CHEF PINK OPENING BACON AND BRINE IN SOLVANG CHEF’S TABLE
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PAUL WELLMAN
RESTAURANTS
PAUL WELLMAN
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Name: Crystal “Chef Pink” DeLongpre Age: 36 Why She Cooks: Raised between
MARRIED TO FOOD: Patrick Casey and Marisa Moran serve tasty food in a somewhat hidden La Arcada Plaza location near the corner of State and Figueroa streets.
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ocated in La Arcada Plaza on State Street, State & Fig ( State St., Ste. ; 965-1730; stateandfig.com) is a hidden gem. Owners Patrick Casey and Marisa Moran were first drawn to the location while vacationing in Santa Barbara a few years ago. After meeting the building’s owners, a family who is well known for being supportive of their tenants, the married couple decided in 2012 to take a leap of faith and move themselves and their then 2-year-old son up from Los Angeles to make the restaurant, then known as the Whale Tail Deli, their own. “We’ve spent most of our careers in the business,” said Patrick. “This was just too unique of a situation, and we thought,‘Why not?’ The opportunity was too good to say no.” After renovating the space into a rustic Californian design, they opted for the name to reflect “whatever is grown and raised in the state,” said Patrick.“And what best represents the Riviera? The fig.” (It’s also near the corner of State and Figueroa streets, of course.) Here is a peek at some of their best menu items:
Chicken and Biscuits for Brunch: “It’s a great way to start your weekend,” said Patrick, or a good excuse to “go back home for an hour nap.” This dish comprises a buttermilk chicken that is brined overnight, double-breaded, and fried to crispy perfection, alongside a homemade buttermilk biscuit with bacon jalapeño gravy and eggs on top. It was so popular that it had to be changed from a menu item to a special item because the kitchen kept running out of ingredients. Fig Burger for Lunch: This burger is made with fresh California beef, bleu cheese, wild arugula, and California figs, all between a locally made bun. “The Fig Burger is a great representative of what we have in California,” said Patrick of this popular dish for hungry office workers. Ricotta Gnocchi for Dinner: Though always on the menu, the gnocchi changes based on what’s in season. Currently, it’s butternut squash, roasted mushrooms, and Tuscan kale with butternut-squash sauce.“The face [of the dish] changes based on what we find at the Farmers Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays,” said Patrick. It’s perfect — Molly Christison for date night or a preshow dinner.
Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, Chef Pink grew up with a passion for food, tattoos, and chaos. Working alongside such star chefs as Eric Greenspan of L.A.’s Foundry and April Bloomfield of New York’s The Spotted Pig, Chef Pink sources locally to create menus that are seasonal and straightforward, but with a bit of sass. “Every chef I have worked with has been farm-to-table,” she explained.“It wasn’t a thing back then; it’s just how we did it. I never had to stray from that.” PIGS AND VINEGAR: Crystal “Chef Pink” DeLongpre (left) and her wife, Coined with the nickname “Pink” Courtney Rae DeLongpre, are opening a new restaurant focused on smoked meats and fermented foods. while sous-ing at former Victoria Street restaurant Epiphany thanks to her ballsy was ready to take on television. After a raucous casting pink hair, DeLongpre now wants to help low-income call for Top Chef nearly eight years ago, Food Network families understand the importance of healthy eating and approached the chef with a new cooking concept. A favorhopes to open a community garden/education center in ite with agents, she was eager to try her hands at televised the future. “I want to change the paradigm of food in the Santa Barbara community, making good food accessible to chaos on Cutthroat Kitchen. Coming out victorious in her all,” she said.“Life is political. You have to stand up for what second season, this outspoken chef offers poignant advice to any culinary newbie: “The best meals are meals that you believe in.” have been made from the heart. Having instructions on Favorite Farmers: B.D. from Earthtrine Farm, Chris how to eat your food doesn’t make sense to me. Use your Milliken from Milliken Family Farms, Jacob Grant from hands, pick up your food, get it in your face, and lick your Roots Organic Farm, and Shu and Debby Takikawa of The plate!” Garden Of … . “They are all so much more important to making food than I am,” said Pink. “I am so blessed to have What She’s Up to Now: After years of culinary wanderlust, Chef Pink will open her first brick-and-mortar these connections in my life.” spot on Solvang’s Atterdag Square at the end of April. Aptly Signature Ingredient: With a fascination for hairy titled Bacon and Brine, the new 300-square-foot sandwich Hungarian pigs, Chef Pink, a former vegetarian, is a pork shop will feature a simple, straightforward menu, with enthusiast and believes in good animal fat. “I can’t remempork likely coming from the heritage pigs of Mud Creek ber not loving pork,” she explained.“All of my babysitters Ranch and a smoker outside to make bacon and other were waitresses at Dutch Garden [Restaurant], feeding me cured meats from all types of animals. And there will be bratwurst since I could walk.” plenty of pickles, kimchi, sauerkraut, and kombucha, too, for Pink’s wife, Courtney, is “very passionate” about ferFavorite Haunt: Tino’s Italian Grocery, whose founder mented foods.“She’s the pickle, and I’m the smoke — à la recently died and which is moving to Carrillo Street. Bacon and Brine,” said Pink.“It’s our little piece of heaven.” “When I have a really bad day, I go down there, have an Together, enough bacon and brine just may cure the Italian sandwich, and everything is right in the world,” said world’s ills, too.“I changed all of my health problems with Pink. foods and fermentation,” said Pink.“Our gut is the most important thing. It rules our brain, it rules everything. Recent Claim to Fame: After surviving culinary hazing What we put into our bodies is so incredibly important.” — Rachel Hommel and years of sleep deprivation, the Cordon Bleu graduate
SURF DOG CONTINUED...
I get tired,” he says. Connell’s lunch special ($5, cash only) includes a hotdog, a bag of chips, and an icy can from the usual pallet of effervescent colas livened up with lemon-lime, cream soda, and root beer. Condiments include mustard, ketchup, relish, chili, stewed onions, and rough-chopped raw onions and jalapeño peppers, and there’s a bucket of red licorice for the kids, on the house. “I had a hot sausage dog with buffalo sauce,” said Los Angeles resident Lula White, 10, chewing Red Vines while reflecting on her very first Surf Dog experience earlier this year, “and it was delicious!” That sausage dog dispatched by young White ranks third on Connell’s list of best-selling menu items. The
Vietnam veteran and former professional heavyweight boxer serves up mild and hot versions, both equally popular among those who opt for a bit more bite and snap than a standard wienie. Connell’s second best-selling entrée is the all-beef monster. It’s your standard hotdog in supersize form, overhanging its soft-bread bun on both sides, more than ample satiation for weary road-trippers, their growing children, and patrons from the local labor force. Topping out Connell’s most popular fare is the ubiquitous staple at a certain Southern California baseball stadium. “The Dodger Dog is my biggest seller,” he says, “especially if they’re winning.” — Keith Hamm
april 3, 2014
THE INDEPENDENt
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