Full Belly Files | Italian Tamales, Wacky Fruits, Wine Fun, and Roadkill to Eat

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Last week, the Santa Barbara–based, Mexico City–trained chef Richard Lambert — who we have written about many times going back to before he founded National Tamale Day in 2015 — asked me to try one of his new creations: the Italian Tamale.

“The tamale is a nod to family traditions,” said Lambert. “The Italian branch of my family, the Lambertinis, came from the village of Gaiole in Tuscany.” He wanted my feedback and wondered if it would go with a dry chianti, in line with his Tuscan roots.

He dropped a couple off one morning, tightly wrapped in corn husks as usual. Since he’d mentioned chianti, which is based on sangiovese, I handed him a bottle of Stolpman Vineyards’ sangiovese to see if a home-grown version would work. I threw in a Wrath pinot noir from Monterey County too, thinking its herbaceous nature might pair with the Italian touches.

I had trouble waiting till lunchtime to try the masa-wrapped mix of sweet Italian sausage, peperoncini, tomato, kalamata olives, diced green bell pepper, and carrot in a marinara sauce topped with mozzarella cheese. When I did, I quickly emailed back.

“The tamales are great,” I replied. “I like the good amount of meat in there, which makes them very satisfying and filling. I ate both but I probably could have eaten one with some salad and been happy.”

They were a tiny bit spicier than I expected, which was a welcome kick, but that made me suggest a peppery, cool-climate syrah as a worthy pairing. I also said that he should consider a whole series of Italian tamales, perhaps with prosciutto or pesto, as the Mexican tamale’s traditional corn coating recalls a dense, doughier polenta from Italy.

“Thank you so much; you made my day,” replied Richard, who liked the “tamale d’Italia” idea. “It’s 88 degrees here in the kitchen, and I was waiting for something good to happen and perk me up.”

The best way to check out his tamale menu and order your own is through this link. Tell me what you think would make a good pairing and maybe it’ll wind up in a forthcoming file.

WACKY FRUITS: I’m essentially a sensory addict, ever fascinated by as many smells, tastes, sights, sounds, and sensations that I can discover. It’s an addiction I’d recommend for all, as paying actual attention to it all as much as you can makes life all that much richer.

Given this affliction, one of my favorite experiences of the past year was spending a couple hours with Kevin Reimer atop San Marcos Pass, where the once-world champion downhill skateboarder grows more than 200 different varieties of fruit both familiar and foreign to most of us. Read my profile about him in this week’s Home & Garden issue here.

Finding new experiences, like the peppery fruitiness of the cherry of the Rio Grande, the citrusy tea-like aromas of a white mulberry, or the plump textures of a Hawaiian blackberry made for a deliciously enlightening time. That we finished by tasting through mangos with names like Peach Cobbler and Cotton Candy he’d brought from a conference in Florida was only the, uh, cherry on top.

Call Kevin via his company S.B. Fruit Tree and plant these fruits at your house today.

MY ARKANSAS ADVENTURE: Aside from linking to a story or two here and there, I don’t usually use this Indy product to spend too much space promoting what I do for my job at Wine Enthusiast. But the magazine rarely greenlights an adventure like this one based on my trip to Arkansas earlier this year, and I think you’d all get a hoot out of it.  

I prefer the print title “Roadkill, Paired with Romanée-Conti.” The subhead says it all: “Finding fine wine, critter cuisine, and the meaning of family in the Arkansas woods.” And there’s a local hook too: Madison Murphy, the owner of Presqu’ile Winery, brought the DRC.

While I’m at it, here are a couple other WE features I recently wrote: one on California’s smoke taint task force, which was convened and is led by Santa Ynez Valley–focused vintner Alisa Jacobson, who spoke to me while the Lake Fire raged above her vines and winery; and the other that pitted pinot noir vs. cabernet sauvignon, featuring Santa Barbara County’s Aaron Walker of Pali Wine and Simon Faury of Crown Point, among other vintners. 

CARR ANNIVERSARY BASH: Ryan and Jessica Carr of Carr Winery are celebrating 25 years in the wine business, which is worth at least four lifetimes of tremendous passion and endless toil. They continue to make the warehouse zone of Salsipuedes Street, where Ian Cutler will soon open a cocktail-focused restaurant, a reliably fun place to hang.

The event is Sat., Sep. 14, 3-6 p.m. at 414 N. Salsipuedes St. Entry is free, and there will be tons of food from multiple restaurants, music by the Cantillon Brothers, and special wines from the Carr cellar to share. Click here for all the deets.  

LINDSEY’S APERITIVO POP-UP: Longtime wine educator Lindsey Reed, who has kindly invited me to teach at her UCSB wine class over the last year, is hosting a Sunday to Tuesday pop-up at Aperitivo focused on “ethical and affordable wines, good vibes, and the relaxed European feel.” Read my full story on her “da Sola” here.

SIDEWAYS TIMES TWO: As I mentioned in last week’s newsletter, I was working on a couple of Sideways stories to mark the film’s 20th anniversary, which will be feted this Sunday at the Hitching Post 2 (see you there!) as well as on September 29 at the Solvang Festival Theater as part of Taste the Santa Ynez Valley, among other events.

I finished them soon after I turned in the newsletter, which is not the best timing, as having them linked in last week’s would have made way more sense. But such is the nonstop deadline life — you get done what you can when you can and keep moving.   

Here’s the one about Frank Ostini and Hitching Post Winery’s Sideways Anniversary wine. And here is the other about the Sideways novelist Rex Pickett, who tells us that golf was the story’s original inspiration and has some less-than-cool things to say about Santa Ynez Valley pinot noir.

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From Our Table

Here’s a few more stories from our pages that you may have missed:

• Tian Trinh gets the lowdown on the beer bash at Casa de la Guerra this Saturday.
• Having herded chefs and winemakers myself in the past, I was skeptical when I heard what writer Michael Delgado planned to pull off by gathering such folks at The Cheese Shop S.B. for a big tasting event. Lo and behold, he pulled it off with relative ease, and everyone involved was stoked, from what I hear. There may even be an attempt to turn this sort of tasting into a public event. Here’s the story.