A Decadent Holiday Brunch, Lobster with Chipotle Mac & Cheese, Caviar and Melon & Prosciutto

One of my favorite things to do in Santa Barbara in the wintertime,  especially around the holidays, is to host an afternoon Lobster Brunch as Pacific Lobster is in season. We recently did this to celebrate Gregg's December birthday. We prepared Barbecued Lobster with Chipotle Macaroni and Cheese. This is a fantastic combination as the Chipotle in the Mac and Cheese really offsets the Lobster nicely. Just forget about calories and cholesterol  for the afternoon! Throw in some Caviar while your at it.

Make sure to prepare a beautiful Green Salad with lots of colorful veggies, it will plate beautifully by providing contrasting color and give your guests the illusion that there is actually something healthy on their plate.

Even if you don't live in Santa Barbara find a great Shellfish company in your area that will prepare lobster for you to take away, cleaned and prepped ready for cooking because it takes all the work out of the preparation. Just be careful not to overcook the Lobster. Use a large spoon to "baste" the lobsters while shell side down on the grill. Squeeze lemon over the lobsters as well. Flesh side down for only a couple of minutes and use tongs to rotate them back on their shells careful to not pull flesh out of shell because it may stick to the grill. More butter and lemon then when done, serve hot.

Start with a really nice prosciutto thinly sliced wrapped around a ripe slice of melon. This makes a beautiful preparation that can be prepared in advance and set on the table prior to quests arriving. It takes patience to pull the slices of prosciutto apart without tearing them, but it will make for a more pleasing "wrap" on the cantaloupe. 

If you really want to be decadent and generous with your friends prior to seating, serve Champagne and Caviar with appropriate condiments. We like to serve caviar with diced onion, sour cream (or creme fraiche) egg yoke diced, egg white diced and blinis to pile it all on to. Everyone plows through this elegant presentation in about 30 seconds. Please make sure that you purchase Farmed Caviar, this is a link to a great New York Times article sourcing farmed caviar for us in the Dining & Wine.

My day started out at the The Santa Barbara Shellfish Co., on Stearn's Wharf where I had called in an order for 10, 1.5lb lobsters to be cleaned and prepared for grilling. They always give you clarified butter and lemon wedges to go as well, this saves so much time. The city had erected a beautiful Christmas tree on the wharf. 

A stately  California Brown Pelican just outside the restaurant.

A Kitchen Design that is Modern, Hip, Glam...Oh and Functional!

    We wanted to create a 21st Century look in this mid century modern house. A professional style kitchen that would be "eat in" intimate but also accommodate a staff for larger catered events as well.

The Floors are Italian Silver Travertine. This gray (silver) and brown marble has exactly the perfect warmth and depth of color to coordinate nicely with the quarter sawn oak cabinets and stainless steel appliances and countertops. We used Italian Statuary marble, white with heavy gray veins to contrast  and offset the other materials in the room. Note that the Statuary countertop on the island is one very large piece and it is book matched with the vertical end panels. 

The elliptical table is 1960's Milo Baumann and the Oak Chairs are 1950's Hans Wegner. 1950's' Italian blue gray Glassware.  

The Light Fixtures are from Boyd Lighting in San Francisco. The Professional Dual Fuel Double Oven Range is a 48" Wolf Range with Six Burners and a Griddle.

The kitchen cabinets were built by Henrybuilt in Seattle. We worked closely with Henrybuilt to create a look that blended the modern with the authentic appeal of this mid century home.  We achieved a look for this kitchen that is both sophisticated, modern and technically advanced. We combined horizontal and vertical grained quarter sawn oak panels with stainless steel countertops and appliances. We used linear full length steel pulls that added just the right punctuation. We made custom oak doors with frosted glass panels that concealed the pantries. All built out of oak to be cohesive with the kitchen design. 

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Modernism & Glamour in Montecito,California

We meticulously restored and rebuilt this John Elgin Woolf estate in Montecito. The home was originally designed and built in 1959 for the Huntington family and was teh scene of many Hollywood parties when the estate was purchased by Joan Cohn Harvey. In rebuilding the property we completely respected the glamourous era into which the house was originally built. The modernity of the mid-century was blended with the technology of the 21st century, resulting in an unparalleled sophistication. John Woolf was the creator of the Hollywood Regency Style and had who's who in the film industry client list 1930's-1960's.

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