ISYV Magazine: Wine Cask Los Olivos

2006 Spring Home Page
Click Here

By K. Reka Badger

A South Coast culinary institution, gathering place and trend-setting wine shop has defied its urban inception and landed a satellite in rural Los Olivos.

Wine Cask restaurant, open for business in downtown Santa Barbara for over two decades, now offers its wonderful wines and fabulous food in the heart of the Santa Ynez Valley. Since August 2005, Wine Cask Los Olivos has been dishing up refined service, seasonal menus and a dazzling array of wines with the same genial flair that endeared the original to locals and visitors alike.

Located at Fess Parker’s Wine Country Inn, the restaurant boasts a cozy bar, adjoining patio and outdoor fireplace, as well as a second sister eatery, the more casual Intermezzo Café and Wine Bar. Intermezzo is the cozy bar with the outdoor fireplace.

Owner Doug Margerum decided to open Wine Cask Los Olivos for a very simple reason: he felt the town was ready for a fine dining house. Couple that intuitive flash with the fact that he makes wine for his Margerum Wine Company label just minutes away, at the Brander Vineyard Doug does still make a small amount of his wine at Brander but most of his wine is now made at his own winery located above the Curtis winery, and it’s easy to see why he chose the location.

Between topping barrels and tending to blends, he can pop across Highway 154 to grab a bite and check up on his busy kitchen.

“I wanted to bring in great service, innovative food and the most kick-ass wine list the area has ever seen,” Margerum declares, “and we really worked out well on the wine thing. Everyone came in and gave us older vintages, so we have full verticals of a lot of local wineries. It’s pretty cool.”

Wine Cask Los Olivos serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, and makes weekends more fun with its sumptuous Sunday brunch and Sunday Supper, a family night featuring a special children’s menu.

On Free Wine Fridays, guests ordering lunch receive a complimentary glass of wine, while BYOB Tuesday Nights find diners enjoying their own wine, corkage-fee-free, with a meal expressly prepared to match a pre-selected varietal. Intermezzo Los Olivos, serving light food from afternoon until 10 p.m., hosts happy hour every evening and Martini Madness on Wednesday nights. Additional dining areas, including the lovely Country Garden and opulent Wine Cask Wine Cellar, are available for meetings, special events and private parties.

To formally introduce Wine Cask Los Olivos to Valley residents, Margerum sent out a friendly flier detailing the restaurant’s hours, offerings and special events. “I wanted to let people know we’re here and what we’re doing,” Margerum explains, “and they’ve responded really well. They say, ‘we didn’t know you were open for breakfast, we didn’t know we can bring the kids, that Frida

y’s a great day to go out and have free wine.’”

Delighted at the growing list of locals who dine regularly at Wine Cask Los Olivos, Margerum praises the power of word-of-mouth, especially in the tightly-knit Valley community. “It’s not six degrees of separation up here,” he smiles “It’s about one degree. Everyone knows everyone here.”

After the rains of January dampened a roaring start, Margerum celebrated an uptick with the first flowers of spring. “Things are going great,” he reports. “We’ve finally achieved critical mass, where it’s busy more often than not. I’m stoked about the whole thing and I think we’ll have an insane summer with that deck out back.

“No matter what,” he adds, “it takes six months to get things in gear. You’ve got to work things through, figure out what people want, listen to them. And people are not shy about telling us what they want.”

The food, what Margerum calls “bistro-style cuisine,” reflects the combined influences of California’s Asian and Mexican traditions, as well as Margerum’s diverse culinary background. Creative, simple and sublime, menu items incorporate fresh, locally grown, caught and raised products in season.

“We have great chef, Troy Van Tolbert,” Margerum says. “This guy’s totally into wine. For BYOB Tuesdays, he and I choose a type of wine and do a three-course menu to match. That way, people get to try their wine with three different tastes. It’s funny how wine tastes different, usually better, with each course, rather than by itself.” Doug Margerum brings 25 years of experience and culinary intuition to his new enterprise in the heart of wine country. Elegant, comfortable and close to home, Wine Cask Los Olivos offers fine dining, artful diversion and a hearty welcome to locals and visitors alike. “Behind all of our activities,” Margerum reveals, “our constant desire is to be the best at what we do.”