Chefs participating in the recent Santa Barbara Culinary Experience’s Founders Dinner at The Lark were, from left, Jason Paluska of The Lark, emcee Billy Harris, Nancy Silverton of the Mozza restaurant Group; Suzanne Goin and Javier Espinosa of The Lucques Group, and Michael Cimarusti and Crisi Echiverri of Providence. 
Eric Spivey, chairman of the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, at the Santa Barbara Culinary Experience’s Founders Dinner at The Lark. 
The memory — and enthusiasm — for the late Julia Child was evident at the inaugural Founders Dinner for the upcoming Santa Barbara Culinary Experience.
The late Julia Child was known the world over for her culinary accomplishments as a chef, author and television personality.
Locals in Santa Barbara saw a much different side of the celebrity as the longtime Montecito resident shared her love for food, drink and life in chance encounters at farmers markets, grocery stores and her favorite restaurants.
Many of us, myself included, have their own Julia Child stories to tell, thanks to her gracious accessibility right up to her death, on Aug. 13, 2004, two days shy of her 92nd birthday.
Since attending an inaugural cocktail party last year at The Montecito Club, I’ve anxiously awaited the opportunity to participate in the Santa Barbara Culinary Experience, an expansive three-day celebration of Child and her local legacy.
The epicurean festivities, in partnership with the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, will be held March 13-15 at locations around the community.
In support of “the Experience,” a Founders Dinner for 40 was held over the weekend at The Lark in the Funk Zone.
After a cocktail and wine hour, guests settled in at long, family-style tables to share the evening’s meal, which was paired with multiple wines. According to vintner Doug Margerum, some of the wines were brought in from fellow vintners’ personal cellars and private collections.
Labels on hand were Ampelos Cellars, Babcock Winery, Bien Nacido Vineyards, Las Hermanas Vineyard, Margerum Estate, Melville Winery, Pence Vineyards and Presqu’ile.
Welcoming guests to The Lark was Sherry Villanueva, who also owns nearby Loquita and Tyger Tyger, among other Funk Zone favorites. She introduced an array of local luminaries and the real draw of the evening: a culinary all-star team that included The Lark executive chef Jason Paluska with award-winning chefs Michael Cimarusti, a co-owner of Providence in Los Angeles; Suzanne Goin of the Lucques Group of Los Angeles restaurants and the now-closed Hungry Cat in Santa Barbara; and Nancy Silverton, co-owner of co-owner of Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles and Newport Beach.
Oohs and ahs were in abundance from Goin’s first course of arugula, local citrus, avocado, stracciatella and Santa Barbara pistachios.
That was followed by Cimarusti’s black cod, sweet peas, radishes and black truffles and Paluska’s eight-hour smoked Wagyu beef ribs, spring garlic cornbread, Texas barbecue gastrique and sweet and spicy pickles.
Capping off the evening with Silverton’s dessert of a brioche tart, caramel prunes, zabaglione and spiced nuts.
All guests left with cookbooks, macarons and chocolate from Providence.
I drove home from the evening with a feeling of delicious satisfaction and and ready for the full Santa Barbara Culinary Experience. Somehow I think Julia Child would approve.
Click here for more information about the Santa Barbara Culinary Experience. Click here for a complete schedule of events.
— Judy Foreman is a Noozhawk columnist and longtime local writer and lifestyles observer. She can be contacted at news@noozhawk.com. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are her own.