Full Belly Files | Burrito Week Is Back!

This edition of Full Belly Files was originally emailed to subscribers on September 22, 2023. To receive Matt Kettmann’s food newsletter in your inbox each Friday, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

Unless you’ve been hiding under rocks without your smart phone since yesterday, you’re probably aware that the Santa Barbara Independent’s third annual Burrito Week is in full swing. Seeing the success of our annual Burger Week — which is a promotional affair in which restaurants pay to take part — we used the same formula to launch Burrito Week back in 2021.

This year’s turnout of 21 restaurants serving more than 25 different burritos is the biggest batch ever — and I think even more than we’ve ever had for Burger Week. Along with the traditional and breakfast styles, there are plenty of creative takes on the Mexican wrap, as well as vegan, veggie, and fish options. There’s even a dessert burrito, for those with a sweet tooth. And all that for just $8 a pop, though occasionally restrictions about days, times, and amounts apply, depending on the restaurant.

Hook’d Bar & Grill’s brisket burrito (left) and Yellow Belly’s “Mother Clucker” | Credit: Matt Kettmann

As usual for these weeks, I managed the editorial side of the issue, assigning our writers their burritos and then moving their reports through the process. I’m not gonna divulge all my secrets from these sneak peeks, but it does seem to me that a frugally minded burrito fan could buy a number of these (both breakfast and lunch versions), freeze them, and eat like a relative rey for the next few weeks. 

I personally tried two burritos: HOOK’d Bar & Grill’s brisket burrito and Yellow Belly’s “Mother Clucker” fried chicken burrito. Both were fantastic and each was big enough to feed me twice, quite a steal for just $8.

Cheersing as Charity

I co-hosted two separate events last week that raided my personal cellar to raise money for good causes, and I have a few appearances like this coming up this season.

On September 13, Jeff King and the crew at the nonprofit Apples to Zucchini Cooking School inside the former St. Anthony’s Seminary near Mission Santa Barbara cooked up a multi-course menu to go along with about 15 wines that I selected, mostly from Monterey but with some extras thrown in as well. The eight attendees were a mix of wine industry professionals — winemakers, wine-shop owners, media — and everyday wine lovers, and it seems like we all enjoyed the food, the wines, and, perhaps most of all, the conversation.

This was the first in this series of four dinners, and the next one, which will focus on the S.L.O. Coast and Paso Robles, is on October 25, although there’s only one seat remaining. There are slightly more openings for the November 15 and December 13 affairs, but we haven’t decided on the themes or wines yet.

Then on September 15, I brought out another 15 or so wines as part of the Behind the Bottles fundraiser we do to benefit Foothill School, which both of our kids have attended for the past decade. Hosted at the home of Brian and Bonnie Zant, this deep dive spanned the entire Central Coast.

It may have been my final Behind the Bottles, as our daughter graduates from 6th grade this summer and then we will no longer have any kids at the school. My arm might be twistable, especially since Foothill has been nothing short of amazing for both kids over the past decade, even through the darkest days of the pandemic. We were lucky to land here.

Not wine-related, but very much Central Coast–y: I will be interviewing seventh-generation rancher/TV star/cookbook author Elizabeth Poett at the Presidio on October 7 to celebrate the release of her first book, The Ranch Table. She’s the focus on my cover story that week, and we’ll take that conversation into real life that afternoon. Some details here, with more to come.

Recent Edible Highlights

When I’m home for a few days in a row without too many events to attend or deadlines to tackle, I spend much of my free time cooking. It’s a way to tune out a bit, relax by doing repetitive motions, and get creative.

This past week, I fired up my dehydrator for the first time, drying figs, lemons, limes, melon, strawberries, bananas, and apples. They were all consumed rather quickly, save for the figs, which more people seem to get weird about compared to other fruits. (I guess I didn’t like them growing up myself, but I’m a big fan now.)

Bruschetta egg toast and caramelized onion-potato-squash soup | Credit: Matt Kettmann

On Saturday night, I sous vide’d some thick rib-eye filets that I’d bought from Market Forager and stuffed pasilla chiles from Local Harvest Delivery with feta, chorizo, and jalapeño, finishing them on a griddle. I made a bruschetta-like salsa to put on toast and top with fried eggs for Sunday breakfast, and then caramelized onions that gave depth to the potato-sweet potato-squash soup that I made for dinner.

And I remembered a very simple yet utterly satisfying salad that I recall having at my grandparents’ backyard barbecues as a kid. Just tomato, red onion, black pepper, and mayonnaise. Combine, consume, and be surprised. Even the mayo-timid dig it.  

On the eating out front, my wife and I tried Hummus Republic in Isla Vista for the first time for lunch on Monday after walking the dog around UCSB, prior to the students taking over again. The small chain packs quite a lot of food into their pitas, which are choose-your-own-adventure ingredient style.

I went for chicken shawarma with like 10 other things while my wife tried the shiitakes, and we were both pretty happy about the experience. My wife was threatening to return on Tuesday. The turmeric ginger lemonade and thick, fresh-fried pita chips were great too.  Check it out.

Left: Hummus Republic’s provocative wall art. They mean their falafels. Right: Chicken shawarma pita at Hummus Republic in Isla Vista | Credit: Matt Kettmann

From Our Table

Here are some stories you may have missed:

• I wrote a piece promoting the upcoming Santa Barbara Vintners Festival on October 14, which is now being held at Vega Vineyard & Farm.

• This story came up during one of my wine evenings, and if you haven’t yet read my piece about coaching kindergarten soccer, I think you’re missing out. It’s part of our new Parenting section online.

• It pains me to see fighting again escalate in Nagorno-Karabakh, the unrecognized republic between Armenia and Azerbaijan that I visited in 2004, unknowingly kicking my wine writing career into full gear. Here’s the wine-focused piece I did for Wine Spectator.