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Oyster shooter with cucumber juice and a dash of Siracha sauce.
Recently, Jason and I went to one of our favorite local restaurants, Root 246, to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I’d booked the chef’s table (located in the kitchen) and I was looking forward to a spectacular culinary adventure similar to one we had with friends at the end of June. Jason and I had already decided that we’d order the multi-course tasting menu, because it was so wonderful last time. When we arrived we were disappointed to find out that for reasons unknown, the Executive Chef Johnny Church is no longer with Root 246. Thankfully, immensely talented and creative Bradley Ogden, consultant chef and the creator of Root 246’s farm-to-table style menu is still affiliated with the restaurant. We learned that Church has been replaced by the Executive Chef team of Jordan Graf and Brian Ridgeway. Sadly we found out that the multi-course tasting menu is no longer on the menu. Jason and I were celebrating, so we just rolled with these surprises and hoped for the best. Thankfully, we were in the very capable hands of our favorite waiter, Bobby Dommeyer, who chose the perfect sparkling wine to go with our delicious Kumamato oysters. As Jason and I sat back to watch the action in the kitchen, we noted that the vibe was very tense, there were problems and people were clearly stressing out. I thought this odd, because our reservation was for an early time on a Sunday. This was a stark contrast to when we sat at the chef’s table on a busy Friday night in June (when Johnny Church and Bradley Ogden were both in the kitchen) , the vibe was positive, and things were running smoothly. With all that said, rather than come to any premature conclusions about the recent changes at Root 246, I am instead going to chalk up our recent dining experience to the kitchen being a bit shortstaffed. Regardless, Jason and I’ll come back soon to see how things are progressing under the Executive Chef team of Graf and Ridgeway.
Here are the photos from the wonderful multi-course dinner that we had back in June. Maybe we’ll get lucky and Root 246 will bring the tasting menu back? Thanks again Johnny, we miss you!
The spices lined up in the kitchen at Root 246.
The view from the chef's table at Root 246.
So happy to be in the kitchen where all the fun is happening.
We are celebrating Brian's birthday.
Artisanal cheese plate.
The Kumamato oysters at Root 246 are FABULOUS.
Tempura style calamari and vegetables.
Foie gras terrine with strawberries and toasted nuts. Crazy good!
Our table with friends in the kitchen
Really tasty breads at Root 246.
The black cod was fabulous (and my favorite)!
Duck confit stuffed pasta with duck breast slices...OUTSTANDING.
Beef short ribs and filet mignon with Shiitake mushrooms.
The sweet end to a wonderful meal.
The food groupies with chef Bradley Odgen.
Chef Bradley Ogden (center), Executive Chef Johnny Church hamming it up in the back.
In the genre of chef's tattoos, this one (belonging to Church) is fun and simple.
Another one of chef Church's food-related tattoos.
A plethora of Colson Canyon Syrah
My husband is tenacious and extremely focused. If he gets sparked by something, he follows the rabbit hole until he has thoroughly exhausted the subject. For example, he was on a chipotle kick last year, where *everything* he made included chipotle – even cocktails…chipotle raspberry martini anyone? Earlier this year some fabulous friends gave us a smoker as a housewarming present…everything was smoked for months. Ribs, fish, pork shoulder, hard boiled eggs, chicken, turkey, garlic, tomatillos, tomatoes, tomatoes, onions, peppers – it all went into the smoker. This kick hasn’t stopped, though thankfully it did slow down a bit. There are only so many rib recipes you can smoke and eat in one weekend. Whew!
One of his latest obsessions started while tasting the 2008 Brander Colson Canyon Syrah at the Brander tasting room a few months ago. Even though it is relatively young, this is a complex, full-bodied wine with flavors of black cherry, white pepper, anise and hints of cigar box. Jason and I loved the wine and asked Louise (the knowledgeable, personable and all-around wonderful tasting room manager) about the Colson Canyon Vineyard. From her we learned that Colson Canyon Vineyard is a small vineyard, relatively isolated in the hills of Santa Maria. She told us that Colson sells fruit to only a handful of wineries. That was all it took – Jason was on the hunt to taste every wine made with Colson Canyon fruit. Over the next few months, through various purchases made in person, online and over the phone, Jason collected about 2.5 cases of Colson Canyon vineyard designate wines from a bunch of different wineries. Our friends collected still more Colson Syrah. Naturally, the next step was to taste these wines and try to glean a sense of place, the terroir of Colson Canyon. This was the perfect excuse for a dinner party, so we invited some friends from the wine and food business over to help us with the plethora of Colson Syrah. With 2.5 cases of wine to choose from, we sorted and re-sorted the bottles. After much deliberation we settled upon which bottles to open (and found that we have enough wine for a second Colson Canyon dinner – tba).
Here is the lineup of wines we chose:
2001 Tensley Colson Canyon Syrah
2002 Duo (Duo is now called Costo de Oro) Colson Canyon Syrah
2003 Tensley Colson Canyon Syrah
2004 Margerum Colson Canyon Syrah
2005 Barbieri Colson Canyon Syrah Colson Canyon Syrah
2005 McPrice Myers Colson Canyon Syrah (not pictured, oops)
2006 Cleb Colson Canyon Syrah (sadly, this wine was corked)
2006 Alchemy Colson Canyon Syrah
2006 Wades Wines Colson Canyon Syrah
2007 Brander Colson Canyon Syrah
As this was more of a social, fun evening, I did not take detailed notes but our group did draw a few conclusions from this tasting. It may sound odd, but the younger Colsons seemed to have more complexity than the older vintages. I can also tell you that the group consistently gave top marks to the Brander and Margerum Syrahs. The McPrice Myers was a very close second for me (and my husband). All in all, a wonderful evening of wine, food and friends. I am already looking forward to the next Colson Canyon Syrah dinner! A very special thank you to everyone who helped make this evening so much fun. You know who you are!
Wine Nation Underdog 
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