Our first Locavore Dinner was held on Feb 27th, and was a great success. Everything that was served came from the Valley with the one exception of salt. We started with creamed sage butternut squash soup, followed by linguine made by a local woman who grows her own wheat (available at the Solvang Farmers Market). This was prepared with garlic infused olive oil from Rancho Olivos tossed with flat leaf italian parsely and chanterell mushrooms. The main course was braised short ribs from Rancho San Julian , served with local carrots and Yukon Gold Fingerling potatoes. Dessert was honey berry ice cream, with the cream coming from a source that wishes to remain anonymous. Dinner was accompanied by a Pinot Noir from Lincourt Winery. Some of the herbs were from Windmill Nursery and produce came from Steve Loyal a local grower in Solvang and Classic Organic Farm & Market, located on Old Coast Highway.
We're hoping to have some pictures of the event, a photographer from the News Press was there...so keep an eye out for them.
Now a few words from Doniece
The Locavore dinner was held on Feb. 27th, and was very much enjoyed by all! I’m not sure if it was the wonderful wine, but everyone seemed to really have, not only an amazing meal, but a fabulous time! We served Jon’s Baked Squash Soup, with fresh local cream, a bit of fresh sage and topped with wheat croutons. The wheat pasta with a garlic infused olive oil, topped with fresh chanterelles was served next along with fresh bread paired with infused olive oil also. The main was mouth watering beef short ribs done in a stock of beef and wine, onions and baby carrots. This was “no knife needed” beef and was phenomenal! On the side was baked asparagus tied with baked green onion stems, and baked baby Yukon potatoes lightly seasoned and oh so good. Oh, and did I almost forget the homemade ice cream? Honey vanilla with either blueberries or raspberries! SO rich, but SO good! And yes, we were able to keep the table full of only local.. EVERYTHING! Thank you to everyone who came and supported our endeavor. A list of our suppliers is available on our website if anyone wants to know how to purchase items for home fixin’.
There are SO many people to thank for making this dinner possible. Jon, as always, you are an amazing cook, who supported me through this process, and still loved me when it was over. Our sons, Philip and Chad for helping out at the restaurant to make the night go as smoothly as possible. Jennifer Pedersen for all your help with food ideas, farmers market visits and purchases and on going support. Lastly, our staff and family of customers at Mother Hubbard’s who we are SO blessed to know and to have you in our lives. Thank you.
The Spring dinner will be held on Sat. the 24th of April on a reservation only basis. IF we have enough reservations, we will hold it as a private party and close the restaurant for the night so we can all just enjoy and celebrate Spring. The menu is already in the works and looks to be even more exciting! Here we go again Jon, are ya ready? I can hear Jon groaning already because I’m thinking about two options for the entrée this time.
Please celebrate the first day of Spring with us on March 20th, and make that reservation for the 24th of April! This meal will be another labor of love.
Again…thank you all,
Doniece…Ma Hubb
3/6 Looks like the News Press Article will be in April, and reservations for our April Dinner are already coming in. We're hoping to get thirty and we're almost a third of the way there.
The Article
The 100-mile feast : Locavore Dinners at Mother Hubbard's introduce the area's bounty
KARNA HUGHES, NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Mother Hubbard's co-owner Doniece Parson had the idea to host Locavore Dinners a few times a year and has been sourcing the ingredients. "That I'm finding all these little gems right here within 50 miles just blows me away," she said.Since 1978, Mother Hubbard's Restaurant in Buellton has fed locals hankering for a taste of home cooking.But few, including co-owner Doniece Parson, would describe the roadside diner as high-end.
A neon Budweiser sign hangs in the window, and most days the radio dial is tuned to KRAZy Country FM 105.9. Bookcases filled with plush animal toys greet visitors in the front room. And there's nary a tablecloth to be found.
"We have a few healthy options, but most of it is home-style comfort food," Ms. Parson told the News-Press while sitting in one of the eatery's mint-green vinyl booths as a country song played softly in the background. "Chicken fried steak. Biscuits and gravy and applewood bacon. For dinner, homemade meatloaf ... It's not what you would call fine dining."
But last winter, after she read a News-Press story about a group in Ojai that undertook an interesting experiment -- to eat only local food for one year -- she was inspired to try something new herself. In February, Mother Hubbard's hosted its first four-course Locavore Dinner using only ingredients from within a 50-mile radius. The sole exception was kosher salt.
Now the restaurant plans to do four more Locavore Dinners this year, with the next one coming up April 24." 'Locavore,' is even in the Oxford English Dictionary now, meaning people who choose to eat food locally grown and produced," said Ms. Parson, 56, a longtime Santa Ynez Valley resident, who knows many of her customers by name. (Indeed, she may have delivered a few of them -- as a former labor and delivery supervisor for then-Santa Ynez Valley Hospital and through her work with midwives, she helped deliver more than 400 babies.)
Ojai locavore group leader Kristofer Young "had asked people just to eat local for one year. I don't think I could do that, but it made me think. When I was growing up, we couldn't get watermelon in December. Now we expect to see it all the time. Our supermarket shelves are filled year-round.
"On average, food travels 1,300 miles to get to where it needs to go. It made me nervous. What if there was a disaster? ... It just made me want to think about where food is coming from. I'm not a vegetarian. I'm not organic. I just really enjoy the concept."Before owning the restaurant, in the '70s and '80s, Ms. Parson tended a produce garden, kept a goat and chickens, and made her own mayonnaise and ketchup at home."I played that game," the mother of four said with a smile, "and I felt that I was raising healthy kids. But then I thought microwaves were pretty cool. My granola days kind of slipped into chips-and-cookie days."
When she and her life partner Jon McDermott bought the diner 12 years ago, they kept most of the items on the menu, making only subtle changes, so the longtime customers would be comfortable. "We try to infuse a few healthy items and sneak them in so they don't notice them," she said.
The small, family-run business prides itself on making almost all of its menu items in-house, including daily soups. However, sourcing regional ingredients hasn't been a focus at Mother Hubbard's. "For us to do (an all-local dinner), it's like jumping the Grand Canyon," said Ms. Parson.
She juggles managing the front of the house seven days a week with working full-time as an instructional assistant in special education at Solvang School. Two of her sons from previous marriages, Chad and Philip, help out part-time in the kitchen.And she's careful to point out that Mr. McDermott is a cook, not a "chef." But while Mr. McDermott is used to cooking home-style food at the restaurant, he often whips up "more elaborate" fare when he's at home.
On the menu at the first Locavore Dinner was butternut squash soup with croutons, fresh sage and cream; fresh wheat pasta topped with chanterelle mushrooms, garlic-infused olive oil and Italian parsley; and beef short ribs with a side of rosemary-curry baby Yukon potatoes and roasted asparagus tied with green onion stems. Dessert was a homemade ice cream made with local honey, cream, vanilla and blueberries.
"Every item I found has a story that goes with it," said Ms. Parson, who introduced each of the courses and told the diners about where the ingredients came from. "I was blown away at what's available."
For example, the bread and pasta were from The Solvang Pie Co., which grows its own wheat, she said. The chanterelles were picked by Toby Giorgi from Giorgi Ranch in Gaviota. And a 2007 Lincourt pinot noir, sourced from Santa Rita Hills and Santa Maria Valley vineyards, kept the guests well lubricated.
Some of the herbs and spices, like the curry for the Yukons, came from the Peace Barn in Gaviota, which is run on the honor system by farmer Helmut Klauer, who owns Classic Organic Farm & Market."A guard cat called Shadow watches you go in and out," Ms. Parson said. After selecting your purchases, "you put your money in an old oak barrel. To me, that's the epitome of what we're trying to get to."Before the dinner, she also met with Elizabeth Poett of Rancho San Julian in Lompoc, who discussed different beef cuts and options for preparing them, before they settled on the short ribs.
Ms. Parson appreciates the history of the long-held family farm, and loves that her ex-husband's ancestors were once sharecroppers on the property, an old Spanish land grant dating back to the 1800s."Knowing they were out there, that gives me chills, because I don't have that. I've only lived here 36 years," said the Long Beach native. "I appreciate that and want to support that."
Two dozen people turned out for the first Locavore Dinner, mostly regular customers who wanted to support the idea, along with Kristofer and Jo Young, the founders of the Ojai Eat Local One Year group. Jim Rohde, 63, a retired therapist from Solvang, said he enjoyed the dinner. "The beef just melted in your mouth."And later in the evening, as they drained the vino, one of the participants even whipped out a camera and made a short YouTube video of diners taking turns sharing their thoughts, using a big stalk of Brussels sprouts (the table decoration) as a talking stick.
Behind the scenes, the dinner had its challenges. A table of 12 turned up out of the blue wanting regular diner food. (They've decided to close the restaurant to those without reservations during the next Locavore Dinner.)"We learned a lot," said Mr. McDermott, 55, with a smirk, joining Ms. Parson in his apron at the booth. "Two days before, it was like, 'We don't have any butter.' "" 'We can't have any butter,' " Ms. Parson said, because they have yet to find a local source for it."But whether you're in a commercial or home kitchen, if you spend a lot of time in one, when something comes up, you find a way around it," Mr. McDermott said. "Olive oil and wine will pretty much solve most things." Tying up the scallions around each bundle of asparagus was also somewhat tricky."But it went out hot," said Mr. McDermott.
"They ate everything on their plate and they loved it," added Ms. Parson. So much that 20 of the guests have already reserved places for the next dinner.
The menu for this month is still being worked out. It will depend on what Ms. Parson finds at the local farmers market and from area suppliers.
She's decided to expand the radius of the dinners to within 100 miles so she can include a chardonnay sorbet from Paso Robles in the summer months, as well as seafood caught in the Santa Barbara Channel. Diners will snack on roasted local pistachio nuts to start. They'll probably also have roasted spring artichokes and fruit salad featuring some of the "more unusual" fruits, like blood oranges and pomelos, with walnuts from Buellton.And they're debating between a roast leg of lamb with mint aioli and a braised lamb shank with spring vegetables and a mint gremolata.
Organic local ingredients are costly, and the restaurant doesn't make much money on the dinners, Ms. Parson admitted.
"Will I do it again next year? I don't know. But if I can support the farmers markets and thereby support local growers and get customers to think about where their food comes from and maybe eat locally once a month, then maybe I've made a difference."
As for this year, she wants to do five dinners. "Two during the summer just because summer has everything, all the fresh fruits and seafood ... But we're still going to have paper napkins and it's not going to be a fancy atmosphere."
e-mail: khughes@newspress.com
Menu Planning is under way for our April Dinner, it's lamb. Yep that's it just lamb..no really, we've gotten the Winery chosen, it's going to be Au Bon Climat and one of their staff members might be at the dinner to talk about the wine. We're playing with a salad with fresh snap peas as a base with either mint or basil. I'm thinking mint as a compliment to the lamb, but I do so like the basil.
4/12Well it's a couple of days and a few salads later, looks like neither of those are going to be on the menu. Snaps peas, baby lettuce and fresh herbs have won out, so there's one course taken care of.
4/15 A trip to the Farmers Markets and numerous phone calls, it looks like we'll be starting with some fresh fruit, ever hear of cherimoya? Think it'll go nicely with some blood oranges. A gentleman over in Lompoc has some lovely artichokes, so tonight we'll be trying out the dipping sauce for it.
4/16 - A perfect accompaniment for lamb, Mint Gremolata...sort of like an Italian salsa.
4/22 -Got some beautiful baby red potatos and a few exotic fruits grown in SB, picked up some local walnuts and honey so those are ready to be toasted. Found grower in Lompoc with some baby chokes to grill.
4/23 Have to admit, the strawberries are beautiful...maybe a strawberry sorbet to end the meal. Wanted to do a bit more with the local (so local the owner works for us) free range chicken eggs, but couldn't find enough goats cheese. It's too late for this one but if anyone knows someone, have them give us a call..
April Locavore Final Menu
First Course: Exotic Fruit Salad with Honeyed Walnuts, Pixie and Kra Tangerines, Blood Oranges, Oro Blanco and Cherimoya
Sources: Cherimoya's from Calimoya Exotic Fruits Walnuts Avila Brothers Farm () Hibbits Ranch 736-7614
Second Course :Spring Salad with Sugar Snap Peas
Sources: Classic Organics
Third Course : Honeyed Spring Lamb with Mint Gremolta, Roasted Baby Artichokes with Dill Aoli and Herbed Baby Reds
Sources Lamb from Seraphin and Margie in Buellton, phone number available upon request
Herbs from our yard and from our staff members yards, eggs from Joanie, Santa Ynez Sage Honey
Baby Red's from Solvang Farmer's Market, Artichokes Baroda Farms http://www.artichokes.net/
Fourth Course : Strawberry Sorbet
Sources Santa Maria Strawberries
Wines Au Bon Climat
June Locavore
5/14 I'm thinking pork loin, the herbs in our yard are really looking good and will make a nice addition to the flavor. I'm going to give a try to making our own bacon..yes that's right making our own for the salad topping. The appetizer seems to be coming along, Stuffed Egg's with Goat Cheese; and you know trying out the various goat cheeses is a tough job
5/20 Yep, starting the bacon..gathered a few herbs from the yard and dried them for the last few days. ground them this morning and they sure smell great..got them packed up to take in with me as my pork belly should of been delivered. Got my recipes (going to try two different ones), got my herbs and it's time to get going
5/21 - It actually sort of looks like bacon, now it has to cure for a week, then we're going to smoke it. In keeping with the feel of the Valley I'm going to use grapevine clippings. As for the recipes, well one taste of one cure and out it went, sounded good on paper but not so good in reality..but came up with another mix to try. I've got to admit, it's certainly fun to do. I figure since it's got to smoke for a couple of hours, and the temperature needs to be monitored, I'm hoping next Friday is nice and warm...what could be better then sitting outside, glancing at a thermometer and enjoying a nice cold beer?
5/30 well the first try came out a little salty, so the second one should be ready by Wednesday. What's the saying, if at first you don't succeed try try again?
6/2 The bacon's smoked and sitting on the counter...it says wait for it to cool, but I couldn't..sliced a piece of and well...it's not bad at all. In fact it's pretty damn good a bit more like Canadian bacon then regular bacon, but I'm happy with it. Now to work on the right curing recipe.
6/3 The wines been chosen we're going with Tres Hermanas Vineyards, and Doniece has come up with a great idea for our vegetarian friends; but going to keep it a secret, just in case it doesn't work out.
The menu is ready,
Roasted Garlic with French Bread for the Mixer
Appetizer - Goat Cheese Stuffed Eggs with Dill
Salad - Zucchini Corn Fusili Salad with our Home Made Bacon
Tuscan Roasted Leg of Pork
Roasted Purple Potatoes with Carmelized Onions and Mushrooms
Italian Marinated Zuchinni
Cherimoya Ice Cream topped with berries and mint
Another successful dinner, we had 44 guests and everyone had a great time. The mixer went so well that we're thinking of expanding it to a full hour.
As always we want to thank the people who made this possible, our guests first and foremost; Jiminez Family Farms for the pork, bread and pasta, eggs from our own Joanie who with her husband owns zuchinni from Helmut at Classic- Organic, cherimoyas from Calimoya Fruits, Ms. Anderson for the goat cheese, Luke of Tres Hermanas for the wine, our own Donna for the lemons, Mary Anne for some of the herbs used, our backyard for the rest of them, Paul Palmer for the garlic
We also found a source in Santa Barbara for coffee, yes SB coffee so we're staying in touch with them for when their next crop is ready. For our next dinner, we're going to also be serving beer. We found someone in the area who is making their own beer using local products and he's brewing a batch just for us.
Locavore September 18
Well we're hoping for tuna as the entree, but we'll have to see what's being caught
Working on the appetizer, ceviche from local yellowtail.
Also found there's a local shrimp, SB Rock Shrimp, something we're looking into
Locavore