A Few of My Favorite Things September 21, 2008

Crisp… Rich… Fragrant… Alive. Is it a new wine? Cab? Syrah? Rhone Blend? White? Chardonnay with not too much oak? NO! It’s Fall! Autumn! Harvest! The time where leaves fall, grapes become wine, air becomes cool, and food is at it’s best. I so look forward to this time of year.  All the things I love are in this bountiful season: Football, Halloween, Bird Hunting, and best of all Oktoberfest, that unique celebration of beer that we enjoy so much. Kids are back in school telling and writing stories of the summer’s wayward adventures. Farmers are in the field, busily bringing in their crops.  Colorful decorations of burnt umber, sienna, and soulful greens will be placed around houses and businesses, adding warmth and richness to our daily routines. That, coupled with the natural color changes happening in our local flora and fauna make for a vibrant couple of months. And Lets not forget about the Pigs!

Autumn being the time of harvest it is befitting to tell you that it is also the time of Charcuterie. The time we harvest hogs for the making of that ancient and noble art of sausage making. Salting, curing, mixing, hanging and drying. We here at Villa Creek are having 4 hogs raised for us this year. So there will be plenty of work and delicious pork pleasures to be shared.

There are several reasons to come to the Central Coast during this season. We Have the Harvest wine tour, which is on the third weekend of October.  Four Vines Winery and Villa Creek will be teaming up again for a memorable dinner out in a stunning tempranillo vineyard on the east side of Templeton.  We will be doing a private tasting and “Day of the Dead” dinner with Villa Creek Cellars on that weekend as well.  I believe we will also team up with Tablas Creek for that weekend, so there are many opportunities to really get a taste of the season at Villa Creek restaurant.

Windrose Farm will be harvesting some of their incredible bounty throughout the next couple of months and we are pleased and honored to be able to feature the fruits of their  labor on a regular basis.

Firestone Brewery and Bristol Cider will be joining us in the month of November for a Beer dinner.  I will keep you posted as to the date and time.

I will be posting more information on all these events on the website and the blog in the near future.  My favorite time of year is Fall and I am excited to share it with those of you who are able to make it to the Central Coast to see the Grape Harvest, taste some wine, sample the local cuisine, and enjoy the richness of the season with us.

Listen Up! Upcoming Radio Appearances August 22, 2008

Tune in! Coming up in the next few weeks, Chef Tom will be a special guest for the following radio shows:

Grapevine Radio

Saturday, August 23, 12-1 pm

920 AM KVEC

Keeping it Fresh with Charles Myer

Wednesday, September 3, 4:30-5 pm

KCBX FM90

Charles and Tom will broadcast from the Templeton Farmer’s Market as they discuss local farmers, producers, and the seasonal bounty currently available at the markets.

Taco Tuesdays, Paella Wednesdays, Family Style Thursdays… Oh MY! January 30, 2008

We’ve been thinking.

Choosing the highest quality, local, organic ingredients from around our local foodshed is not always the easiest route. And it’s certainly not the most affordable or most profitable. But we’re not willing to let that go.

On the other hand, we all have families and jobs and we understand that eating out on a Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday night “on the cheap” is expensive, especially if one is trying to eat ethically.

So here’s the deal.

Until further notice, come and join us during the week for some fun alternatives to our regular menu (which is also fun… it just happens to be a little pricier… but as we mentioned above, preparing excellent ethical food is not inexpensive).

Starting next week (February 5th, to be exact), Taco Tuesdays are here! And Paella Wednesdays!!

And starting February 21st, bring the whole family in (or bring all your friends…) for Family Style Thursday! Children eat for just $10.

Oh, and the most exciting part is that it’s all still delicious, local, sustainable, and organic. In that order.

For more info, check out our Upcoming Events page.

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.