Upon opening practically a decade in the past, Barbareño’s founders Julian Martinez and Jesse Gaddy aimed to have a good time Central Coast delicacies, a method of direct sourcing and reside hearth cooking greater than 200 years within the making that’s solely now getting the broader consideration it deserves. Their menu elevates regionally rooted dishes like Santa Maria tri-tip and Egg McMuffins whereas incorporating indigenous elements comparable to acorn, wild onion, and black cod.
So when the West Canon Perdido Avenue restaurant began serving native-plant-flavored beers from Ojai Valley Brewery (OVB) earlier this yr, maître d’ Nathaniel Tyson acknowledged a kindred spirit. “They’re very specific about who they work with, however we’ve the same ethos,” mentioned Tyson of the brewery’s very restricted distribution. “When our paths crossed, it appeared like we simply needed to create one thing collectively.”
Coincidentally, simply final month, the restaurant bought its first catering truck and grill trailer to be able to broaden service into weddings, festivals, and different occasions. That offered the chance to deliver Barbareño south, and the September 23 four-course “Autumnal Equinox Beer Dinner” was born.
“We’re large followers of their operation,” mentioned OVB’s cofounder and CEO Jeremy Haffner. “They’re culinary threat takers that marry seemingly international flavors right into a palate that’s without delay stunning but acquainted, in addition to having an distinctive consideration to native elements.”
The evening can be an edible expression of OVB’s mission. “We began eight years in the past as a mission particularly to reintroduce a conventional sense of place to beer that has been lacking from the ethos of the American craft-beer trade since its inception,” mentioned Haffner. “For hundreds of years, beer was a extremely regional beverage which utilized surplus grain and native indigenous botanicals for taste and bittering, which created a novel image of its pure environment.” To copy that right now, OVB depends on resinous chaparral herbs comparable to sage instead of (or along with) hops in addition to Ojai-grown fruits and spices.
“We do that with a particular consideration to how they may pair with and improve meals,” defined Haffner, noting that each one of OVB’s brewers are former cooks, himself included. “We’re the one brewery in California doing this at this scale.”
The night’s menu contains halibut ceviche in a nopales/prickly pear/fennel aguachile, paired with the prickly pear– and hibiscus-flavored East Finish Tart Ale; the Chaparral Sage Amber with acorn tamales with mushrooms in a nasturtium-pistachio mole verde topped with toasted chia seeds; the Sugarbush Sumac Pale Ale with oak-smoked rabbit in an elderberry glaze; and, for dessert, pinyon cake with pine-needle cream and candied pine nuts alongside the White Gruit, which makes use of yarrow and mugwort as an alternative of hops.
For these looking for the complete expertise, herb professional Lanny Kaufer is main a stroll at Cluff Vista Park beforehand, ending on the brewery simply in time for the 6:30 p.m. dinner. Seating is restricted to 50 individuals.
The Autumnal Equinox Beer Dinner is September 23, 6:30 p.m., at Ojai Valley Brewery (307 Bryant St., Ojai). Click on right here for tickets. So as to add a stroll with Lanny Kaufer, click on right here.
