Cass House Food & Wine Blog

America's Coolest Small Towns: Cayucos

Read about Cayucos and the Cass House in this month's issue of Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel Magazine:

www.budgettravel.com

Giant Humboldt Squid

I ordered this Humboldt Squid from my wild seafood purveyor in Oregon. My purveyor, Nick, told me that a few of these giant squids had been pulled up with the halibut boats just off the southern coast of Oregon. Apparently, ever since El Nino the squid have been following the Halibut further and further north and have ended up getting into Halibut fishing territory.  So when Nick informed me that a few of these guys had been pulled up with my Halibut, I jumped at the opportunity to work with it. 

 

This squid was about seven feet long and weighed 25-30 pounds. To prepare and clean it, I scrubbed the body with salt and removed the skin. After separating the head from the tentacles I removed the teeth on the suckers and prepared my braising liquid. The body went into a pot with court bouillon and herbs and the tentacles were braised in red wine and fish stock. The Spaniards and Italians will traditionally braise the squid or octopus with a few wine corks in the pot. They claim that the tannins in the cork helps to tenderize the cephlopods. I'm really not sure if this actually works, but being a sucker for old methods I deferred to the wisdom of my predecessors and tossed in a few corks for good measure. Squid, liquid, and corks simmered on my stove for about 4 hours. 

The resulting dish was delicious. The squid had the texture of poached chicken and tasted like the freshest calamari I've ever eaten. I served it with braised fennel and leeks, tomato confit and shaved fennel salad. I liked it so much that I will be preparing another one for service this week.

A shot of the beak. This thing was amazing. Realistically, I've broken down a ton of calamari in my day and have never been impressed with the beak until now. This squid had a parrot like beak and teeth on each sucker. They use their suckers to latch onto large prey like sperm whales to pull them toward their massive beaks. The Humboldt squid is truly one sea predator that deserves some respect and a spot on my menu.

 

Dinner With Friends

09_0908_digi_175_cass, originally uploaded by Cass House Inn & Restaurant.

Thank you to all of our friends who joined us for dinner in our newly landscaped grounds. We couldn't have hoped for a better group to test our wood burning oven skills on, and thanks for being such great sports about having your pictures taken! Rob, you did another amazing job, thank you for all of your hard work!

-Grace & Jensen

(rob stark photography, www.rob-stark.com)

Pizza Quest

We fired up the pizza oven for the 2nd time a couple of weeks ago for a film crew from LA. They were shooting a pilot for a tv series called Pizza Quest featuring host and award winning baker Peter Reinhart. Their first stop was Pizzeria Mozza, where they interviewed Nancy Silverton. You may be asking how they found out about us, or Cayucos for that matter. Well, the show's producer Brad English happened to stop in to Ruddell's Smokehouse for lunch on his way to LA from San Fran and Jim, the owner, tipped him off to us and our new addition to the property. Brad stopped into the kitchen during service and told me that he was interested in including us in the filming.

To be honest, after he mentioned he would be talking with Nancy Silverton and many other talented chefs about their approach to pizza, I was a bit skeptical as to why he would want input from me, until he explained his vision. Brad was looking for the story of the people behind the pie, not just experts, but anyone who was passionate about working with fire and dough. For me, the oven is one of the most real forms of cooking I've ever experienced. The fire is literally alive, unforgiving, and beautiful, blessing all it touches with its flame induced flavor.  

I think that what Brad and Peter are doing is an amazing thing that I just feel fortunate to be a part of. They have a great story, one I would like to hear, about an often overlooked area in the glamorized world of food- why we do it.

Good luck on the rest of the project guys, it was a pleasure meeting you all. 

Our oven warming up...

 

Peter and I prepare ingredients for the first pizza. Those were sungold tomatoes for our smoked albacore, shaved apple, and curried creme fraiche pizza. Jim at Ruddell's Smokehouse contributed some smoked fish and the tomatoes and apples came from Bill and Barbara Spencer from Windrose Farm. Needless to say, with ingredients like this all I had to do was warm it up and it was amazing.

 

I had an interesting relationship with the sound guy there on the left. He put a mic on me at about 10am and it was attached to my coat all day. This would be fine normally, but for half of the filming I was going into the kitchen to prepare for dinner service and lets just say the kitchen vernacular tends to be a bit more colorful than conversation outside of the kitchen. Yeah, so me and the sound guy have a little understanding 'bout half that audio file...

 

Peter was a ridiculous source of information on all things baked. I now have a better understanding of what it takes to be a James Beard award winning chef. It was an honor to talk and work with him.

 

The finished "Ruddell's" style pizza.

Check out Peter Reinhart's blog here

Our First Wedding

We had the pleasure of working with Dana and Tanya, a couple from L.A., on their wedding last week and we were able to use the kitchen for the first time. To see pictures of the event (and a view of our new lot at night) click on this link:

Wedding Photos

Garden Update

When Jensen and I first opened the restaurant the lot next to the house was just dirt and weeds, an eyesore for us and our guests. The lot was originally part of the Cass House property, but it had been sold off and separated by the time Gary, the current owner, bought the house. After spending 14 years meticulously restoring the house, he had the opportunity to buy the lot and restore the property to its original state.

Gary scanned an old picture of the house and sent it to me. “If you look at the photo of the property (taken from the roof of Cass’ mercantile building across the street) you can see it brings the feel of the property back to the way it was in Victorian times at the peak of Captain Cass’ shipping business," he said.

 We talked about plans for the lot for a year, but we were all too busy with opening the restaurant and inn to really get anything done. Originally we envisioned a reception site with a space in the back set aside for a roll in Santa Maria style BBQ and a hose hook up for dishes (an outdoor "kitchen"). My sister Carla (who also designed the rest of the Cass House gardens) drew up plans and we were ready to go, until Nancy (Gary's wife) mentioned that we may need to consider something a little more impressive. What about a pizza oven? Well, we thought that was a magnificent idea, but if we installed a pizza oven we couldn't just have any old BBQ sitting next to it, it had to match up! So what about a Viking grill with warming drawers and a rotisserie? Perfect! And if we are going to do it right we'll need a keg refrigerator too, and lighting, and oh that stainless sink would be nice... About one week later we were talking to contractors and landscapers and electricians and plumbers, and I started to get a real idea of who Gary and Nancy are and what they went through to restore that house. We now have an outdoor kitchen that is far superior to our indoor kitchen, and Jensen has been scheming ways to use it since the pizza oven first arrived and sat taunting him in the parking lot.

Here are some pictures of our first phases of construction (check back later for an update with pictures of the completed kitchen):

Sunset Magazine & National Geographic Traveler

We were in Sunset Magazine and National Geographic Traveler this month! You can view our Sunset article here. The National Geographic Traveler article is in the magazine only under "The Long Weekend". The feedback from both articles has been great so far, and it's pretty exciting for us to see the town and house get so much recognition.

Flickr Update

09_0620_digi_22_cass, originally uploaded by Cass House Inn & Restaurant.

Check out our new pictures on Flickr! Soft shell crab, beautiful black truffles, and much much more...

Flickr Photos

San Francisco Magazine Article

Check out our article in San Francisco Magazine, it was just posted online and it will also be in their May issue:

SF Magazine Article

Beer Dinner

March 30th, 2009

kampachi sashimi
micro citrus shiso salad, grilled satsuma, seaweed coulis
hitachino white ale, japan
.  .  .  .  .  .  .
bistro salad
frisee, roquette, truffled quail egg, berkshire pork headcheese, apple, whole grain mustard
morimoto soba ale, rogue brewery, oregon
.  .  .  .  .  .  .
mussels from brussels
ale steamed penn cove mussels, bratwurst, frites, fines herbs
house  belgian
.  .  .  .  .  .  .
sauerbraten
brined kobe beef shoulder, herb spaetzle, braised cabbage, bacon, golden raisins, dopplebock brase jus
aventinus, g. schneider and sohn, germany
.  .  .  .  .  .  .
dark chocolate beignets
stout pot de creme
young’s double chocolate stout

Doc' s Cellar in San Luis Obispo. An excellent source for home brewers and wine making supplies. The staff is knowledgeable, courteous and always willing to try your latest home brews...honest constructive criticism only...

The Hitichino White Ale, my inspiration for the sashimi amuse.  The first time I tried this beer was an eye opening experience. I never thought that a good beer could taste like jasmine rice and satsuma zest. I was wrong, all man-beer laws went out the window with this one. Made me want to put on my kimono and dance around with a cup of green tea...ouch, I hope no one reads this.

  

Our "bistro plate", a truffled quail egg with frisee and green garlic vinaigrette, berkshire pork headcheese, whole grain mustard and petite roquette greens. This was was my interpretation of a humble bistro salad. I was shocked at the response to the head cheese, apparently our customers are willing to try anything with a good beer... I love it!

The Penn Cove black mussels and frites served with bratwurst and our house Belgian style ale. By the way, I have always said when it comes to charcuterie I will defer to experts unless my own is better. In the case of the Bratwurst, the amazing butchers at New Frontiers market in San Luis Obispo absolutely dominated my version of the famous Bohemian sausage. Seriously, New Frontiers is THE ONLY place for decent beef and sausages in SLO. Thanks guys for your commitment to quality and product knowledge.

Sauerbraten with braised cabbage, spaetzle, and dopplebock braise jus (served with the Aventinus Dopplebock). This was by far the standout dish of the evening. I think the decision to use Kobe beef shoulder instead of the traditional horsemeat was a good move. The beef was brined for three days in juniper brine with cloves, peppercorns, fresh bay leaves, and a glorious amount of kosher salt and sugar. I thickened the braise jus with sieved gingersnap cookies, mounted it with butter and used dopplebock malt and golden raisins to flavor the sauce. The pairing was perfection. We even had a German man come into the kitchen and thank us for the best sauerbraten he had ever had...danke freund!

Dark chocolate beignets with stout pot du creme, served with Young's Chocolate Stout. A delicious pairing from our infinitely talented pastry chef Christina Davidson. The beignets were fried, rolled in cinnamon sugar and served molten hot. The flavor of the chocolate and beer was just ridiculous and the slight cinnamon accent really made the beer shine. I should add that our wine director Daniel went to great lengths to ensure that all of the beers were served at their appropriate temperatures so that the maximum amount of flavor profile would be guaranteed. Daniel, you are a man of many talents, especially when it comes to service of our favorite fermented food group.

 

Dan Estrin's heiroglyphics, I mean, menu notations for the evenings service.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our beer dinner, we greatly appreciate your support!

-Jensen