Wine Events and Root 246

Two reasons for coming to Santa Barbara in September! Touring & Tasting is having a Northwest Wine Tasting Sept. 9th from 5:30-7 pm--only $20, half of which can be used toward purchase of bottles of wine you like during the tasting. And there will be a Warehouse Wine Sale Sept. 12th from 2-5 pm with unbelievably low prices. I stocked up during the last warehouse sale and this will be even better as the wines are at 60% discount and lower! Come early as some wines sell out. Call 800-850-4370 ext. 100 for more information or click here Fall is gorgeous in the Santa Ynez valley, the grapes are getting close to harvest, the days are sunny with a bit of a autumn crispness in the air, the you-pick apple farms are open, there are cherries and flowers for sale in the roadside stands along the rural roads between wineries, and you can stop and taste estate grown olive oil and enjoy wonderful meals. The Los Olivos Cafe is a favorite, but we drove out this week to try the new Root 246 restaurant in Solvang that's been the center of a lot of food blog buzz. (read Gayot's review) Chef Bradley Ogden is renown for his "New American" cuisine of fresh, highest quality ingredients and as being the winner of James Beard's "Best Chef of California", among other awards. The restaurant is elegant but not stuffy with comfy upholstered chairs, dark wood floor and recessed lighting. We tried two salads: the Roots’ farms baby bib lettuce with goat cheese, pears and honey lavender pistachios and the golden beet and artichoke salad with sherry vinaigrette, then the short rib stew with a parsley onion dumpling and the Ono "Nicoise" with julienned beans and olive tapenade, finishing with the butterscotch pudding "taster". Everything was fresh and lovely to both the eye and the palate. I prefer my beets roasted until they are carmelized, but there were no complaints with the delicate beet salad that had the perfect touch of vinegar in the dressing to complement their sweetness. The fish was cooked to perfection, moist and flavorful even if the tapenade overwhelmed it a bit. But, these were minor notes. The dumpling was fluffy and melt-in-your-mouth and the pudding to die for. The "taster" desserts are just a few mouthfuls--just enough sweetness to end the meal without feeling overstuffed--and at $4 for our taster, an affordable decadence.