Full Belly Files | Emerging from the Holidaze

The Tahoe crew at Eagle Rock | Credit: Matt Kettmann

This edition of Full Belly Files was originally emailed to subscribers on January 12, 2024. To receive Matt Kettmann’s food newsletter in your inbox each Friday, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

Happy New Year, dedicated Full Belly Filers!

I’m still emerging from the holidaze season, where my family celebrates Hanukkah, my mom’s December 21 birthday, Christmas Eve Eve, Christmas Eve, Christmas night, my son’s December 29 birthday, and New Year’s in what feels like an unending series of soirees. Given that both kids got an extra week off this year — making for a three-week break — we tacked on a trip to the mountains as well, joining my cousin and his family in their Tahoe City cabin.

I’ve got way too many highlights to share from the past few weeks — and lowlights, like my daughter quitting skiing on the first run, forcing us to walk down the mountain, and my son breaking his wrist while snowboarding, forcing him to walk down. But I’ll try to keep it short by sticking to the food and drink ones.

Here we go:

The 2013 Siduri from Clos Pepe (left) and Morét-Brealynn’s new pinot noir | Credit: Matt Kettmann

My wife and I kicked off the Christmas break week by having dinner at Bettina with my Sonoma County–based winemaker friends Adam Lee and Morét Brealynn. Though Adam is in Santa Barbara a lot to work on his Dial Tone and Busy Signal brands, this was their first visit to this Coast Village Road spot, where the pepperoni pizza always wows. From my cellar, I brought a 2013 pinot noir from Clos Pepe Vineyard that was bottled under the Siduri brand, which Adam founded in 1994, and we also enjoyed Morét’s just-released 2022 Russian River Valley pinot noir.

The “happiest hour” at Joe’s Café on State Street might be the best deal in town, which I was reminded of prior to our rainy night Zoo Lights adventure at the Santa Barbara Zoo. From 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. every weekday, there’s all sorts of substantial dishes for less than $12 — we went for nachos, and couldn’t finish before my turkey dip showed up — and the classic martini, with blue-cheese-stuffed olives and a sidecar refill, is just $10. That’s like three drinks in one.

Prior to our major mission to the grocery store for the days ahead, I introduced my brother, who lives in San Diego, to the glories of Klokke Roeland and specialty sausages at The Dutch Garden. Empowered by the strong ale and savory treats, we braved Vons on Turnpike like pros.

The Klokke Roeland and sausage plate at The Dutch Garden | Credit: Matt Kettmann

Homemade cioppino with fish form Kanaloa | Credit: Matt Kettmann

This is the third year that we’ve splurged on the reserved and catered bowling lanes at Bowlero, formerly Zodo’s, formerly Orchid Bowl. It may be hard to believe, given the bowling alley nature, but their chicken nuggets and pizzas are quite tasty, and the higher price you pay for the reserved lanes can pencil out if you eat enough. We even took a bunch of food home, which became much needed snacks all week.

For Christmas Eve Eve, we made cioppino (crab, clams, and shrimp from Kanaloa) and also grilled flank steak (Sprouts) and the secreto cut of Iberico-style pork from Campo Grande, whose social media ads finally convinced me to buy a shipment of their high-end pork. I made a gremolata for the pork and a romesco for the steak, which might have been the highlight. (Expect more pork talk this year as I make my way through the cuts awaiting attention in my freezer.)

For the second year in a row, we went to The Lark for our Christmas Eve dinner. The place was buzzing, and the food was on-point as usual, from oysters and cornbread to the hand-cut pappardelle and special duck dinner. It was an extra treat to see the restaurant’s founder Sherry Villanueva there with her family, all of whom I’ve known for more than 20 years now.

The Lark on Christmas Eve | Credit: Matt Kettmann

For Christmas morning, we made our traditional breakfast pie of cheese layered on egg layered on sausage layered on hash browns. I added some hot peppers, onions, and other ingredients in a test batch that may become next year’s main batch. That night, I turned the presa cut of Campo Grande pork into a carnitas of sorts and used the cast-iron press I got for Christmas from my brother to make my first round of homemade tortillas.

We ate very well in Tahoe, cooking plenty of fun stuff at home while also eating out a few times. We made challah French toast for our first breakfast, lamb meatball gyros for my son’s birthday, tom kha soup for New Year’s Eve, and a batch of Rancho Gordo’s King City Pink Beans, which served in various roles as breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On the restaurant side, I enjoyed udon at Jake’s on the Lake, beer at Pete ‘n Peters, ramen at Sugar Bowl (right after the broken wrist incident), a Kentruckee Mule at Everline Resort (while others went ice skating), and, for our last dinner, a couple of Wet Woody cocktails over French onion soup and lobster deviled eggs at Gar Woods in Carnelian Bay.

Tom kha soup (left) and udon at Jake’s on the Lake | Credit: Matt Kettmann

Since getting back to town, we’ve made sausage-Wagyu smashburgers, egg drop soup, more tortillas for roast chicken and chanterelle tacos, and an improvised version of Hainanese chicken rice (inspired in part by Kevin Pang’s A Very Chinese Cookbook that I got for Christmas). I’ve had drinks and charcoal flatbread at The Steward, a work lunch at Pepe’s in Old Town Goleta, and a tasty veggie sandwich from Java Station, where I’d forgotten a full breakfast and lunch menu is served.

In other words, we’re slowly dusting off that holidaze, and getting back to normal.

Sausage-Wagyu smashburger and Kabocha charcoal flatbread at The Steward | Credit: Matt Kettmann

First 2023 Wine: Castoro Sauvignon Blanc

I reviewed 2,820 wines from the Central Coast and Southern California for my Wine Enthusiast job in 2023, averaging 235 wines per month. November was my weakest month, at just 150 wines, while June was the peak, at 320 wines.

Castoro submitted the first 2023 wine for review. | Credit: Matt Kettmann

The routine does get a bit rote at times, and it’s certainly a challenge to come up with 2,800-plus different ways to describe wines, many of which can be rather similar, at least when reliant on the English language as a description tool. But there are plenty of surprises to break up the monotony, and one that I’m always most eager to note is which wine is the first one to be submitted from the just-finished vintage.

The 2023 winner was Castoro Cellars, a veteran brand out of Paso Robles that’s always done well by both critical and popular measures. I’ve noticed the wines getting even better over the past few years, perhaps not coincidentally at the same time that Castoro has emphasized its sustainability practices.

The 2023 submission was their entry-level, estate-grown sauvignon blanc, and it was quite a treat: super fresh, as you’d expect for such a young wine, but also both delicious and complex, traits not always served in the same package. It’s a promising introduction to what everyone said was a logistically challenging yet enologically sound vintage, and I’m excited to taste more. I’ll try to remember to let you know which red wine comes in first.

*I Love You…But*‘s big award | Credit: Matt Kettmann

Big Award for My TV Pilot

Remember when I got to play myself in a television show pilot? I wrote all about it almost a year ago, when actor-winemaker Sunny Doench Stricker, owner of of Future Perfect Wines in Los Olivos, asked me to be part of a project called I Love You … But.

Aside from getting a link to the finished episode, which you can check out yourself here (my big small-screen debut is around minute eight), I hadn’t heard much about it, making me ponder whether my brief TV career was over.

Then earlier this month, the director Dean Donofrio sent out the great news: “I am excited to announce that our little pilot has just won Best Comedy at the L.A. Film Awards!”

I’d never heard of the Los Angeles Film Awards, but I’m not too tuned into the cinema scene these days. Apparently, the organization takes submissions all year long and announces dozens of awards each month. I Love You … But was victorious as “Best Comedy” specifically in the December 2023 awards.

Should I ditch my journalism job? Stay tuned.

From Our Table

The wines of Entity of Delight | Credit: Crosby Swinchatt

Here are some food and drink stories you may have missed from the past few weeks:

Sean Magruder gets the story on the Entity of Delight wines, which I enjoyed as well during the Natural Coast Wine Fest last year.

Ryan Cruz tells us about the Isla Vista Food Co-op’s plans to expand to downtown Santa Barbara in the current Cantwell’s space.

Jean Yamamura reports on Yona Redz winning $50,000 from DoorDash.

Nick Welsh reveals why Buellton won’t be getting an In-N-Out.

I interviewed Michael Higgins, author of a new wine book about the Central Coast.

And my story on the Botanic Garden’s annual Beer Garden event ran in December, aimed to give you time to buy tickets for the always sold-out affair. When tickets went on sale on January 4, however, they were gone in 51 minutes, a new record.