PEBBLE BEACH FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL
Just returned from a few days in Pebble Beach at the Food & Wine festival. Always a magic place, and one which I first visited when I was 7 and my grandfather, who lived up the road in Carmel, took me to lunch at the then very posh Lodge at Pebble Beach.
This time we are staying at the Inn at Spanish Bay and using their kitchens for 2 days. This is the view from the lobby as we checked in.
A perfect lesson in hospitality. Gob-stopping beauty as a welcome and indication of what was to come. The props, here glasses, telling us why we were there. Grand tastings of wine as well as food.
But before getting into the kitchen. The firepit in front of the very cold ocean and a couple of Negroni.
The first event was opening night. We partnered with the Morro Bay Oyster Company with its creator, Neal Maloney. Shucking that night in front of the 1000 guests an equal number of their “Pacific Gold” oysters that were grown 122 miles south of Pebble Beach.
https://www.morrobayoysters.com
In the bowl are sliced Australian Finger or Caviar Limes (Citrus australasica). We asked the fascinated guests to squeeze half a lime onto an oyster as a taste other than with the oyster tartare.
The next night was the “California Coastal Pacific Feast” at the Beach and Tennis Club, where I was the host of the event. And serving Pringles and Caviar.
In the photo below I am holding a Pringle with its cream and caviar. A stunning combination, but the view behind our table was the star of the show.
With my team of Curtis and culinary student Reagan, soon heading to the Coast Guard as a fully-fledged chef.
She was brilliant.
After the 500 guests had gone, we staggered back to the room and its terrace a view of the Pacific.
Beautiful, but swept by a very cold wind off the ocean. After 10 minutes of that it was back into the room and a fire. And before a 4 am car back to SFO, a sip or two of El Cabron Mezcal. The 2-year-old, as fine as any Cognac or Calvados of old – the way they used to be before Baccarat decanters.
Jeremiah Tower's Out of the Oven is a reader-supported publication. Become a Paid Subscriber and receive the recipes for the Oyster Tartare, Cream for Chips and Caviar and the Pacific Gold Oyster, Crème Fraiche, Finger Lime, Cilantro from Morro Bay Oyster Company below.