It's been well documented how much Christine and I love our meandering journeys through Santa Ynez's wine country, with its sunny hay-colored rolling hills and majestic oaks along smooth highways and cool breezes. We set out a few months ago after Keith Saarloos invited us to the Tasting House for a family-and-friend gatherings on a scorchingly hot day. The sun might've been blasting through an empty sky but it didn't deter us from feasting upon dry-rubbed ribs and delicious corn salsa while lounging around in the shade. We stopped at our now de-rigeur spots, Santa Barbara Farmer's Market and La Super Rica before driving the leisurely 1.5 hours to Los Olivos.
There's a singer guy whom I could only wish to be, wearing shades while wiping sweat from his brow, belting tunes only Christine could identify (the human reverse-jukebox she is at knowing every imaginable song ever made). There are massive quarter-pieces of Grana Padana, shaved off and eaten with warm, ripe grapes (the eating kind). The grill has fall-off tender baby back ribs, sweet-glazed halibut chunks, and enough quesadilla to make Chef Ludo Lefebvre and Rick Bayless spar on an adobe rooftop. Christine and I are happy as clams, or perhaps tamales on this bucolic Californian countryside.
Keith shows us the special back room where they store a slew of magnums and the #1 bottles of each wine available in their second "vintage". The room, designed by his wife, couldn't be any more pleasant, lovely, and inviting. It just begs you to linger, sip wine, eat cupcakes, and just let the hours pass.
Before going up to Los Alamos for Full of Life Flatbread's highly lauded pizzas, Keith gives us the OK to stop by one of the vineyards, located on a flat area nearby the highway entrance. The plants are lush, but the air is warm like a sauna. Christine and I waste an hour or so underneath a towering tree, sipping a bottle of chilled Daughters Chardonnay.
Saarloos & Sons
2971 Grand Ave, Los Olivos, CA
saarloosandsons.com
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Formerly "American Flatbread", Full of Life Flatbread resides in a wooden structure along the dusty mainstreet of Los Alamos, a town with more antique shops and old buildings than people. We stepped into the back room, brightly lit as half the dining room opened up to the patio. The sun was waning and we were hungry for some piping hot flatbread straight from the wood burning oven. We started out the meal with a couple of cold beers and the highly lauded heirloom tomato salad. The tomatoes seem warm, freshly picked from the fields though the included burrata wasn't up to the standard we'd had in LA. It didn't matter, we chomped through this dish in minutes.
If you ever saw Christine and I order, we're radically different in our approach. Christine likes to maximize the experience by making sure she's checked over EVERY single item on the menu in complete detail, to make sure that we're getting the best dish. Then when push comes to shove, she will be adamant in asking the server what his or her favorite dish is, often going with the suggestion. On the other hand, I usually gear my eyes toward three or four dishes that catch my fancy and pick one that I'm confident with A) best reflect the restaurant's approach/ingredients/strengths and B) be something I happen to want that evening. What you won't find at Mozza is Flatbread's wonderful accmmodation, where we ordered half Pepperoni & Peppers (with poblano chilis) and Mushroom & Caramelized Onions. The best of both worlds.
The crust is thin but not achingly so like many New York pies, the warm baked dough puffy on the edges and emiting delicious wafts of the wood-fired oven. The bottom is just crispy enough to give a crunch while the fresh toppings make it a joy to eat. The mini-slices make it easier to share amongst the two of us, as even an odd number of slices would result in either a game of rock-paper-scissors or just me conceding the last bit to Christine.
Dessert was a beautiful apricot tarte, baked in the oven and capped with a small mountain of whipped cream. The flavor was rustic and simple, the perfect cap to this day in wine country.
Note: Flatbread is only open 5-10PM on Fridays and Saturdays, with a prix fixe supper on Sundays from 4-8PM.
Full of Life Flatbread
225 West Bell Street
Los Alamos, California
(805) 344-4400
7 comments:
Thanks for sharing your adventure. The pictures told the story.
Those ribs and pizza made my heart ache. I think the nearest BBQ place to me is about 150km away and the pizza here in Sweden is nothing like the US. Everything from crust to sauce to cheese is so off the mark for my tastes but you do what you have to do. Enjoy your 4th weekend. I can't wait to see some pictures from your new camera.
Cheers!
Ronald
I'm a bit obsessed with flatbread so I will have to check that place out next time I'm up there. Good thing you guys ventured there before the whole MJ fiasco. Apparently all the restaurants and hotels up there are packed!
You take beautiful pics and you write beautiful prose. This made me close to hungry and I am kinda full.
Actually, Full of Life Flatbread has nothing to do with American Flatbread - only that Full of Life Flatbread is copying everything that American Flatbread does.
If you visit American Flatbread's website (yes, they actually are a legitimate company from Vermont who have been in business for 20+ years), you can read about the legal battle between the real American Flatbread and the poser Full of Life Flatbread.
http://www.americanflatbread.com/news/press-releases/
Great photos, by the way. Someday you should try the real thing. In Vermont. Instead of the copy-cat product of some guy who can't come up with his own ideas.
We Vermonters are pretty upset with what this guy has done to an amazing company.
vermontgastronomist: I was aware of the tension between the two flatbreads, and I can believe that the Vermont original is probably better than this Los Alamos version, but I still enjoyed this experience. One of these days, I would like to visit Vermont, where Christopher Kimball and Edward Behr wax poetically about the food, climate, and pace of life. I don't know anyone there so it might a number of years before that happens.
I read this post over the summer and it served as the catalyst for my own Los Olivos/Los Alamos trip over Labor Day. I received my second Saarloos tasting club shipment last week and that along with a re-read of this post brought back fond memories. Thanks for the write-up and great photos.
Matt - I'm glad you enjoyed the post. I haven't been to Los Olivos for a while.
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