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Restaurant features celebrity chef Bradley Ogden

By Julian J. Ramos/Staff Writer/jramos@syvnews.com

Celebrity chef Bradley Ogden has found the ideal place for his brand of fresh and organic food in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Root 246, formerly The Meadows restaurant, in downtown Solvang is the latest eatery to open in Ogden’s farm-to-table style of cooking.

“I’m very excited about it,” Ogden said. “(It’s) something that is needed, if you will, in respect that it is under-utilized,” Ogden said of the number of organic farms in the Santa Ynez Valley and the availability of fresh produce. He also said the burgeoning Santa Barbara County wine industry is “coming into its own” and likened it to the Napa Valley in the early 1980s.

Root 246 features contemporary American cuisine. Menu items include a variety of steak, chicken and seafood dishes. Ingredients in his kitchen are fresh and organic — nothing canned. The only thing kept in a freezer at the restaurant is ice cream

The restaurant opened April 3, the same day the adjacent Hotel Corque, once known as the Royal Scandinavian Inn, opened its renovated north and east wings.

Both properties are owned by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians

Ogden is the chef and creator of eight award-winning restaurants, including One Market Restaurant in San Francisco and Bradley Ogden at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Even with no splashy grand opening, business has been hopping since day one, said John Martino, the tribe’s executive director of hospitality.

“Bradley’s name is magic in the (restaurant) industry,” Martino said.

The kitchen is one-of-a-kind between San Francisco and Los Angeles, Martino added, and Ogden had his hands in every detail of the design and the equipment — down to the state-of-the-art appliances and pots and pans.

The menu changes daily as a reflection of what is available that day, Ogden said, although there are some items on the menu every day.

“It’s an evolving menu ... growing,” Ogden said in a phone interview.

The reception of the restaurant has been mostly positive, Ogden said. However, as with any new venture, the first six months or so are about “tweaking and getting better everyday.”

“I haven’t heard a lot of bad stuff,” he added.

The restaurant’s name is a play on Highway 246, which crosses through Solvang and the Santa Ynez Valley, and a reference to Ogden’s farm-to-table restaurant concept.

Ogden said his first choice for a name was Roots, a reflection going back to his origins in cooking.

The center of attention in the restaurant is a glass-enclosed, climate-controlled, 1,800-bottle wine rack.

Martino said the bottles in the rack are kept at optimum temperatures for the whites, 45 degrees, and reds, 55 degrees. It also holds champagne and other sparkling wines.

About 95 percent of the wines are from Santa Barbara County.

Wednesday nights feature a selected winemaker who talks to diners about that winery’s vintages.

“We have good wines, and we want them (the winemakers) to dine in the restaurant and be a part of it,” Ogden said.

The 14,000-square-foot eatery includes a dining area, kitchen, two lounge areas and a separate banquet room. Seating capacity in the restaurant, the formal dining room, two bars, patio area and private dining room is 171.

Ogden was named chef of the year by the California Travel Industry Association last month. He accepted the award, which honors contributions to the California tourism industry, on June 23 in Newport Beach.

“It was great, a nice acknowledgment of my 30-some-odd years cooking in the Bay Area and California.” he said.