Avelina Winery to Move: Funk Zone Loses High Profile Tenant

By Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo
(published in the Santa Barbara  News-Press on 1/30/14)

After just four months in business, one of the Funk Zone’s most high profile wineries is moving out.

Avelina Winery, which opened its doors on September 20^th, closed abruptly this week.  But “it’s a good thing,” owner and winemaker Christian Garvin, 39, says.  “I’m taking the Avelina concept to North County,” he adds, potentially Lompoc or Buellton, where he plans to set up a winemaking facility and store under sole ownership.

The Avelina tasting room featured a farm truck-turned-wine bar

Avelina’s departure leaves an empty 3000-square-foot space in the Anacapa Project, the thriving downtown Santa Barbara complex that includes The Lark Restaurant, Les Marchands wine bar, Guitar Bar and a handful of brewery, winery and distillery businesses.  But Garvin says a new retail business is already in line to take over “within the next 45 days.” 

Avelina quickly became a trendy wine tasting venue, but it doubled as a winery.  The facility filled the winery’s own production needs – it makes 9000 cases of wine a year – as well as Mr. Garvin’s other wine ventures, including making and bottling private label wines.  “We got to the point where we were making too much wine for the space” he says.  “There were times when 75% of the room was taken up by pallets, stacked high.  Customers could barely get in.  The rent didn’t justify using the space that way.  That space was made for humans, not for boxes.”

While he insists he’s “happy” with the move, Mr. Garvin admits that it speaks to an adjustment in the Funk Zone persona.  “Five years ago, this was an industrial space, and now it’s a retail and entertainment space,” he says.  “It’s like all the artists who used to have studios here.  I’m moving my studio to make room for retail.”

Mr. Garvin has been making, selling and promoting wines in Santa Barbara County since the late 1990s, when he worked at Fess Parker Winery and joined a fellow UCSB grad to found Kahn Winery.  He launched Oreana Winery in the Funk Zone 10 years ago, in a former tire shop, with a similar setup to Avelina’s.  “But we had a big parking lot there,” he says, which eliminated overcrowding.  Mr. Garvin sold Oreana to winemaker Danny Miles last summer, ahead of Avelina’s grand opening.

Avelina will continue to focus on Santa Barbara County-grown Italian wines, including pinot grigio, sangiovese and nebbiolo. 

Mr. Garvin will update the progress of his move to North County on the Avelina website.

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Chinese Tradition: Mattei’s Tavern Features One-Night-Only Menu Inspired by Its History

By Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo
(published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on January 23, 2014)

The upcoming Chinese New Year will shed light on what may be a little known fact at Mattei’s Tavern: Chinese tradition plays a big role here.

When Felix Mattei ran this historic Los Olivos property in the late 1800s – a haven for weary travelers trekking up and down Central California by stagecoach and rail – a Chinese cook by the name of Gin Lung Gin was his right hand man.

Gin Lung Gin's visage graces the butcher block inside Mattei's kitchen

“Gin was regarded as part of the Mattei family, and he’s buried on the family plot,” says Emily Perry Wilson, who co-owns and runs Mattei’s Tavern today alongside her husband, Chef Robbie Wilson.  “He was the property cook – prepared breakfast, lunch dinner – and was known for his sugar cookies.”

Mr. Gin lived on the restaurant grounds, even, in a small building to the rear of the restaurant, right next to where the Wilsons installed their pizza oven.

In fact, when they took over the property – the Wilsons partnered with entrepreneur Charles Banks to rebrand and relaunch Mattei’s in July – they kept the outpost’s original chef in mind.  The butcher station inside the exhibition kitchen, for example, is adorned with a mural depicting his visage.  And the menu is sprinkled with Asian-fusion dishes.  The “Crunchy Sea Creatures” starter, for example, features tempura seafood served with an uni tartar sauce; the short rib roast entrée comes with heirloom carrots and maitake mushrooms, and is served in a tasty ramen broth; and the rotisserie chicken – cooked long and slow over an open wood-burning pit – features a homemade sweet chili sauce.

Chef Robbie Wilson

On January 29^th, Chef Wilson is celebrating Mr. Gin’s birthday by cranking up the heat on a Chinese-inspired, one-night-only, seven-course menu; the culinary feast coincides nicely with the Chinese New Year, which, this year, lands on January 31.

“The best way I can pay tribute to the true history and heritage of Mattei’s Tavern is by honoring its first chef with our pristine local product, and a Chinese New Year's-inspired evening,” says Chef Wilson.  “Gin would have wanted it that way!”

The chef’s vision: a pickles appetizer gives way to a fried rice course, featuring aged ham.  Shrimp toast follows, with ridgeback shrimp and black “sriracha” hot sauce presented on toasted homemade brioche.  The third course is a pretzel bun, featuring fried chicken wings, mint and spicy chiles.  The beef short ribs that come next are accompanied by traditional noodles, peanuts, Thai chile and an egg served sunny-side up.  And the Chinese long beans that follow are treated with rock sugar, plum and soy sauces and cognac.  An Arnold Palmer mocha cake brings the birthday dinner to an end.

This special meal – priced at $53 per person – will be served family-style for parties of two, four or six.  Drinks are extra, but Mattei’s selection of signature and classic cocktails, and a comprehensive international lineup of wines, should leave no one at the table thirsty.

“We’re looking forward to hosting this event on an annual basis,” says Mrs. Perry Wilson.

For reservations, call Mattei’s Tavern at 805-688-3550.

This sign outside Mattei's Tavern recounts its early days

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Murder, She Wrote: Local Producer to Bring Murder Mystery Dinner to Life

By Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo
(published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on Jan. 17, 2014)

“Death by Chocolate” has always been a hit with diners at Chuck’s Waterfront Grill.  It’s a homemade chocolate pie on an Oreo cookie crust, generously drizzled with raspberry sauce and adorned with a hatchet made of white chocolate.  This playful take on a gruesome murder scene is so decadent, the menu says it all: “It’s to die for.”

This sweet treat will take on new meaning tonight, though, when the restaurant hosts its very first murder mystery dinner, Murder on the Waterfront.

“No one’s doing it in town, and I can’t remember the last time Santa Barbara has done one of these at a restaurant,” says Susie Couch, who co-wrote the interactive experience with local author and set designer, William York-Hide.  She also owns Prism Productions, which is producing the scare-affair.

“There are two scary things about putting on a mystery dinner show,” she says.  “You need actors who are good with improv, and a lot depends on the audience.”

Ms. Couch thinks she’s got those areas covered, though.  Six actors are on the bill, all versed in the spontaneous art of improvisation and each having contributed significantly to the development of their characters.  And as for the audience, “they’ll have a chance to get involved if they want to or, if they prefer, just watch and enjoy from the sidelines,” says Ms. Couch.

Chuck's Waterfront Grill is perched on the Santa Barbara Habor

The affair is inspired by the restaurant, itself, which is popular as much for its surf-and-turf menu as for the sweeping views of the boats, the ocean and the mountains from its marina-side perch.  “We’ve catered it to yacht-y people – it’s a yacht cast, a yacht story,” says Ms. Couch.  “In that sense, characters may or may not be identifiable to the patrons of the Waterfront.”

And the producer gives few details beyond that.  This is, after all, a mystery.

Ms. Couch and her husband, David, are well known in the Santa Barbara theater community.  They’ve been running the shows at Circle Bar B Dinner Theater in Goleta for more than a decade; the 2014 season there, which will feature four shows, will run April through October.  Putting on special events separately, like this first-ever murder mystery dinner, is “something we’re finding ourselves doing in the off season,” she says.

As the upcoming whodunit unfolds, guests will be treated to a three-course dinner featuring some of the restaurant’s best-known dishes, like their award-winning clam chowder and a choice of the sesame-crusted halibut or the sirloin with sautéed mushrooms and onions.  And no matter who does do it, everyone gets Death by Chocolate in the end.

This will be a marketing exercise, of sorts, for Chuck’s Waterfront Grill.  Since it is low season in the local food tourism scene, “this was the right time for us to think out of the box,” says owner Steve Hyslop.  And if the event is a success, repeat performances are likely.

“We’d rewrite the story every time, so people could easily watch it more than once,” adds Ms. Couch.

The event takes over Chuck’s Waterfront Grill Wednesday, January 22^nd, at 6:30pm.  Tickets, which will be capped at 60, are $68.  For reservations, call the restaurant at 805-564-1200 or email Mr. Hyslop at steve@chuckswaterfrontgrill.com.

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Legendary Santa Barbara Winemaker Richard Sanford Sells Alma Rosa Label

(Press release issued January 16, 2014) 

Photo by Bob Dickey, wineguydotcom@yahoo.com

Santa Barbara, CA – Richard Sanford, one of California’s most recognized pioneering winemakers, who has championed the Sta. Rita Hills winegrowing region for 40 years, will continue to make his legendary wines under the Alma Rosa label. Sanford has attracted a new financial partner, Robert Zorich, to recapitalize Alma Rosa, which paves the way for Alma Rosa to remain at the top of Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir prominence.

Zorich, a Houston based businessman with a private equity pedigree, recently purchased Alma Rosa Winery & Vineyards, located on the storied Santa Rosa Road corridor of the Sta. Rita Hills appellation. “I really wanted to do something with Richard Sanford. He has been creating great Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay, with integrity and class, for nearly 40 years in Santa Barbara County. I’m basically a business guy who enjoys wine, and it was important for me to partner with someone like Richard, whom I greatly respect and admire. In private equity we back highly experienced management teams and give them the tools to create value.  This is a very similar situation.”

Thekla and Richard Sanford (credit: Bob Dickey)

Founded in 2005 by Richard and his wife Thekla, Alma Rosa Winery will continue to focus on producing estate grown wines from the Sta. Rita Hills.  Sanford will oversee the vineyards and the daily operations of winemaking. “Four decades ago, I came to this region with an idea and a dream.  This is a meaningful opportunity for me to refocus my energies on the agricultural and winemaking aspects of the business, both of which initially drew me to the world of wine.  I look forward to continuing to build on my past experience in an organic and sustainable way.”

Zorich adds, “Richard will have access to the resources he needs to create beautiful wines. We will use the existing Alma Rosa brand as our foundation and build upon it to maintain our position as a leader within the Sta. Rita Hills appellation.”

Sanford adds, “This is a very exciting time for us.  Thekla and I look forward to continuing to welcome our guests in an environment that recognizes the soul and spirit of the Sta. Rita Hills.  We will now have the opportunity to plant additional vineyards and we will have state of the art winemaking resources fully available to us. This is truly a dream come true.  We are happily anticipating our partnership with Mr. Zorich.  Thekla and I feel fortunate to be starting this new phase in our lives.  We are grateful for the support of everyone who enjoys Alma Rosa wines, and we look forward to our future in the Sta. Rita Hills.”

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