If we are indeed at the beginning of the end of the Anthropocene era, we are going out in one big beautiful bang. This magical gap that’s opened up between winter and spring has us all a bit giddy. The buds are still setting, the orchards have yet to go mad with blossoms, but cold frosty mornings warm up as if it were mid summer. With verdant carpets of grass along the ridge strewn with necklaces of daffodils it’s hard not to just wander off and lose track of time. The air is softly scented with them, and with heady clematis armandii having its moment. We are constantly stripping layers of clothing, shedding personalities as we do, trying to forget it’s only February and we may have a long hot and dry summer and fall ahead. Only when the sun drops below the ridge and the air shudders suddenly and closes in do we come to our senses, amble back inside. These early mornings of cutting and hauling and digging have been back breaking, but wonderfully joyous work. Big love to Moises and his crew and, as ever, to our farm manager Dan for his inspiration.
This week’s blog is a late but enthusiastic shout out to Restaurant Week, or Restaurant Fortnight as it should be called now in its final five days from Wednesday to Monday. The common wisdom is that it’s a giveaway, frequented by diners just looking for a deal who may never return, but honestly that runs counter to the reason we are participating in it. A countywide initiative which comes at great expense and effort by many, we see it as an opportunity to celebrate purveyors and technique. In short to strut our best barn dancing. So this year we practiced uncommon wisdom in our approach: cook food we want to eat, now. Make it fun. Everything on this menu is delicious - a huge thank you to Chefs Danny, Randy, Sarah and Ben for their inspiring dishes!
We all agreed the stand out dish is Porchetta, made with LLano Seco Porchetta. We are thrilled to be sourcing from this Chico ranch and we thank Ben for the introduction. Even Mr. Hales has never seen crackling like this before, encasing sweet herb rubbed pork that is succulent and tastes of fair fields and fine grain. Here’s how Ben Wilson, our guest chef this spring, describes the dish he lovingly created for Barndiva: “It represents the end of winter and the beginnings of spring. Sweet root vegetables, bright citrus, sweet garlic, and clean wild lettuces. We finish the dish with a bright salsa verde made with chives, parsley, cilantro, green garlic, whole garlic cloves, lemon zest, grapefruit zest, and lot of California extra virgin olive.”
There is one more week to partake. Very busy last week but there are often seats at the bar.
