calabasas, 23663 Calabasas Road, (818-591-2211); Rosti Santa Monica, 931 Montana Ave., (310-393-3236)

And in this corner …

JAN. 19

The inaugural Local Food & Wine Challenge organized by the Ventura County Wine Trail is shaping up to be the culinary slugfest of the New Year.

Set for Jan. 19 in the ballroom atop the Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach Hotel, the competition will feature 13 teams, each consisting of an area restaurant or food purveyor matched with a regional winery. The teams’ mission? To create the “ultimate” pairing of food and wine. And according to behind-the-scenes sources, the competition already is so fierce that some teams are engaging in a little good-natured trash talking as they plan their entries.

The results of those plans will be judged by a panel of “professional” eaters and imbibers that includes Lynne Andujar and Angela Pettera of 805 Living magazine. But there will be plenty of food and drink to go around, provided you get your tickets in time. Advance tickets, $45, may be ordered now via the wine-trail website. They will be $55 at the door, if still available. Tickets include tastes of each of the “challenge” dishes and wines, plus admission to a pre-competition reception that will feature brut rose sparkling wine from Malibu Wines and appetizers from Panera Bread from 6-7 p.m. in the hotel’s Aqua Beachfront Bar . A portion of the proceeds will benefit FOOD Share, a Ventura County food bank.

The teams:

Aloha Steakhouse with Rancho Ventavo Cellars

Bella Victorian Bistro with Bella Victorian Vineyard

Boccali’s Restaurant with Boccali’s Vineyards & Winery

C-Street Restaurant with Cantara Cellars

Cafe Zack with Four Brix Winery

Carbon Beach Club with Rosenthal - The Malibu Estate

5th Street Steak & Seafood with Squashed Grapes

The Jolly Oyster with Vino V Wines/Old Creek Ranch Winery

The Kitchen with Sunland Vintage Cellars

La Dolce Vita Ristorante & Lounge with Magnavino Cellars

R & R Chocolate Palace with San Vicente Cellars

The Ranch House with The Ojai Vineyard

Tierra Sur Restaurant with Herzog Wine Cellars

Thanks for the memories

DEC. 31
For two restaurants in the 805, New Year’s Eve 2011 will be the last.

Andy Brooks, executive chef at BROOKS in downtown Ventura, announced in an email to patrons in December that he and wife Jayme had decided to close the eatery at the end of the month. In a separate phone call, chef Brooks cited the recession as a major cause behind the closure of the restaurant, which debuted in May 2007.

The email invited patrons to “come and join us one last time,” either by ordering from the regular menu from 5 p.m. to closing Dec. 28-30, or by booking a table for the four-course New Year’s Eve tasting menu on Dec. 31.

The holiday menu will start with crispy fried oysters served with fennel red onion slaw and caviar white wine butter sauce. Second course will be a mixed field green salad with fresh pear, candied pecans and blue cheese crumbles. Third course will be diners’ choice of  wood-grilled filet with jalapeno sausage, cranberry stuffing and grilled asparagus or pan-roasted halibut with red potato butternut hash brown and cauliflower gratin with champage shallot cream or portobello and porcini mushroom ravioli with sauteed spinach and caramelized onions with mixed herb port sauce. Dessert will feature flourless chocolate cake with mascarpone cream and raspberry puree. Reservations are $85 per person or $115 including paired wines. (545 E. Thompson Blvd., Ventura. 805-652-7070)

With plans to move down the street and around the corner this spring, Matt and Jeff Nichols of the aptly named Brothers Restaurant at Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos will be marking the eatery’s final New Year’s Eve at the historic stagecoach stop.

Reservations from 5-9 p.m. Dec. 31 will give revelers plenty of time to order items from the a la carte menu and still make it to their respective parties. Menu items include kabocha squash soup with creme fraiche, slow-roasted prime rib of beef, grilled Iowa pork chop with apple sauce and honey butter and horseradish-crusted Irish salmon with whole grain mustard sauce. Desserts will include Brothers’ Mud Pie prepared by pastry chef Stephanie Jackson.

The Nichols will open a new, as-yet-unnamed restaurant at the former site of Patrick’s Side Street Cafe, which closed in January. The owners of Mattei’s Tavern, meanwhile, plan to build a resort hotel on the property.

(2350 Railway Ave., Los Olivos. 805-688-4820)

Take a walk on the foodie side

Dec. 28, Jan. 7 and …

Have guests for the holidays? Here’s a way to (nicely) get them out of the house for a few hours while also checking out new places to eat: Sign everyone up for the midweek Ventura Food Tours event taking place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 28.

Led by local writer Allison Costa, the on-foot excursion will include stops at six food-centric businesses in downtown Ventura. Some include sit-down tastings; others feature a quick bite and a chat with the on-site chef, food artisan or proprietor. You may find yourself peering into the tandoori oven at Bollywood Cafe , watching how truffles are made at  Trufflehound’s Fine Chocolates, and/or learning how to pair French cheeses with California wines at Paradise Pantry.

Can’t make it on Wednesday? Costa also offers Ventura Food Tours on weekends (next up: 11 a.m. Jan. 7) and by appointment.

Check the website, too,  for information about her Eating Ojai Tours, which often include microbrews at the Ojai Beverage Company and pastries from Knead Baking Co. on the edible itinerary.

($59 per person, or $49 each for two people; 805-295-TOUR or http://www.venturafoodtours.com)

An easy-as-pie Hanukkah dinner

Dec. 22 (and beyond)
Los Angeles-area chef and guiding foodie Evan Kleiman has a lot on her plate. But that’s not keeping her from serving a Festival of Lights holiday meal at her Melrose Avenue restaurant, Angeli Caffe.
The Dec. 22 dinner will include latkes with homemade applesauce, pot roast and what Kleiman calls “an assortment of vegetable dishes from the Diaspora.” Dessert will be ricotta doughnuts with homemade preserves. Service starts at 7:30 p.m. and will be family style, with diners seated at long, communal tables — just in case you didn’t already have that Hanukkah experience when the eight-day holiday began at sundown Dec. 20. Reservations, $35 per person, are highly recommended.

So, what else is keeping Kleiman, the host of “Good Food” on KCRW, busy? In addition to marking her restaurant’s 27th anniversary early this month, she recently launched a new app, Easy as Pie, for the iPad and iPhone. The $4.99 app offers step-by-step videos on the making of 20 pies (including Chai Spice Pumpkin and Nutella Hand Pies) and includes recipes for five pie crusts and five toppings. But if you’d rather eat pie than make it, Kleiman also is running a “Pie Pop Up” at the cafe: Stop by for eat-in slices or take-home whole pies both savory (Chicken Pot Pie) and sweet (Apple Cidedr Maple Crumble).

7274 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles. 323-936-9086

Freebirds World Burrito spreads its wings

Dec. 19-20
After opening this summer in Ventura, the Freebirds World Burrito chain continues its march into the VC by unveiling two new locations in as many days this week. A sneak preview event at one of those sites will double as a fundraiser for Food Share of Ventura County, a local food bank.

The first site and its assembly line-style service counter will go into action at 11 a.m. Dec. 19  at  The Shops at Oak Creek in Agoura Hills. (The shopping center also is home to Urbane Cafe, Stone Ground Bakery and The Olive Vineyard, among others.) Hours will be 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays. (29125 Canwood St., Agoura Hills. 818-874-9171)

The Simi Valley site of Freebirds World Burrito will debut the very next day, aka Dec. 20. But during soft-opening events from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and again from 5-7 p.m. the previous day (aka Dec. 19), the first 250 people in line for each time slot will receive free food and drinks in exchange for a $5 donation to Food Share. Regular hours at the Simi Valley location will be 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays. (In the Sycamore Square shopping center at 2490 Sycamore Drive. 805-581-1689.)

Gonna buy five copies for my mother …

DEC. 10-11

As the co-founder and “mind behind” Au Bon Climat Winery on the Central Coast, Jim Clendenen is something of a rock star among California winemakers.
So don’t be surprised if hordes of adoring oenophiles show up this weekend just to get the wild-maned winemaker’s autograph when he  appears from 1-4 p.m. Dec. 10 and 11 at the winery’s tasting room and library in downtown Santa Barbara. Clendenen will be signing bottles of ABC pinot noir  and chardonnay, making each an instant collector’s item, a most excellent holiday gift or a really rockin’ combination of the two.

813 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara (next to The Wine Cask). 805-845-8435. Open daily from noon to 6 p.m.

Hot tamales

DEC. 2-3

It’s beginning to look a lot like … well, you know: Tamale season.
Wrapped in corn husks and often tied with different-colored strings to denote their fillings, the little packets of masa mixed with ingredients both savory and sweet are tailor-made for the holidays. Their resemblance to small gifts aside, tamales also are an inexpensive way to feed a crowd — once you know what you’re doing.

That’s where the Christmas tamale workshop being offered from 6:30 p.m. Dec. 2 at Let’s Get Cookin’ comes in. Nancy Zaslavsky, author of “A Cook’s Tour of Mexico,” will visit the Westlake Village shop and cooking school to share tips for organizing a “tamalada,” or tamale making party. The proper care and feeding of your masa dough will be discussed, but so, too, will be ideas for getting the party started with appetizers and a tequila tasting. Reservations for the class, $85 per person, include samples of and recipes for such dishes as Smoky-Spicy-Cheesy Vegetarian Tamales with Herbed Masa and Yucatan Shredded Pork and Chorizo Tamales wrapped in Banana Leaves. (818-991-3940)

More interested in eating tamales than in making them? The fourth annual Oxnard Tamale Festival will provide plenty of opportunity to do just that when it runs from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Dec. 3 in Plaza Park. More than a baker’s dozen of tamale vendors will be on site to sell their edible wares to the public while also competing in a tamale taste-off  judged by local officials. A tamale-eating contest will start at 2:30 p.m. (register by 1:30 if you’re into that sort of thing), and cooking demos will be offered throughout the day. But it’s not all just about the tamales: the Santa Barbara-based O Street Food Truck will be there with its French-Mex-Vietnamese fare, while the folks from Ventura’s The Jolly Oyster will be serving oysters on the half-shell, Baja-style oyster cocktails and, yes, oyster tamales. (500 South C Street at Fifth Street. 805-766-4906)

All a-titter about sparkling wine and Twitter

NOV. 9

Want to learn about sparkling wine from the experts, just in time for the holidays? Then follow the bouncing hashtag that is #FSWine.

During the second annual Taste & Tweet taking place on Nov. 9, a team of sommeliers and other experts from Four Seasons resorts located across the country will congregate via the online social media site Twitter to share pairing suggestions and tasting notes on several bottles of bubbly. Wine enthusiasts are invited to join in the virtual conversation by logging on to Twitter and following the #FSWine hashtag from 6:30 p.m.

But if you prefer in-person interaction to virtual reality, there’s a non-app for that. Four Seasons properties in Westlake Village, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and beyond will be pouring the featured sparkling wines for  “live” tastings. Attendees of these events are welcome — nay, encouraged — to join in the Twitter conversation by including the #FSWine hashtag in their posts.

At the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, the Taste & Tweet event from 6-9 p.m. in The Bar will include not only the featured sparklers (Domaine Chandon Brut Classic, Louis Roederer Brut Premier and Lunetta Prosecco) but also a local ringer: Saddlerock Sparkling Brut Rose from Malibu Family Wines. All are included in the $20 admission. Although not required, guests may RSVP by calling 818-575-1108 or by clicking on the hotel’s Facebook page. The hotel is at 2 Dole Drive in Westlake Village.

At the Four Seasons Resort the Biltmore in Santa Barbara, meanwhile, each Taste & Tweet attendee will be greeted with a complimentary Kumamoto oyster topped with pink grapefruit mousse to set the bubbly mood. Guests will then be able to taste the featured wines and follow along via the live tweets displayed on a flat-screen TV in Ty Lounge. Those who “check in” via Facebook or Foursquare will receive a voucher for a complimentary glass of wine, and will qualify to win special prizes throughout the event. In addition, guests who dine at Bella Vista that evening will receive a 20 percent discount. For reservations ($15 for the wine flight, or $25 for the wines and a selection of canapes), call 805-565-8232. The hotel is at 1260 Channel Drive in Santa Barbara.

Taste & Tweet events also will take place on Nov. 9 at the Beverly Wilshire,  the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles in Beverly Hills and other locations.

Toast to (and shop for) a cure

NOV. 5
“Toast to a Cure” will benefit the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network  when it takes place from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 5 at 71 Palm restaurant in downtown Ventura.

The event will include tastings of Ventura Limoncello Originale, wines donated by Young’s Market and appetizers by Didier Poirier, co-owner and executive chef of 71 Palm.

Admission is free. Funds will be raised via a donation box and from a percentage of on-site sales of cases of wine, MidiQueen Handbags and works by local artists Gina Niebergall and Dahlia Riley.

The restaurant is at 71 N. Palm St. For information, call 805-653-7222.

Sip, sample … and stock up

NOV. 1-30

Here’s one passport you don’t have to pose for an unflattering photo to get: The Harvest Passport offered by the Ventura County Winery Association instead focuses on six wineries and/or tasting rooms that during the month of November will each offer special flights to ticketholders. Those same tickets grant a 10 percent discount on day-of-visit wine purchases – just in time to encourage stocking up for holiday gifts and festivities. (The purchase of a ticket also enters you in a drawing for prizes that range from bottles of wine to a two-night stay in an area hotel. Any re-gifting of those items is left entirely up to you.)

Participants include the county’s newest winery, and the only one like it in the city of Ventura. Owned by six Simi Valley residents, Four Brix Winery started life at a custom-crush facility in Paso Robles but in September moved to a winemaking facility and tasting room to call its own in an industrial park space on Eastman Avenue.

Also on the passport are Cantara Cellars and Bella Victorian Vineyard & Winery of Camarillo, Herzog Wine Cellars and Magnavino Cellars of Oxnard and Old Creek Ranch Winery of Oak View. Individually, members of the winery association produce fewer than 1,000 cases to more than 200,000 cases per year. Combined, they turn California-grown grapes into some 250 kinds of wine — so you’re bound to find something to your liking. (Tickets, $35 per person, are available via the association’s website and at participating wineries.)

Changing seasons, changing menus

 OCT. 3-7

Seen the weather report lately? (Or just looked out the window?) Summer has left the building — and that means chefs are takin’ care of business by making the most of the fall harvest.

Chief among them is Todd Aarons, executive chef at  Tierra Sur, the restaurant inside Herzog Wine Cellars in Oxnard. A veteran of Zuni Cafe in San Francisco and of Savoy in Manhattan, Aarons already is known for his local, seasonal approach to food: Under his guidance, Tierra Sur participates in the Growers Collaborative Program via the Community Alliance with Family Farmers. (Aarons also is known for offering diners such artisanal treats as housemade lamb sausages. But we digress.) 

 Chef Aarons will again focus on locally grown produce as he creates Farmers’ Tasting Menus every night from Oct. 3-7. The set-price meals, $65 per person, include four courses paired to wines made on the premises. For reservations, call 805-983-1560.

No tricks, all treats

 

Pier Under the Stars will feature food and wine tasting when it takes place Oct. 1 on Ventura's beachfront Promenade

 

OCT. 1
The first day of October will be a red letter one for foodies. Just check out this lineup:

The SOL Food Festival will focus on its “sustainable, organic, local” roots when it presents tastings and discussions focused on Santa Barbara County foods, wines and beers from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 1 in Plaza de Vera Cruz — just steps away from the weekly Santa Barbara Farmers Market. Among the highlights: “MasterChef” season 2 finalist (and Ventura resident) Adrien Nieto will be on hand to show off some of his farmers market-inspired recipes, while the folks from Santa Barbara Canning promise to take the mystery out of the hot water bath method with some demos of their own. Admission is free. Call 805-450-2357.

The 25th annual Oktoberfest Beer & Wine Tasting Celebration presented by Thousand Oaks Rotary Sunrise will include giant Piller pretzels flown in from Germany for the occasion when it takes place from 1-5 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Commemorative Air Force Museum at the Camarillo Airport. Also on the menu: 20 German wines, 25 German beers,  a selection of microbrews from Ventura and Los Angeles counties  — and beer floats made with ice cream. Tickets are $40, but bring some extra spending money in case you decide to book a ride in one of the museum’s historic planes. Call 805-701-7248.

The Pier Under the Stars event taking place from 5-8 p.m. Oct. 1 on Ventura’s beachfront Promenade will feature 60 food-and-beverage purveyors — the largest in the event’s 18-year history as a fundraiser for the Ventura Pier. Participating on the food front will be Brio Bake Shop, Petite Reve Cafe and The Jolly Oyster (don’t worry; they’ll do the shucking). Surf Brewery, the newly opened Four Brix Winery and the not-quite-open-yet Panaro Bros. Winery will be on hand to pour. General tickets are $60; VIP tickets, $100, get you in at 4:30 and include a reserved seat at a table on the Promenade. Call 805-797-7544.

Oct. 1 also marks the start of epicure.sb., a monthlong celebration of  all things culinary in and around Santa Barbara. Now in its third year, the event is packed with food gatherings (hello, California Avocado Festival, Oct. 7-9), beer tastings (Santa Barbara Beer Festival, Oct. 15) and farm-to-table dinners at restaurants throughout the city. There’s so much happening, in fact, that we’ll be giving epicure: sb its own blog post in the very near future. Until then, call the Santa Barbara Conference & Visitors Bureau for information: 800-676-1266.

Time to go to Hugo’s

 

SEPT. 22-24

Friendly to vegetarians and carnivores alike, the menu at Hugo’s Restaurants in Studio City and West Hollywood just become even more accessible, thanks to the opening  of a third location.

It debuts this week in the Whizin Market Square in Agoura Hills, where the days leading up to the Sept. 26 grand opening are being used  both as final training sessions for the staff and as a fundraiser for docent programs at Malibu Creek State Park.

During by-reservation seatings from 8-10 a.m., noon to 2 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. on Sept. 22-24, Hugo’s Restaurant will donate 75 cents from every dollar patrons spend on meals to aid programs at the park, which offers hiking, fishing, bird watching and horseback riding opportunities.  (Tax and tip are excluded.) For required reservations, call 818-483-0167.

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