Europe Trip! December 26, 2007

Much to the chagrin of my coworkers, I’m taking a little jaunt through Europe with my childhood friend, Ezra for the next few weeks. In order to gain a little bit of street cred with the boss, I’ll hit up a few wineries along the way. For posterity’s sake, the following is an outline of my itinerary.

I leave tomorrow and for the first week or so, we’re cruising through the Eastern Block of Europe… Checking out Budapest and Prague, visiting Ezra’s previous home in Germany… we’ll do some snowboarding, and just take in the sights. After that, as you can see below, the itinerary gets a little less loose:

January 4th-6th: Priorat, Spain
I’m still working on making some connections here… I’m hoping to get in touch with Eric Solomon and find some spots to hit through him.

January 7th-9th: Champagne, France
Local Paso Robles winemaker and French ex-pat Roger Nicolas from RN Estate was kind enough to get me in touch with his niece in Paris whose boyfriend works for a Champagne house in Ludes, so we’ll be visiting and tasting with them.

January 9th-13th: Kerry, Ireland
A slight detour here to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

January 13th-16th: Rhone region, France
I’m fully focused on making connections via Hospice du Rhone while I’m here. For sure I’ll be visiting Domaine de la Charbonniere and Domaine Faury… but the rest is up in the air. We’ll see where the wine… er… I mean wind… takes us.

January 16th-18th: Madrid, Spain

January 18th-20th: Rome, Italy

January 21st: Home!
… And back to work on the 22nd. The restaurant will be closed for our annual winter break, but I’m pretty sure there’ll still be tons of work for me when I get back.

I’m planning on taking a journal to document some of the trip… And maybe if I can find a computer here and there I can give a few updates here as well.

Blog This! December 18, 2007

It’s official. I have lost all sense of self and have joined the masses who facelessly and without responsibility speak about things they “think” they know. I am here, not because I have superior knowledge nor because I suffer from the delusion that I am going to save the world from its present destructive course.
I am but a lowly chef with the desire and passion to create a small community on the central coast that sources creates and sustains food both fresh and processed. I am the Chef at Villa Creek Restaurant and am happy to be a part of an organization that values food, farmers, and integrity more than bottom lines, p&l’s and corporate buying power. We have been on this Local, sustainable, organic kick for about 4 years. It has been a tough yet rewarding battle.(more on this later) We are fortunate to have befriended mentors like the Spencers at Windrose Farm and the Pascuitto’s from Skipping Stones as well as many more.

So what will you find on this blog? Everything from Erick Cadena’s wine picks to Caffeine induced Chef rants from yours truly about the irritations inherent with running kitchens, dealing with purveyors or the life and times of western civilization. It will be informative, it will be opinionated and it may be entertaining.
It will be truthful, it will be pertinent and it will be updated.

Here We Go! December 18, 2007

I would like to welcome you to the new Blog site of Villa Creek. I hope to use this as a vehicle to have a more intimate relationship with you, our patron and guest. I will periodically be posting interesting wines, events, and changes to Villa Creek. I welcome everyone’s opinion and thoughts for this is definitely the time and place…

December 5, 2007

Villa Creek anchors Paso Robles’ famed restaurant row. Adjacent to the park and the railroad tracks, it’s the ideal spot to meet ‘n’ greet your friends, fellow winemakers, ex-wives and the occasional oil field roustabout on holiday.