Budi Kazali - Ballard Inn
Before taking over the stoves at The Ballard Inn & Restaurant in 2004, Chef Kazali, a graduate of the California Culinary Academy, worked in some of the best restaurants on the West and East Coasts. After relocating to Boston, Chef Kazali helped to open the James Beard Award winning Blue Ginger with Chef Ming Tsai. When Chef Kazali returned to San Francisco, he worked at French Cuisine Restaurant Gary Danko. He then returned to his appreciation and dedication to producing fine Asian cuisine at Ozumo Japanese reataurant. Since establishing his own restaurant with The Ballard Inn and Restaurant, Chef Kazali has been widely recognized as one of the top chefs on California’s central coast, consistently earning top honors in the Zagat survey, as well as other publications. He was named the Ultimate Chef by Central Coast Magazine in 2009. Most recently, The Ballard Inn and Restaurant was selected as the best wine country inn by “The Official Best of California.”
Born and raised in Hawaii, Mikael is the son of a Hawaiian mother and a French Canadian father who discovered his love of wine while spending holidays with his French Canadian family, where he whet his palate on a veriety of European wines. He has worked alongside Steve Beckmen at Beckmen Vineyards since 2001. Now Mikael produces Rhone varietal wines under his own label, Kaena. His tasting room is located at 2890 Grand Avenue in Los Olivos.
There is a little gem of land in the very heart of the Santa Ynez Valley farmed by Debby and Shu Takikawa. The Garden Of…..is sixty-six acres on Roblar Avenue, just west of Highway 154 on the west boarder of The Dunn School. Its central location is important to know, because this slice of fertile land is a special place for farming that goes beyond organic. Two years ago the Takikawa’s took over the property that was once a place of conventional farming that used chemical fertilizers and pesticides on the crops. Shu Takikawa’s gentle farming approach is restoring a natural state of balance to the land. In Shu’s mind, the less one intervenes with nature and yet still manages a good harvest, the more vitality the crops and land will have. As Shu puts it, the final product just tastes better if it draws from the inherent strength of nature rather than being fed and farmed with additives and sprays.
Shu & Debby Takikawa - Garden Of.....
Mikael Sigouin - Kaena Wines