A mall in Santa Maria is an unlikely place at best to eat a multi course winemaker dinner, but the owner of this mall likes good food and so enticed some first rate talent to run three restaurants and a catering operation within the mall in a town better known for growing strawberries than crafting gormet food. The evening started with canapes and a sweet sparkling wine in a roped off area in the atrium of the mall. Odd location for appetizers - it felt a bit like being a rare tropical fish in an aquarium with the citizens circulating around us as we awkwardly sipped and supped. Once we moved into the dining room things relaxed a bit into the more settled routine of winemaker dinners. There was nothing routine about the food and wine pairings. The chef, Ryan and his staff did a superb job with this. All the food was excellent and the three, yup, three main courses were all rediculously delicious. As good as the fish dish was with the baby carrots nicely setting off our luxurious 2008 Tolosa Block 569 Chardonnay, my favorites were the meat courses. The first of which was turkey done traditionally including light and dark meat, gravey, stuffing, potatoes and cranberry sauce paired with our 2008 Estate Pinot Noir. This light jazzy Pinot was lit up by the food and vice versa - a nice preview of Thanksgiving pleasures to come. Despite being completely stuffed at this point I somehow managed to eat all of the final course a NY steak served on a bed of spetzel and wild mushrooms. The 2008 Tolosa Estate Syrah helped ease the pain and was an excellent foil for this rich dish. Out of embarassment at my own gluttony, I won't even talk about the heavenly pasteries and the Viognier dessert wine that ended the evening. The fact that I can't even remember the last time I ate so much that my stomach hurt speaks volumes about the quality of this restaurant.
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