Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/253609
86 / the tasting panel / february 2014 If you're looking for real cowboys and ranch hands, you'll ind them at lunch at Charlie's burger joint down the street and at night at the Union Hotel Saloon, where local friends congregate. Dan credits his Argentinian wife, "Ana did family catering in the late 80s and came up with the idea for the Tapas Lounge rather than a full restaurant menu. Try the empanadas and stuffed jalapeño wrapped in prosciutto. The Tapas Lounge and weekend live music its perfectly with the hotel's function as a garden wedding venue and saloon hang out." Next door The Station, another relic property from the 1920s, owned by Sean McGrath and newly renovated by designer Tony Cano, of Jones & Jones Planning & Architecture. Three gas pumps and an Indian Chief emblem from a bygone era relect The Station's past. Graceful stucco arches support wrought iron gates, clad with a rusted barbwire wreath opening to a large outdoor patio, ire pits, music stage and water tower. Cano creatively repurposed old lumber from barns, farm equipment, car parts and found objects from garages, graveyards and antique shops as well as adding touches by local artists to create a rustic hacienda-barn-tasting room and special event venue. Interested in more history of Los Alamos? Then go to the town's irst tasting room, Bedford Winery and have a glass of wine with "The Historian" Stephan Bedford. If you show up at harvest time, there is a high likelihood you'll be put to work in the back patio, as I was, chopping squash with your glass of wine for the annual Santa Barbara County Celebration of Harvest. What better way to experience the locals? "Mr. Quackenbush has a habit for get- ting these old dilapidated properties that have enormous amounts of potential," explains real estate investor John Morley of his business partner/local artist Ralph Quackenbush. "He can turn the sow's ear into a silk purse, which he has done in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Los Olivos and now Los Alamos. "Los Olivos has over 50 tasting rooms in a town the size of Los Alamos. It became the wine center of Santa Barbara County," explains Morley. "Rents skyrocketed. People were looking for more affordable space with potential. Los Alamos offers both." Morley and Quackenbush saw the potential in the historic 1880 General Store and asked Swedish-born Chef Jesper Johanssen to join their team. In 1999, the trio daringly opened Café Quackenbush and Art Brut Gallery, the irst business in 30 years to breathe new life and espresso bar sophistication into the three-bar biker town of the 90s. Clark Staub opened the very success- ful Full of Life Flatbread in 2003, and was voted Local Hero Winner 2013, by Edible Santa Barbara. "I am a self-taught baker," explains Staub who left a career in music marketing and distribution at Capitol Records and Time Warner. "I spent four years as the Full of Life Village Baker in Claremont and founded Claremont's Certiied Farmer's Market in 1998 to 2001. Then I accepted a well-paying corporate marketing job in Vermont, but couldn't stand it. I started baking organic pizzas in my home oven in Vermont, freezing them outside in the snow." The success of Quackenbush and Flatbread paved the way for others to take a risk. Jamie Gluck and Chef Evan Klein opened Bell Street Farm in an old 1916 bank building in August 2011, serving local and sustainable products with weekly seasonal specials. Jamie grew up in his family's French restaurant business: ive award- winning Etienne's Different Pointe of View locations in the 80s and 90s. One of four siblings, Jamie is the only one At the Quackenbush Café: John Morley and Ralph Quackenbush with Chef Jesper Johanssen (seated). Owner Clark Staub of Full of Life Flatbread with a house specialty: prosciutto- wrapped artichokes stuffed with burrata cheese paired with local winery's Martian Vineyard Albariño.