We will let the winner know with a Twitter and Facebook post on the 1st of the month, and invite them in with a guest to try their created meal.

Just create and submit an appetizer and entree with your Facebook or Twitter username under the “leave a reply” section on this blog page.

We will select one menu from our Facebook friends and another from our Twitter followers. If you follow us on both, you may submit two separate menus and have two chances to win. Just leave your Facebook username for your first menu and your Twitter username for the second.

Applicants must be friends/followers of ours to qualify.

A sample menu would look something like this:

Appetizer
Seared main scallops with sauteed pea tendrils, fresh peas, black garlic and sea urchin cream sauce.

Entree
Grilled filet mignon with glazed baby heirloom carrots, sauteed spinach, brown butter whipped potatoes and mushroom bordelaise sauce.

www.facebook.com/yourname
or
www.twitter.com/yourname

Good Luck. We look forward to seeing some creative ideas.

-Chef Christopher Kufek

Paso Robles has always had a special place in my heart.  As a teen, I spent many summers in the playful waters of Lake Nacimiento, and all the while knew nothing of the delicious fruits that blessed the region. Then in the mid 90’s, as a novice bartender, I had the pleasure of tasting a then fairly unknown wine from Paso Robles…Justin.

The wines were described as Bordeaux style blends, one right bank the other left and their names respectively were Isosceles and Justification.  At the time I did not quite understand the terms of right and left banks, but I knew that the lush fruit inside these bottles were rich and delicious.  The red wines of Bordeaux generally consist of 5 primary varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petite Verdot, and Malbec.  Left bank wines usually feature Cabernet Sauvignon as the heaviest percentage in the cuvee, where right bank tends to lean towards Merlot.

The Justin story begun in 1981 when Justin and Deborah Baldwin planted their 160 acre property on the West side of Paso Robles.  The plantings were mostly Bordeaux varietals with an emphasis on Bordeaux-style blends and single varietals, combining Old World tradition, with New World techniques. They are known as the first to produce this style of wine on the Central Coast and today are recognized as a world leader in that category.

Since my introduction to Justin Wines, I have been a standard bearer for their label.  Their wines have followed me to every restaurant since my introduction to them.  Proudly I can boast that the tradition continued when I came to Saddle Peak Lodge.  On Thursday, August 12^th, Justin Wines will make their second visit, as we will be hosting them for a wine dinner.  Chef Adam has created a wonderful menu featuring those delightful Bordeaux blends while our Pastry Chef Kasra Ajdari is pairing the very limited production Deborah’s Delight for what is sure to be an amazing and delicious event!

Monica and Alex – Wedding Preview from www.bluephoto.biz on Vimeo.

We wish you years of happiness.
We’re honored to have hosted your special day.

For far too long, here in America, we have taken beer for granted.  Beer has become synonymous with mass produced bland lagers, but there is a resurgence.  The resurgence is flying under the banner of the term “handcraft”.  These come in every possible style, pale ale, lager, pilsner, Trappist, red, wheat, stout, etc.  Each beer is unique in it’s flavors and aromas.  While the mass produced beers pump millions of dollars in promoting their products, it is the “handcraft” brewers that can claim a 10% increase in sales.

Beer is not just an aperitif.  In Belgium, beer is the accompaniment to cuisine.  They pride themselves of their vast selection to choose from.  Many of which will age like a fine wine.  As part of our current 8 course tasting menu, Chef Adam and I have paired a pork belly with a Belgian Ale to show the wonders of how a handcrafted beer works so well with cuisine.  In addition, we are offering a special luncheon featuring handcraft beers of  Belgium, Canada and the U.S….this is sure to be the first of many!

Fancy a beer?  It is one of the oldest invitations in the world and one that sets the taste buds tingling.  If by chance you belly up to the Saddle Peak Bar, ask for the beer list and we will surely delight you with one of our many special handcraft brews.

Christopher Barragan: Anthony Bell, the champion of Clone 6
If you don’t know the name, then perhaps you may have heard of at least one of the wines he has worked with…namely Beaulieu Vineyards Georges De Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. During his 15 year stint with B.V., Anthony worked with the great Andre Tchelistcheff. In wine making terms, there is no better pedigree.

Bell pioneered educational grower-vineyard programs which eventually lead to groundbreaking research into the differences and impact of clonal variations on Cabernet Sauvignon, namely the Clone 6 grape. The result was the first single vineyard, single clone Cabernet produced and labeled in Napa.

In addition to his Clone 6 Cabernet, Bell’s mastery of winemaking can be tasted through his entire line and on Thursday July 22nd, you will have the opportunity to sit and taste through these gems with us.  We hope to see you there!

Return to Sideways…a glimpse into the life of winemaker/restaurateur Frank Ostini…

Let me begin by saying we are honored to have Frank be our guest for what is sure to be an incredible wine dinner.  His Hitching Post wine and restaurant are known by many, but most probably don’t know the history behind either.

The Hitching Post Restaurant, like Saddle Peak Lodge, has quite a colorful past.  Its origins begin as a hotel at the turn of the last century.  Besides a hotel, it has been used as a dance hall, barber shop, was nearly an illegal gambling hall, but for the last 60 plus years people have come to know it as an oakwood bar-b-que restaurant.  The Ostini family has been the sole driving force since 1967…to say they know what they are doing would be an understatement.

The Hitching Post Wines follow the same passion and tradition required to stand up to the name.  In 1979, Frank and his former fisherman friend Gray Hartley made their first wine.  As the standard goes, they work with some of the best growers in Santa Maria Valley, Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Rita Hills and Los Alamos.  In my humble opinion, the Highliner Pinot Noir is a prime example of their hard work and dedication.

Most of you may remember the Highliner Pinot Noir as the one drunk at the Hitching Post scene in the 2004 release of Sideways.  As a special treat for those of you attending our dinner you will get a chance to return to Sideways as we will offer the 2003 vintage used in the movie.  Now you may ask how can I return if I have never been…?  That is why we are offering the 2006 Highliner Pinot Noir as well.  What a treat!

I look forward to seeing you on June 24^th for what promises to be a most memorable dinner.

With great success, we have made Jazz in the Canyon a weekly event! 
Every Wednesday evening from 6pm – 10pm.
Featured acts will include the Gonzalo Bergara Quartet, The Hot Club Trio, and The Mike Werner Trio.

Arrive early and enjoy a pre-dinner cocktail at the intimate lounge with Prohibition-inspired spirits like the Manhattan and Mint Julep.

We hope to see you for the next  downbeat on Wednesday!

A food wine is one that will compliment and enhance the flavors of your meal. With such a wide variety of game, poultry and fish dishes available at Saddle Peak my go-to-varietal is Pinot Noir. This Burgundian beauty has a moderate degree of tannin while maintaining a soft velvety, smooth and easy drinking consistency. Keep in mind that Pinot Noir from Carneros can be more on the masculine side with more fruit-forward aromas, (think ripe strawberries, raspberries and cherries) which enable them to be paired with a bigger game flavored meal. Oregon and Santa Rita Hills appellations tend to be more of a French style ,with more dried fruits essences, and slight truffle notes which compliment a wide array of meats, including chicken, fish, poultry, pork and even leaner meats like ostrich.

By no means am I a Pinot-only snob, but when pairing several dishes this is just the kind of chameleon that will please everyone’s palate. I once heard a well known wine personality describe Pinot Noir as a “cross dresser.” “It’s a red wine that thinks it is a white because it is crisp and soft enough to go with more white wine dishes than most white wines.”

I hope this article has been helpful.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have about Pinot Noir  or any other wines.
Christopher Barragan, Wine Director/Sommelier
Saddle Peak Lodge

My goal at Saddle Peak Lodge is pretty simple: To use the finest ingredients, prepare them in the manner which suits them best, and ultimately let the ingredients do the talking.  So, how exactly is that done?  A high quality ingredient is impossible to replace. Honoring the farm, the farmer, and the guest who will eat the ingredient, however,  is not easy to achieve. My every day goal is to take these amazing ingredients that are given to us by these amazing farmers — these ingredients that border on perfection — and really enhance them. Make them shine.

At Saddle Peak we’ve been blessed with a long history of high expectations and excellent relationships. I truly value these relationships, both with the farms and farmers with whom I work, and the guests who walk through our doors each day.  These relationships, as with any, come expectations . Expectations of Saddle Peak’s past and present are for us to serve the best wild game around. Our guests today expect a meal, which is both rustic yet refined. A meal where you enjoy the freshest seafood, wild game and vegetable dishes while enjoying the beautiful scenery Malibu Canyon has to offer. Everything prepared with love, care and respect.  Having been bestowed the helm of the kitchen and it’s relationships, it’s my goal day-to-day to nurture these relationships and expectations with the utmost care.

The expectation of the farmer is that his product will be prepared in the best manner to highlight the flavors of the ingredient that they work so hard to grow.  The expectation of our guest is that the food being served to them is of the highest quality both in preparation and in ingredient quality. I’ve been fortunate enough to learn from some incredible chefs. I’ve also been fortunate enough to have been taught both classic and haute techniques.

I really appreciate the balance of both aspects of cooking. Some modern techniques have given chefs the ability to do some things impossible to do by classic method. While classic French technique and cooking methods are irreplaceable and will always give you a better product, a touch of the modern offers me a wider array of tools for allowing the ingredients to shine.

Techniques, like sous-vide cooking, which are relatively new, give a chef the ability to truly cook any ingredient with absolute precision. A carrot will taste more like a carrot, less like salt water. A steak will be cooked all the way through without ever causing the protein fibers to become tight (or tough). A short-rib can be braised for 48 hours, be fork-tender but still medium rare. These advances in technology have definitely given us some pretty impressive advantages in our constant strive for perfection, as well as ways to achieve flavors and textures that you couldn’t create otherwise.

On the other hand classic techniques will never be replaced. The maillard reaction (browning of sugars and flavor development) in a true braise. The crisping of fish skin while you cook it on one side. Those can’t be achieved by some of the modern methods. It’s truly a balance. A balance I appreciate and love. I am also excited about the future of Saddle Peak, the future which is only possible because of it’s incredible past.

Adam Horton, Executive Chef
Saddle Peak Lodge