When locals lamented the closure of Solvang’s Bacon & Brine in August 2017, many didn’t know that Crystal DeLongpré — better known as Chef Pink — landed a new job just two months later. That’s because Chef Pink had so many changes to make at Root 246, the restaurant at Hotel Corque owned by Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, her arrival there wasn’t announced until last fall.
“I don’t think of this place as being a hotel restaurant,” said Chef Pink recently, “but we had to prove ourselves when I started. Hey, we can do this kind of food in this environment, and people are going to embrace it.”
“This kind of food” is not only scrumptious, but also sustainable, fresh, regional, ethical — as usual. Chef Pink says the goal is “not just to make food delicious, but to maintain the integrity and keep the price down.” The volume at Root 246, with banquets and room service, is too great to do what she did at Bacon & Brine, namely raise her own pigs. “But everything [at Root 246] is pasture-raised, sustainable,” she pledged, “done the correct way.”