Moqueca Brazilian Restaurant

Exuberant Brazilian jazz washes over me as I enter a restaurant of plum and sea green walls, dotted with brilliant paintings of tropical scenes. Purple tablecloths continue the assault on my senses and I soon found that the food was as vibrant as the décor at Moqueca Brazilian Restaurant in Channel Islands Harbor.

Moqueca Brazilian Cuisine

Exotic scents accompanied a large bowl of bright red seafood stew, or moquecas, with shrimp and fish. In contrast, a long dish of pale scallops in the half shell were redolent of olive oil and Parmesan cheese. And finally, a bright yellow passion fruit mousse, nested in a large martini glass, contrasted perfectly with the purple tablecloth.

Passion Fruit Mousse, Moqueca

Although all this emphasis on the visual may seem to miss the point, I was working for Westways Magazine photographing their Bon Appetit section. That is not to say that I am immune to the lure of great food. The hardest part of photographing Moqueca Brazilian Restaurant was not drooling on the props.

Coxinhas, Moqueca Brazilian Cuisine

Owner Gloria Sarcinelli graciously let me sample everything left on the table when I had finished. The scallops were as tasty as they were visual and the passion fruit mousse was so light that the flavor on your tongue seemed to come out of thin air. Although I am only allowed to swoon around my wife, I came close on first tasting the passion fruit mousse.

Send me a comment if you love Brazilian food and don’t understand why there aren’t more restaurants like Moqueca on California’s Central Coast.

The first morning at Harmony Cellars Tasting Room was foggy, so I demonstrated a simple lighting technique used by location photographers to simulate warm, late afternoon light. When I finished the demo, I passed around my wireless flash connection so that students could try it for themselves. More than half the class eagerly tried out the set-up.

wine tasting at Harmony Cellars

wine tasting at Harmony Cellars

The next morning was beautifully sunny, so I put together a similar set of shots, but this time I used a diffusion panel and some reflectors. As soon as I stepped away from the set, this entirely new class of twenty five students started to blast away at our model.

wine tasting at Harmony Cellars

The whole experience reminded me of how fortunate I have been in my choice of careers. I still remember how excited I was shooting in the early days of my career and remain just as excited today. If I hadn’t photographed our model first, I would have jumped in with everyone else and blazed away. It’s hard to explain. I guess it’s just plain fun.

If you agree, join our blog for more posts on fun photography and photo workshops. Thanks.

Chuck

Itsuki’s Japanese Restaurant

Japanese food has its own aesthetic. A simple combination of rice, seaweed and raw fish is elevated to a structure of complimentary shapes and colors. Design and composition are often as essential as taste and texture. Gleaming lacquerware and earthy stoneware create a proper setting for this very visual cuisine.

Deluxe Bento Box, Itsuki’s Japanese Restaurant

Itsuki’s Japanese Restaurant, in Goleta, California, is an excellent example of this process. Kake Age Udon, a simple noodle soup, is dressed with various toppings and showcased in a brilliant red bowl on a red lacquer tray.

Kaki Age Udon, Itsuki’s Japanese Restaurant

The restaurant’s namesake Itsuki Sushi Roll combines tune, yellowtail, smelt eggs, green onions and avocado in a lightly fried roll that is drizzled with spicy sauce. The rounded shapes of the sliced sushi roll are repeated in the glaze of sauce and the shape of the plate.

Itsuki’s Japanese Restaurant

Slices of tuna, lemon, salmon and cucumbers are interleaved in a black bento box and provide contrast to the elongated strips of shrimp and veggie tempura. Design and complimentary shapes feed the eye before any item is tasted. Each meal at Itsuki’s is essentially a three-act play—first site, then scent and finally taste. This is a restaurant that is designed to please all three senses.

fly fishing in the Surf of Santa Barbara

It was a good shoot. The models were great, the weather cooperated, the fish were biting, none of my cameras got wet and I only got hooked once. Like I said, it was a good shoot. Of course, this was only the first of four scheduled photo shoots for a an article on fly fishing in the Southern California surf for local lifestyle magazine Santa Barbara Seasons. The surf can be a challenging arena in which to work.

fly fishing the surf in Santa Barbara

A cross between landscape and outdoor adventure sports work, photographing salt water fly fishing is a bit of a contact sport held in a beautifully serene location. You can’t shoot all of it from the beach. You have to wade in and become one with the surf—without getting any equipment wet. I spent the whole first shoot wet from the waist down, bouncing around in the surf.

fly fishing the surf in Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara Seasons is a beautifully designed lifestyle and culture magazine, so the images had to illustrate the art and joy of fly fishing. It was not about catching fish. It was about the beauty of the Santa Barbara locations, the elegant arc of a long fly rod as the heavy line shoots a weightless fly out over the waves. It was about fishermen reading the patterns of the waves, looking for a break in the surf that would indicate a hole where surf perch would gather. And it was about footprints in the sand leading down a long, completely empty beach.

fly fishing the surf in Santa Barbara

surf perch caught fly fishing the surf in Santa Barbara

fly fisherman hooks a stingray in the surf in Santa Barbara

I would find myself ducking out of a rain storm on the next shoot, racing along the surf with lenses flapping as I tried to keep up with a fisherman tied to a very large stingray in another and lying prone on the sandbar entrance to Santa Barbara harbor as I framed one fisherman at dusk with a full moon rising behind him for the last photo shoot.

fly fishing the surf in Santa Barbara

fly fishing the surf in Santa Barbara

surf perch caught fly fishing the surf in Santa Barbara

solitary fly fisherman in the surf in Santa Barbara

solitary fly fisherman walks the surf in Santa Barbara

For myself, these photo shoots were really about my life-long need to stay connected to the sea. And do it without getting hooked again, of course.

Cielito Restaurant

Mix Santa Barbara’s traditional Mediterranean-style architecture of light stucco, red tile roof, big fountain and palm trees with a glitzy, big city interior and you have the new Cielito Restaurant at the back of historic La Arcada Plaza. The place is stunning.

Cielito Restaurant

sign in Cielito Restaurant

chef Ramon Velazquez, Cielito Restaurant

Chef Ramon Velazquez has produced a range of dishes that reflect Mexican and South American influences with a California spin. Ingredients are often sourced locally, reflecting the abundance of the Santa Barbara area, and each dish is an elegant presentation.

vanilla bean flan, Cielito Restaurant

Cielito Restaurant

One of the perks of photographing the restaurant for Westways Magazine was tasting the dishes I covered. My favorite was the tacos al pastor, which balanced the earthy flavor of adobo-marinated roast pork with a lightly sweet tomatillo-avocado salsa. They were great!  Chef Velazquez was a wonderful host and it is a restaurant I will definitely be re-visiting.

An apple a day is exactly what Ted Lane recommends. Of course, he grows apples, so his recommendation is based on more than just health issues. Ted sells his apples at a classic, red roadside stand located at Apple Lane Farm between Los Olivos and Solvang, in the Santa Ynez Valley of California.

One of the reasons I enjoy creating these environmental portraits, besides meeting interesting people, is that I always learn something. Have you ever noticed that in many orchards here in the West the bottom couple feet of each tree trunk is painted white? Is it a fungicidal preventative? Does it stop snails from climbing up the trunk to graze on the fruit? Actually, it’s a sunscreen. Just like zinc oxide for your nose, white paint keeps the tree’s bark from getting sunburned. Bark that has been sunburned dries and splits, opening up the tree to pathogens.  Who knew?

Ted was a great subject. One reflector was set to light the model while another was used to light the red farm stand. Having Ted take a big bite out of one of his apples created just the right expression for the shot.

apple farmer Ted Lane and his 1030 Model A pickup

The tiny 1930 Model A Ford pickup truck in the background refused to start, so my assistant Danny and I volunteered to push it back to the garage with Ted driving. I swear that truck is made of lead. When Danny and I finally recovered enough breath to thank Ted, he sent us on our way with a bag of apples for each of us. We came away with a great image, plenty of exercise and an apple a day for several weeks. Photography, at times, can be a very healthy career.

Osteria Monte Grappa Italian Restaurant, Ojai, California

It was really hot! Too hot to eat. Even the oak trees seemed to be wilting. Set in a valley ringed with mountains, Ojai, California, can get like that in late summer.

I was photographing a restaurant review of Osteria Monte Grappa for Westways Magazine and quickly forgot the heat as a colorful plate of fresh heirloom tomatoes arrived, topped with creamy burrata cheese. House-made agnolotti, filled with a beef, pork, chicken and mushroom mixture, was light and aromatic topped with sauteed sage leaves. The restaurant’s cheesecake was a cool and delicious finale—practically a party on a plate with its festive presentation.

Co-owner Tammy Bernardi graciously allowed me to try any of the dishes I had photographed.  Many of the restaurant’s dishes are based on the Bernardi family’s recipes from northeastern Italy. A dry, local rose from the Ojai Ridge vineyard balanced perfectly with the heirloom tomatoes and agnolottti, its cool, fruit flavors a perfect antidote for a warm, lazy afternoon in Ojai.

Two weeks later I was back with friends. Who could resist?

Tupelo Junction Restaurant

My wife and I recently had friends and relatives visiting from Chicago. In addition to dragging them all around Santa Barbara, we took them to Ojai and then the Santa Ynez Valley. In each location, we ate in one, or more, of our favorite restaurants and finished the week with dinner at Tupelo Junction, located next to the historic Granada Theater, here in Santa Barbara.

Bloody Mary, Tupelo Junction

drink glasses, Tupelo Junction

After warming up with one of the restaurant’s spicy smoked chipotle and crab claw Bloody Marys, our guests chose the blackened molasses wild salmon with spinach, white bean, cherry tomato and Andouille sausage sauté. For dessert, the luscious chocolate turtle beignets with crème Anglaise and candied pecans sealed the deal. Tupelo Junction was definitely their favorite restaurant of the trip.

fried chicken salad, Tupelo Junction

Most everything at Tupelo has a Cajun twist, from the classic fried green tomatoes to one of my favorite lunches, fried chicken salad with cornbread, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds and herb buttermilk dressing.

Tupelo Junction

Tupelo Junction

The warm atmosphere coupled with the unique blend of flavors has made Tupelo Junction a Santa Barbara favorite for many years. Don’t wait for the excuse of visiting relatives to try this great local restaurant. Y’all will love it.

Laura Inks and work by artist Wallace, Artists Making A Street Scene mural, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

Art needs a home, an area where studio space, and even gallery space, is reasonably priced and artists can congregate. In Santa Barbara, that area is known as the Funk Zone. A mix of old buildings, hidden just inland of Santa Barbara’s famous beachfront, provide large spaces at cheap prices.

artist Mary Balda, Artists Making A Street Scene mural, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

artist Vanae Rivera, Artists Making A Street Scene mural, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara

Soboba Studios, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

Change is inevitable, and with the growing popularity of wine tasting rooms in the Zone, developers are starting to take notice.

Santa Barbara Winery tasting room, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

Municipal Winemakers tasting room, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

Corks n’ Crowns tasting room, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

Kunin Wines tasting room, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbarans are always proactive about the things that are important to them and keeping a remnant of the old, funky Santa Barbara available for local artists, both young and old, has grown into quite a cause.

artist Lisa James paints a piano for the Pianos On State project at Red’s Bar, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara

artist Mitra Cline paints a piano for the Pianos On State project at Red’s Bar, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara

artist Blakeney Sanford, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

artist Skye Gwilliam at the Gone Gallery, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

The yearly Focus on the Funk Zone has been organized to showcase the many artists working in the Funk Zone, the tasting rooms, surf shops, museums and even the Youth Interactive center.

Youth Interactive mural floor, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

Cardboard Challenge, Youth Interactive, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

artist Cory Anglin, Artists Making A Street Scene mural, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

artist Cory Anglin, Artists Making A Street Scene mural, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

Wall Space Gallery, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

artist Sean Blake, Artists Making A Street Scene mural, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

artist Lincoln Liechti and Vanae Rivera, Artists Making A Street Scene mural, The Funk Zone, Santa Barbara, California

Such grassroots efforts are at the heart of Santa Barbara’s continual struggle to control growth and maintain its identity, as the city becomes more and more upscale. Santa Barbara needs to nourish its young artists with studio space and public art venues, like the murals on Mason Street, and Funk Zone Santa Barbara is working to ensure that art does indeed have a home in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone. For more images and information, please go to http://www.facebook.com/FunkZoneSantaBarbara and hit LIKE to track funktastic happenings in the Funk Zone.

Sides Hardware and Shoes–A Brothers Restaurant

For those of us that were able to overlook the sometimes outrageous comments made by chef Patrick at the Side Street Café in Los Olivos, the closing of Side Street was a sad day. The food was excellent and the shady backyard dining area was cool on a hot Santa Ynez Valley day.

The location recently opened as Sides Hardware and Shoes. It’s hard to imagine a big market for either shoes or hardware in tiny Los Olivos, but the rest of the title, A Brothers Restaurant, pretty well explains it.

Sides Hardware and Shoes

The building originally housed Sides Hardware and Shoes, back before the area had many inhabitant, or trees, for that matter. A large photo of the original store hangs on the wall. Brothers Jeff and Matt Nichols, recently the chefs at the nearby Brothers Restaurant in the historic Matteis Tavern, have taken over the location.

owners and chefs Jeff and Matt Nichols, Sides Hardware and Shoes, A Brother Restaurant, Los Olivos, California

Los Olivos is a pretty busy place on weekends, and when the Side Street Café closed, getting into the Los Olivos Café for lunch was like praying for rain in the summer here. With the opening of Sides Hardware and Shoes, there is again enough good restaurant seats to go around.

restaurant interior and bar, Sides Hardware and Shoes

The diverse menu is prepared with locally sourced ingredients and wines. My photo shoot was scheduled for the morning, giving me the opportunity to try the cinnamon and golden raisin beignets served with locally roasted, organic Green Star coffee. In the course of photographing many restaurants, I have had the opportunity to try several forms of beignets, but these were easily the lightest, melt-in-your-mouth best I have tasted. I normally would try one and maybe bring one home for my wife to taste. I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t leave a single one standing. It’s a good thing that there were no guests with beignets at nearby tables. It might have ended in a great wrestling match right there in the restaurant.