"SantaBarbara" news and stories

• Frank Bruni drags his friends through the No Admittance door to sample the "always serviceable, sometimes distinguished and less frequently exemplary" cuisine at La Esquina.
• Summer's crawling to an inteminable halt, and "everyone's a little tired of the grill, the fish, the steaks, the lobsters and clams, the barbecued chicken and the endless feed of burgers and hot dogs." What's Christopher Idone's solution? Roasted capon.
• The Minimalist shares his secret to perfect grilled fish. Here's a hint: "The road to success begins with leaving fillets behind."
• Bacon or not to bacon? Elaine Louie guides you through the new trends in chowder.
• R.W.Apple Jr salutes the decidedly non-glam eating to be found in Santa Barbara, which even Julia Child learned to appreciate.
• Keeping a green kitchen "lies at the intersection of good cooking and common sense, and coexists with - nurtures, even - individualistic quirks that make your kitchen yours alone." To that end, Julie Besonen and Andrea Kannapell tell you how to shop, how to store and how to conserve.

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I paid far too much for this out at a restaurant the other night but that's no reflection on the wine. In general when faced with the wine list and heading for the white side I tend to look for a viognier because it's a touch different than your run-of-the-mill chardonnay and it's agreeable with most food. Most viogniers have a nice fruity/floral nose and a flavor that is less oaky than a chard and less sweet than a gewurztraminer or a riesling. Also, I find myself being an advocate for this grape just because it's not as widely known in the U.S.  I'm not alone in my viognier love, there is a whole website, Enjoying Viognier, devoted to the cause.

We paired this with fish and it did quite well. Its lightly honeyed taste made it a nice apertif and it lingered well into dessert. Bridlewood is a Santa Barbara winery that makes a variety of midrange ($15-$35 retail) wines that are not earth-shatteringly memorable but are very agreeable and often appeal to a wide variety of palates. This one retails for around $16 and is definitely a match with summer's lighter foods.

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