Gourmet Wheels: Four Seasons Hotels Take Food on the Road

By Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo
(published in the Santa Barbara News-Press September 20, 2013)

 

Several Four Seasons Hotels have found an ingenious way to share their gourmet fare with the public: they’re taking it to the streets.

 

The Four Seasons Taste Truck

The Four Seasons Taste Truck, a four-wheel truck outfitted to resemble a classic woody and decked out with a bevy of gourmet cooking appliances, hit the road this week on a culinary pilgrimage.  By the end of its promotional run, which includes one-week stops at eight Four Seasons resorts, including the AAA 5-Diamond Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara, it will have covered 1,133 miles across three states and over 55 days.  At each sojourn, the truck will become a kitchen-away-from-home for each property’s executive chef.

“I have about 50 cooks at the resort, so I don’t get to cook every meal,” says Executive Chef Alessandro Cartumini, who took the kitchen helm at the luxury hotel brand’s acclaimed Montecito property in 2010.  “But now I’ll be on the truck every day – just me and one sous chef – so I can tell guests that I cooked every one of your meals.  And that’s the exciting part for me.”

 

Click to enlarge

The Taste Truck turned its engines this week with a visit to the Four Seasons Hotel Silicon Valley at East Palo Alto; coincidentally, Chef Cartumini was part of this property’s launch in 2006, before transferring to the Biltmore.  Next week, it’ll pay a week-long visit to the 5-Star Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco before making the coastal drive south to Santa Barbara for a local visit September 30^th through October 6^th.  From there, it’ll visit Four Seasons properties in Westlake Village, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Scottsdale and Santa Fe.  (Find a detailed schedule here.)

While in town, Chef Cartumini will bring a bevy of dishes to the public by parking the Taste Truck at various venues.  In its first two days, it’ll welcome walk-ups along Butterfly Beach, right across from the resort.  In the days that follow, it’ll visit West Beach, the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, Telegraph Brewing Company, Santa Barbara’s Saturday morning farmers market, Oreana Winery in the Funk Zone and East Beach.  Times vary each day – twice, the chef will be doling out breakfast.  And there will some themed serving as well – on two days, the menu will include several Oktoberfest-inspired menu items.
 



Sweet Potato Fries w/Oregano Aioli

The main drive behind this unique culinary promotion is “to make food accessible, to take our food out on the streets and to show people what we can do,” says Chef Cartumini.  “People sometimes think of a resort like ours just for a special occasion.  What we want to show is that we are not just a big corporation, but that we also embrace our community.”

Translating the daily production and presentation of award-winning fare from a gourmet kitchen to a food truck offers challenges, to be sure.  But for the Four Seasons The Biltmore’s director of food and beverage, Bixente Pery, “it’s all about thinking outside the box.”

The way the food is made inside the Taste Truck will employ the same techniques used onsite.  “The produce is the same, the chef is the same, the preparation is the same,” says Mr. Pery, who will be with the truck each day.  “We just eliminate the china and the silverware, but the final product is still the same.”

 

Many of the items featured in a specially-designed menu for the Taste Truck’s visit will come off menus featured on the Montecito property’s restaurants, including the Bella Vista and the Ty Lounge; other items were custom-made for the occasion.  But one thing that will be different will be the price tag: most offerings range from $4 to $7 and no item is priced over $9.

“The food has to be good, it has to be quick and it has to be priced right,” insists the chef. 

Chef Cartumini's food truck menu features several items that highlight his knack for combining fresh California produce with flavors and techniques from his native Italy.  The Local Sea Bass Fritto Roll-Up ($9) features avocado and a pepperoncino aioli.  The Quinoa Sweet Potato Lettuce Burger ($6, pictured) comes with goat feta cheese and an avocado relish.   The BBQ Angus Beef Short Ribs ($8) features smoked mozzarella, arugula and salsa verde.

“Of course there will be some bells and whistles, since this is the Four Seasons,” says Chef Cartumini.  “But for me, it’s going to just be about the food, about what you’ll get for your money and about showing the community what we are doing at the resort every day.”

The Taste Truck’s Santa Barbara visit will also include a cocktail giveaway at the resort’s Bella Vista Restaurant.  Guests who share a photo or video of the truck, or food from the truck, on Instagram, using the #FSTasteTruck hashtag and the resort’s @FSSantaBarbara handle, can show it to their server in return for a signature sipper of their choice.  The eatery will feature a special food and drinks Food Truck menu during the month of October.

The truck’s local stint, in fact, coincides with the start of epicure.sb, Santa Barbara’s month-long culinary showcase, now in its fifth year, which will feature more than 100 events during the month of October.

In November, at the end of the Taste Truck’s 55-day tour, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts will donate a portion of total proceeds to Chefs to End Hunger, a charity that benefits local food agencies.