Press
By Joanie Hudson for The Independent
As if planning a wedding was not enough, owners Just West and fiancée Emma Gudeman recently opened Julienne (138 E. Canon Perdido Street, 845-6488, restaurantjulienne.com) weeks before their upcoming October nuptials. Julienne takes the spot of Le Bon Café on the corner of Santa Barbara and Canon Perdido streets. West and Gudeman’s dream to open this “progressive American” bistro came true when the space fell out of escrow at the last minute following Le Bon’s close. Gudeman is quick to describe progressive American dining and ingredients, claiming, “The Farmers Market is our grocery store. All ingredients are as local and sustainable as possible.” In combination with this philosophy of sourcing ingredients to bring into the kitchen, techniques are classic European. She explained, “[Head chef] Justin is back there hand-turning ice cream, hand-turning sorbets.” The menu is unique yet comfortable and includes five-spice duck breast ($21), panko crusted trout ($22), oxtail ravioli ($18), and steak with garlic-herb pommes frites ($27). Appetizers such as the grilled queso fresco flatbread ($13) and sweet corn-saffron chowder ($8) are equally intriguing. Order a tasting menu paired with wine and choose from three, five, or seven courses. The dining room has authentic warmth with its open kitchen and colorful spice-filled jars. Gudeman’s uncle, from whom she borrowed a painting that she grew up with to display, does all of the artwork, which adds to the restaurant’s homey feel. ♦
BEHIND THE SCENES: Makings of a Classic
A Buzz Brewing About Julienne, Santa Barbara’s Newest Kid On the Block By Tyler Blue, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT Justin West knew better than to get involved with the restaurant business. He had seen the stress it caused his family. Nevertheless, the urgings of his heart were impossible to ignore. Just a few years removed from graduation at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, he and partner Emma Gudeman began looking for a space where they could bring their restaurant dreams to life. The couple, who met at the academy, migrated south when Gudeman's parents relocated to Santa Barbara. She gained experience working a range of positions at places like Bacara, Hungry Cat and Elements. West, most recently, was a line cook at San Ysidro Ranch. He befriended Weston Richards, a like-minded talent, who was serving as chef de cuisine at Intermezzo. Timing proved to be perfect when the trio heard about a vacancy in prime real estate. Open for just two months, Julienne has already received praises worthy of a seasoned institution. Guests have been enamored by the innovative style West and sous chef, Richards, have established. It can be referred to as American progressive, but considering the two are classically trained, there is certainly a strong European influence. "I feel a sense of accomplishment," West admits, "but I am trying to stay humble and not be jaded." Gudeman handled all of the interior design with a tasteful touch and lined the walls with paintings by her uncle, Francisco Velasco. She manages the floor and covers most of the details while the culinary artists go to town in their small, open kitchen. "I would love to come in here and eat dinner," she reflects from an outsider's perspective. "Seeing people's reactions to food is what makes it fun," West declares. This is particularly pronounced when he sends out something like tomato sorbet as a palate cleanser or Richards' signature dish — crispy Kurobuta pork belly with bacon-brussels sprout hash and spicy maple gastrique. Going hand-in-hand with the creativity is a commitment to using fresh, local ingredients. Gudeman explains, "The menu changes every other week, whether with a whole new dish or minor changes to existing dishes based on what's available at the Farmer's Market." Julienne gets most of its meat from Far Point Livestock in Santa Ynez and seafood from Kanaloa Seafood.
West is keen to mention that farm-raised fish no longer warrants negative connotations. "What we're getting is amazing," he says. "Striped sea bass from fancy salt pools in the Palm Dessert and Idaho trout. You don't have to sacrifice anything." Another feather in Julienne's green cap has to do with its Natura water system. This top-of-the-line approach allows them to offer complimentary, house-bottled sparkling or still water. "Restaurants are the biggest consumers," West assesses. "This means one less delivery truck coming to us. Plus, our water is way better than Pellegrino."
Dishing Up Thin Strips of Perfection By Michael Cervin, News Press Food Critic Julienne is one of those gems of a restaurant we imagine coming to town, and when it does, we can't imagine it leaving. Opened just last August, its limited menu is labor intensive and worth every penny. The interior is set to dim lighting with candles on every table. Funky, abstract art from the owners' uncle gives the place a neighborhood jazz club vibe, intimate and comfortable. Chef Justin West has taken his culinary prowess from the San Ysidro Ranch to the corner of Canon Perdido and Santa Barbara streets, a place he can call his own. The food here takes time. West is always in the kitchen meticulously preparing each meal, and food this fresh, of this quality, is worth the wait. Julienne is exactly what Santa Barbara needs and raises the bar on exceptional cuisine. Being that everything is seasonally fresh, the menu is likely to change within days. I have to bend and curve with my ingredients, West says. So take note that the menu will fluctuate. The Ridgeback Shrimp Cappaletti ($18) is five fresh local shrimp, caught the night before the meal, enveloped in a cappaletti (think ravioli), made in-house and plated with braised celery and a Sauternes-mustard sauce. The Sauternes wine and heavy cream creates a rich viscosity, punctuated by the whole-grain mustard, delicate enough to enhance the shrimp, not blanket it. The local shrimp were extraordinarily tender and flavorful, and the celery was deftly braised, retaining its snap and adding texture. The Scottish Salmon ($22) is pan-seared salmon resting on top of pappardelle (long, flat noodles) in a lemon shrimp veloute (a French white sauce), with market-fresh peas. The mild tang of the lemon in no way overwhelms the pasta or the peas. The pasta is perfectly cooked al dente and the peas are a revelation during one meal someone actually exclaimed out loud I've never had peas this good. These peas as fresh as possible are crunchy with a chalky interior and far removed from the insipid, frozen, desiccated versions we buy at the store. It's like having peas for the very first time. The salmon is perfectly executed and moist, without a hint of butter or oil saturating the fish. The Braised Australian Lamb Shank ($27) is by far the most tender, fall-off-the-bone lamb this critic has ever had. The braising jus sauce is earthy, rich and plays a sweet note. West uses red wine, chicken stock and lamb drippings, reducing it down to create a concentrated complement to the lamb. The root vegetables include whatever is freshest at the moment; on one occasion it was potatoes harvested from the ground four days before the meal, turnips and carrots. These are familiar vegetables we're only now getting to know, inherent flavors and richness of that are liberated at last. The Grilled Quail ($21) sits on a mound of white beans, Spanish chorizo and Sofrito. The quail is actually brined in sugar and salt water, which reduces the gaminess and increases the moistness. The Sofrito, a Spanish sauce made with rendered pork fat, does not pull attention from the quail, but is offset by the chalky texture of the beans and the spicy chorizo. The house made Heath Bar Ice Cream ($7) is a rich, thick vanilla ice cream speckled with crunchy heath bar bits. Unlike many ice creams infused with air, this is a potent desert, two scoops of which will fill you up.
High Points With culinary achievements of this caliber, Julienne is a steal. The formula is simple fresh food carefully executed and served by a professional staff. Low Points The noise level on crowded nights is high. e-mail: scene@newspress.com Foodie Finds
By Tyler Blue, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT Hours: 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday and Tuesday The cuisine at Julienne doesn't really need sauce, but chef Justin West and sous chef Weston Richards apply complements anyway. The current menu (it changes frequently) features Handcut Spinach Fettuccine ($18) with local ridgeback shrimp, mushrooms, shallots and a Sauternes-mustard sauce. Sauternes is a French dessert wine that blends three different grape varietals. "It has nice honey notes," West says. "The Sauternes sauce is a take on honey mustard. It's like the ultimate simple sauce." Heavy cream is steeped and reduced with mustard. West typically adds a little shrimp stock to give it more body. Flatbread is always on the list of Julienne's starters. Previously (and hopefully in the near future) they offered flatbread with smoked anchovies, chili flakes, parsley and romesco sauce. The sauce comes from one of Richards' old recipes. It includes organic roasted red peppers, garlic, pine nuts, parsley, lemon zest, sherry vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. More of a spread than a sauce, it's similar to pesto. This is the kind of stuff you'd like to have in a jar at home to use at will. Toyota Venza Taste of the Market
TYLER BLUE, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT An overcast morning at yesterday's Farmer's Market didn't deter Santa Barbarans from coming to experience a groundbreaking event. The Toyota Venza Taste of the Market series came to town, offering up a unique culinary experience. The backing of a major corporate sponsor graced every aspect with efficiency and professionalism -- not to mention, it was free. Twelve of the area's top chefs paired with farmers to create a dish inspired by their harvest. The setup was perfectly strategic with tents set up in each of the four aisles. A rotation of three chefs per tent ran seamlessly and lines moved quickly. Participants were given a passport to be stamped at each tent. When completed, it earned a nicely-potted herb of your choice and entry into a contest to win various cookware. It was only 8:30 a.m. and John Downey looked right in his element sautèing duck confit. His crew plated each serving along with white beans, caramelized beets, dinosaur kale and a roasted shallot and balsamic dressing. Downey's eponymous restaurant has been buying produce from Tom Shepherd for 25 years, so the two were a natural team. "He's always innovating. We never would have imagined having white beans at the market," praised Mr. Downey. Nat Ely from Los Olivos Cafè paired with Roots Farms to present the day's earthiest morsel. "Early" spring rolls were a simple, yet enticing blend of shelling peas, pea shoots, wild chanterelles and almonds wrapped roughly in red butterleaf lettuce. According to Mr. Ely, 400 spring rolls were served. Fresh peas proved to be a recurring theme as they are in peak season. Sporting tattoos and a skull-covered kerchief on her head, Crystal "Pink" Harris of Epiphany came across as the rebel of the bunch. Her creation of an orange blossom and sorrel buckwheat blini with lavender goat cheese mousse and Australian winter pea tendrils surely knocked a few socks off. The flavor, texture and aesthetic were enchanting. Asked about the pea tendrils from Earthrine Farms, she said, "I've never worked with them before. I'm a big fan. They are a little bitter which makes them very versatile. You can have them raw or cooked." Justin West from Julienne also joined forces with Earthrine, using their frisee (which he picked himself two days earlier) on his gruyere cheese puffs with Granny Smith apples. Brian Doyle, better known as BD, is Earthrine's founder and a popular presence at the market. "We're typically one step removed, so it's exciting to see what these chefs are doing," he noted. "This takes it to another level of people understanding the connection between farmer and restaurant." We noticed some people's eyes rolling back in their heads while enjoying the vegetable curry empanada made by Opal's Felipe Barajas. The light, crispy pastry puffs contained a minced medley of squash, carrots and zucchini from Fairview Gardens. A generous dipping cup of jalape0x96o cilantro aioli proved to be the kicker. Seagrass stood out, as chef Greg Murphy dished out a mini slab of lemongrass and coriander crusted ahi. Marbled sweet potato mash and watercress salad both burst with flavor, courtesy of KC Gardens. "They have some of the best watercress I've ever seen," Mr, Murphy exclaimed. Ellie and Bob Patterson offered a timely palate cleanser with four kinds of sorbet and gelato made from fruit contributed by three separate farms. We tried cherimoya sorbet (from Calimoya Farm) which boasted a prominent banana flavor. "I don't know of anything more tedious," Mrs. Patterson said of deseeding the exotic fruits.
Two of the best were saved for last. Matt Reddy of Elements used produce from Givens Farms to whip up a vegetable strata. Similar to a savory bread pudding, the hearty dish was loaded with braised kale, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, brie, homemade challah bread, fennel and leeks. A pea tendril, dandelion green and pea salad topped with green goddess dressing offered a dynamic contrast. Chunks of cured and smoked local corvina (similar to sea bass) provided a decadent addition. Brandon Hughes from Bouchon brought his "A game" with a bountiful portion of braised, melt-in-your-mouth pork belly. Accompanying it was whipped pumpkin puree, purple carrot and cabbage slaw from Tutti Frutti Farms. The "pumpkin" was actually a Musquee de Provence (heirloom squash) with a creamy texture and earthy flavor. People were undoubtedly pinching themselves over the good fortune to try cuisine this exquisite at no charge.
Foodies Unite at Arlington for Bourdain’s S.B. Debut
Kitchen Confidential Author Shares His Story with Sold-Out Crowd In the wake of shows like Top Chef and Project Runway, even the most elitist of reality TV haters appear to have dropped their guards for Bravo. And surrounded by some 2,000 folks at the Arlington on Friday night for Anthony Bourdain’s lecture, it seems like the Travel Channel ain’t that far behind. To a theater of fans and foodies, the author, television personality, and proud Ramones fanatic spent nearly two hours talking shop and fielding questions from the sold-out crowd, all the while maintaining his signature brazen and sarcastic culinary rock-star style. “I have, I believe we can all agree, the best job in the world,” Bourdain deadpanned early on in the night. As host of the Travel Channel’s No Reservations — a show that allows Bourdain to travel wherever he wants, eat all the food he can, and capture at least part of it on tape — he found few dissenters. But before the 52-year-old could delve into detail about chowing down on warthog rectum in the Kalahari and rotting shark in Iceland, he took his audience on a short-but-sweet trip down memory lane. He glossed over his childhood (“I fucked up in every way possible”), his years working in some of New York City’s innumerable eateries (“I’ve closed a lot of restaurants”), and his unlikely foray into journalistic writing—for starters, recalling his initial struggle with New York’s publishing biz. After finishing the op ed that would later inspire Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain remembered aloud how he sold his first piece to the New York Press. “Week after week after week, I kept getting bumped,” he recalled. “And in some moment of drunken hubris I called up [The Press] and was like, “Fuck you man! I’m pulling the article. I’m going to the New Yorker.’” For reasons still unbeknownst to him, the New Yorker snagged the article and ran it soon after. From there, it was a quick hop to best seller list status and worldwide fame. “Being involved in television is like being a little bit pregnant or a little bit of a ho,” Bourdain joked about his short-lived run on the Food Network. “You think you’re going to show a little ankle, then you’re on a floor with a shag carpet somewhere in the Valley.” Bourdain has publicly expressed his distaste for the channel over the years, and Friday night’s lecture was certainly no different as he took unabashed hits at Sandra Lee, Bobby Flay, and Paula Deen. “Thank god for the Travel Channel,” he continued, “whose previous hit was a bunch of meth heads sitting around playing poker.” The evening’s meat and potatoes came when Bourdain took on the subject of world travel — specifically, all the weird, painful, embarrassing, enriching, enlightening, and inspiring stuff he’s covered on Reservations. He grimaced through a discussion of the unintentionally homoerotic Uzbekistan show, where he was straddled and massaged by a “Ron Jeremy look-alike” in a “closed, steamy something right out of Midnight Express.” He put forth the idea for a “Fucked Up Cities Tour,” where he would visit East Baltimore, Detroit, and Buffalo in one fell, half-hour-long swoop. And he talked about the not-so-fine line he's drawn between “food” and “pet.” In Q & A form, Bourdain graciously doled out travel advice, granted a young male fan permission to ogle Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis, gave a verbal smackdown to one Misfits devotee, and awarded some truly gloat-worthy praise on his dinner providers at S.B.’s own Julienne in what was possibly the best restaurant endorsement I’ve ever witnessed in person. With a crowd as large and rapt as Friday’s, it’s hard to imagine where the culinary celeb tipping point lies; how we separate the Emerils from the Rachael Rays and the Top Chefs from the Man vs. Foods. Then again, with a voice as strong and an appetite as voracious as Bourdain’s, there seems to be little doubt he’ll cross that dreaded line anytime soon.
A FUTURE FOR FISH By Dave Mason When it comes to today's seafood, 13 Santa Barbara restaurants are looking ahead to tomorrow. They are participating in the Ty Warner Sea Center's Santa Barbara Sustainable Seafood Program. What is that, you might ask. "The short answer is seafood, (wild) or farm-raised, that is caught in a way that doesn't destroy the environment so there'll be fish in the future," said Heather Lahr, adult and family programs manager for the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. "The push is less toward restricting catches and more toward managing them," she said on a recent day at the Ty Warner Sea Center, a museum on Stearns Wharf operated by SBMNH. The restaurants in the program, which started in 2006 with a $1,500 grant from Ventura-based Patagonia, get to display a sustainable seafood program logo as long as the Ty Warner Sea Center approves their menu.Three Santa Barbara restaurants - bouchon, Elements Restaurant and Bar, and Seagrass - initially participated in the program. Others joined as they became aware after Ms. Lahr approached them. She added that there are only 13 currently because not all businesses know about the program. The newest member, Coast Restaurant & Bar, was added recently, and Ms. Lahr hopes to include more restaurants. She also would like to see the program expand to other communities, such as Carpinteria, Goleta and even the North County. "It's a matter of whether a chef is willing to experiment with different things," she said. She noted restaurants that serve local clients, as opposed to tourists, show a greater willingness to steer their menu toward sustainable seafood.The center advises restaurants which items to remove and suggests alternatives, and it encourages the public to eat at those restaurants, Ms. Lahr said. She explained the menu criteria is based on "Seafood WATCH," a sustainable seafood guide published by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The pocket-size brochure contains three lists - one for best choices of sustainable seafood, such as farmed abalone, Dungeness crab and Pacific halibut; one for good alternatives, such as American lobster, Washington state wild salmon, and wild oysters and clams; and an "avoid" list, featuring items like imported king crab, farmed salmon, sharks and bluefin tuna, an endangered species. "Best choices are abundant, well-managed and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways," according to "Seafood WATCH." "Good alternatives are an option, but there are concerns with how they're caught or farmed - or with the health of their habitat due to other human impacts." The fish on the "avoid" list "are caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment," according to "Seafood WATCH." To stay in the Sustainable Seafood Program, restaurants can't serve anything on the "avoid" list, and the Ty Warner Sea Center continues to check their menus every six months, Ms. Lahr said. "We make it a point to consult the seafood guide," said Justin West, chef and co-owner of Julienne, one of the program's restaurants. He noted the "best choices" served by Julienne have included halibut, Dungeness crab, striped bass, rainbow trout, albacore tuna and rockfish. "I'm going by what the fishermen are telling us," he said. "You've got to ask the right questions of them: How was it caught? Where was it caught? How are (the fish) being raised (if farmed)? What are they being fed? I'm going by what the fishermen are telling us," he said. "You've got to ask the right questions of them: How was it caught? Where was it caught? How are (the fish) being raised (if farmed)? What are they being fed? "It takes a lot of fish to make 1 pound of farmed salmon," he said.Mr. West was referring to the amount of fish required to feed the salmon. Ms. Lahr explained that sustainability involves raising fish with the least amount of fish required to feed them. ulienne, which changes its menu frequently, is currently serving local halibut and ridgeback shrimp. Halibut is from the "best choices" category, and Mr. West noted one of its traits that makes it sustainable. "The females mature in two to four years, and they lay a ton of eggs." Downey's, another restaurant in the program, has served wild salmon from Alaska, where Ms. Lahr said the fish is plentiful and can get upstream to spawn in rivers, thanks to the low human population. Downey's serves other seafood from the "best choices" list, such as white seabass, mussels raised from a farm off the Hope Ranch coast, and rock crab, said owner and chef John Downey. He also serves tuna from the "good alternatives" list. Mr. Downey and Mr. West said they don't cook any seafood from the "avoid" list. The chefs explained it's important to them because of their concern about the environment and the future availability of seafood. One goal of the Sustainable Seafood Program is to reduce the amount of bycatch in fishing, Ms. Lahr explained. Bycatch is unwanted fish that is inadvertently caught because of the method of fishing. To demonstrate that visually, the Ty Warner Sea Center has a display that shows that a few shrimp, served on a plate at a restaurant, can entail the unnecessary killing of a tall stack of fish. "We don't know how much bycatch is thrown overboard," Ms. Lahr said. "That's the biggest problem. They die. "The biggest culprit of bycatch is shrimp trawling," she said. "Five to 10 pounds of bycatch is caught per 1 pound of shrimp." The bycatch in fishing for tuna with a long line of hooks includes birds, turtles and sharks, Ms. Lahr said. Mr. West said he won't buy fish caught by gill nets, which scoop up a lot of unwanted and thus wasted fish. He likes to get rockfish, which is obtained by a hook-and-line method that produces much less bycatch. Mr. Downey, a native of Surrey, England, said he serves scallops that are caught by divers, which means little bycatch and no damage to the ocean floor. "When I was a teenager, I used to work on a fishing boat back in England (in the coastal city of Devon), and we would dredge for scallops. When I look back at the damage those dredges did to the ocean floor, it's very scary." Dredges are big chains with fishing nets attached that are dragged along the bottom of the ocean. Reducing bycatch actually benefits fishermen, said Manuel Gorgita, owner of Gorgita Seafood, which catches several kinds of fish in Santa Barbara. "Bycatch is a lot more work for us. You have to separate it from the other stuff." That's where technology is helping. Ms. Lahr noted bycatch is decreased by the use of "tickle chains," which jingle and scare all fish, including the shrimp. But the shrimp aren't as fast as the other fish and get caught in the nets as they try to swim away, she said. Reducing waste in raising farmed fish is another concern, Ms. Lahr said. "One salmon farm can produce the same amount of (fecal) waste as a town of 60,000 people." Farm fishing involves hatching eggs, growing and feeding the fish in a confined location that can be off the coast or inland. The waste from farmed salmon can pollute rivers and streams unless the farm cleans it up, Ms. Lahr said. Not all farm fishing is bad, and salmon farms can be properly managed, Ms. Lahr said. Good fish to farm include halibut and flounder and other flat fish, which expend less energy and require less food, Ms. Lahr said. "All they do all day is lay down. You feed them pellets that are a mixture of wild codfish and soy proteins. It has a low food ratio. "I can't use the term 'organic,' but there are farms working toward no pesticides. Fish farming is the wave of the future. We're overfishing our oceans," she said. Farms of halibut, Albacore tuna, oysters and mussels have environmentally responsible practices, she said. One goal of the Sustainable Seafood Program is to avoid eating species that are overfished, such as tuna and sharks, and consume more of the plentiful species that are lower on the food chain, such as sardines and anchovies, Ms. Lahr said. Ninety percent of sharks and bluefin tuna are gone, she said. Another goal is to make sure fish are allowed to mature before being caught, she said. "The problem with red snapper is they catch all the juveniles. That's 30 years we're not having fish; it takes them 30 years to mature and have babies," Ms. Lahr said. It takes the same amount of time for rockfish to mature. That's where sustainable seafood involves location. "Our main goal," Ms. Lahr said, "is to get people to think where their seafood is coming from." The U.S. has more stringent regulations than other countries such as those in Asia, and that covers things such as bycatch and the catching of immature fish, Ms. Lahr said. To make sure regulations are followed, the state Department of Fish and Game, she noted, puts observers on fishing boats. "The U.S. fisheries are doing well in their care and management." Local fishermen don't target juveniles, Brian Colgate, owner of the Santa Barbara Fish Market, said. "If the shrimp are not mature, they'll allow them to grow and mature." In fact, Ms. Lahr recommended people eat seafood caught locally because it tends to be more sustainable and doing so reduces the use of gasoline to transport seafood. Tens of thousands of pounds of sustainable seafood are brought in by local fishermen, Mr. Colgate said. He added it includes white seabass, halibut, ridgeback shrimp, lobster, swordfish, rockfish caught by hook and line, and barramundi. Most of those are on the "Seafood WATCH" "Best choices" list; the shrimp and swordfish are listed as "good alternatives." "There's a big demand for sustainable seafood by restaurants," Mr. Colgate said. "People are supporting the things that are not having a negative effect on the environment." Mr. West of Julienne said he gets local seafood such as ridgeback shrimp from the Santa Barbara Harbor and halibut from the Ventura Harbor. Mr. West was referring to the amount of fish required to feed the salmon. Ms. Lahr explained that sustainability. Mr. Downey of Downey's said he likes to get his white seabass, mussels, crab and lobster from local sources. "The seabass is lovely. The shellfish is to die for." He and Mr. West said customers haven't asked them whether their restaurants' seafood is sustainable. Downey's joined the program in 2007, Julienne in 2009. "I'm not sure people come in here because of it," Mr. Downey said, but added it's part of Downey's overall efforts to be environmentally responsible. "I don't think (the Ty Warner Sea Center) has found room to make any changes. They were already impressed with what I'm doing." Part of keeping seafood sustainable involves protecting its habitat, so fish can continue to thrive, Ms. Lahr said. To accomplish that, Mr. Gorgita said he uses a special type of trap to catch shrimp that spreads a net above but not on the ocean floor, which helps preserve the habitat. And that, Ms. Lahr said, helps ensure a better supply of fish in the future, the whole point of the Sustainable Seafood Program. PAN-SEARED LOCAL HALIBUT 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 (6 to 7 ounce) local halibut fillet, skin removed 4 ounces fish fumet (can be substituted with clam juice) 1 yellow onion, chopped 1 leek, chopped 2 stalks celery, chopped 1 carrot, chopped 2 to 3 tablespoons red onion, small dice 6 ounces Israeli couscous, parboiled 4 leaves basil, chiffonade 3 ounces butter 4 cherry tomatoes of various colors 1 squeeze lemon juice 1 basil leaf, for garnish Salt, to taste Pepper, to taste For the couscous: Heat pan on medium to high heat. Add diced red onions and sauté in 1 tablespoon olive oil until lightly browned. Add Israeli couscous and stir to incorporate with onions. Sauté couscous until warm. Stir in basil. Add fish fumet or clam juice and reduce by half. Add butter; swirl pan to evenly incorporate the butter and season with salt and pepper. For the halibut: Heat sauté pan over medium to high heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season halibut with salt and pepper. Pan sear halibut until golden brown; flip and repeat. Cooking time will depend on thickness of fillet. Don't overcook. For the tomatoes: Cut cherry tomatoes in quarters and season with salt, pepper, squeeze of lemon juice and olive oil (enough olive oil to coat the tomatoes). To plate the dish: Place couscous on plate. Top with halibut. Place cherry tomatoes on halibut. Garnish with fresh basil leaf. For the fish fumet: Take halibut bones (carcass), yellow onion, leeks, celery, carrot and enough water to cover all of the above in a pot. Bring to boil, then turn down heat and simmer for 4 hours. Yield: 1 serving Source: Justin West, chef and co-owner of Julienne in Santa Barbara