Chef Ricks Ultimately Fine Foods
Written circa 1995
Thirty miles or so north of the tourist establishments of Solvang along Highway 101 lies the town of Santa Maria. Since the area is known for "Santa Maria style barbecue," we didn't know what to expect when Chef Rick's was recommended to us. First we had to find it. Located in a typical market mall next to a Lucky's, we still didn't know what to expect when we got through the door.
Why it looked like your average storefront sandwich shop! Deli counter sort of case up front. Blackboards with the menu. Order and pay up front. About 12 tables and a few more outside. Can't describe the kitchen, other than it looked like there was a lot of room back there. And one wonders whether what they're storing in back is fresh food flown in from all the best restaurants within a radius of about 1000 miles and re-labeled for sale. Here's an establishment that ought to put the people at Twin Palms to shame and should have John Sedlar's over-priced faux southwest establishments run out of town. Oh but were Chef Rick's where we live. If it were we'd be regulars and it would take a lot of going back before we'd be through the ambitious menu. (Of course Rick might double the prices and get stuffy, but we would hope not. After all, this is a neighborhood restaurant.)
Soups are $5.95 and come with fresh fruit, coleslaw (not the mayonnaise type, but a sweet caraway seed vinaigrette) and fresh bread. (Speaking of fresh, Chef Rick says everything is made right there. It sure seemed like it. We got to meet Rick because he also was the waiter.) There are an assortment of small breads brought to the table. What we had included a dense, sweet white yeast loaf, a sweet potato muffin and a jalapeno-cheese roll. Each delicious. (There's also oatmeal pecan muffins, molasses bran muffins, honey oat bran muffins, apple-carrot raisin muffins and smoked chile and cheese cornbread muffins--the bread is $.50 each or 6 for $2.50.) Since everything is fresh, we can't guarantee what will be on the menu when you get there, but the printed menu included potato-corn soup with chiles and cheese; seafood and smoked sausage gumbo; shrimp, scallop and mushroom bisque, black bean soup with tomato, avocado and crema; summer garden minestrone, Mexican vegetable soup with avocado and lime and broccoli-lemon soup.
The informant who told us to go to Chef Rick's had advised we try the Yucatan chicken, lime and tortilla soup, so we both ordered that. Little did we know that it was a meal within itself. A large bowl of very tasty broth (at Chef Rick's it doesn't look like they skimp on anything--a side of "shoestring fire fries"--$1.50--comes out in a giant basket) filled with strips of tender and tasty chicken, lots of (was it spiced?, tasted great) strips of crispy corn tortilla and who knows what more. Already we were marvelling at the tastes in our mouths and wondering how we could get up to Santa Maria more often. (A woman at the next table over who also had never been to Chef Rick's kept saying how she couldn't get anything this good at twice the price at a "fancy" place. Funny, just what we were thinking.)
Sandwiches (which also come with fruit, slaw and bread) run from $6.95 to $7.95 and are huge. We don't usually order sandwiches, but we've got to try them: Louisiana Blackened Prime Rib; grilled chicken, avocado and bacon club; barbecued shrimp "BLT" on grilled sourdough; smoked Oregon salmon on pumpernickel with avocado and lemon caper butter; grilled Mexican jalapeno patty melt, Cajun meatloaf po'boy and Chef Rick's monster burger, just to name half of what's on the menu. Not to mention the smoked turkey burrito with Monterey cheese, chiles, avocado and sprouts or Russ' Southern Fried Chicken sandwich on jalapeno cheese roll with green onion dressing!
The 3/4 dozen (clearly dinner) salads run $8.95 to $10.95. For now we can only wonder about grilled ribeye steak salad with garlic dressing and salsa ranchera; Georgia fried chicken salad with green onion dressing; grilled halibut salad with lemon vinaigrette and jicama guacamole, or grilled lamb and eggplant salad with garlic dressing, olives and pine nuts. There are more, but who's counting?
So entrees you ask. Chef Rick calls them "specialties." Things like linguine with peppered garlic shrimp and mushrooms ($12.95), sauteed Maryland crab cakes with lemon-dill tartar sauce ($9.95) or the mouthwatering quesadilla with barbecued lamb, brie, red onion and cilantro that went breezing by our table ($8.95).
We ended up ordering rather similar entrees:
The New Mexican grilled garlic chicken with black bean chili, guacamole and fried tortilla strips ($10.95). The large plate was filled with vegetarian black bean chili, with a smokey taste that we're guessing was toasted cumin. Layered above the chili were strips of extraordinarily tasty chicken, with wonderful grilled flavors and cooked perfectly. Heaped on top of all this was a serving of guacamole garnished with a fair amount of more of those tortilla strips that were in our soup. Chef Rick knows how to combine flavors on a plate that are different yet blend together in impressive ways.Totally sated, we ignored the possibility of the $2.50 desserts which might have included chocolate caramel pecan brownie pie, blueberry nectarine crisp, Jack Daniels chocolate crisp pecan pie or assorted cheesecakes. Or even assorted cookies and brownies for a buck.And the barbecued lamb and black bean chili with jalapeno-cheese fried polenta and diced avocado ($9.95). We kept thinking that the meat was as good as anything we could get at the best taqueria. Similar ingredients to the first dish, but a totally different flavor overall.
Wine aficionados are probably thinking that for a meal this good they would sure like to have some of their favorite beverage with the meal, but surely not in a storefront? Wrong. Not only does Chef Rick's have a wine list, he apparently ascribes to the odd-for-U.S. concept that a good meal deserves good wine at a price meant for ordering with every meal--just like a neighborhood bistro in France. Therefore the excellent local 1992 Lane Tanner Pinot Noir which we had just seen in a tasting room for $20 was served to us for $24. (The only quibble--a complaint after all these raves?--was that it was a bit warm. Since it was about 104 degrees outside, this was a little understandable. We also bet they would have chilled it had we asked, but we were too overwhelmed by the initial terrific experience to say anything....).
We don't know anything about beer, but there seemed to be a wide assortment of interesting looking bottles being drunk around the room.
Chef Rick caters too, with entrees that we suspect also turn up on the menu (like New Orleans Ribeye skillet steak with tasso maque choux and onion crisp; breast of duck with pears and green peppercorns; or breast of chicken stuffed with goat cheese, chorizo and pine nuts on a bet of southern tyle black eyed peas--the list goes on forever).
Who is Chef Rick and where did he learn to cook? We don't know. We THINK we recognized shades of recipes from our rather extensive cookbook collection. Things we've made and things we'll never have time to get to, but always wished we could. What we DO know is that Chef Rick's served us ultimately fine food and we don't care how. We just want to go back. Often.
Chef Rick's Ultimately Fine Foods
Acorn Plaza
4869 S. Bradley Road
Santa Maria, California 93455
(805) 937-9512All items available "to go" Visa/MC accepted Lunch and Dinner, at least. Don't know when they open.