If you can’t bring the people to you, you have to go to the people. At least that’s the way the Rosenson family saw it. Since 2005, they have owned Coquelicot Estate Vineyard just outside of Solvang. But knowing, as Jonathan Rosenson understated it, that “land use in the valley is pretty strict,” they opted to buy the Mirabelle Inn in Solvang as a hospitality center of sorts for their winery rather than build something on the estate itself.
Key to that hospitality is their new restaurant, First & Oak. Rosenson tells a story of a recent trip to Tokyo that crystalized what First & Oak hopes to accomplish. “I was eating at this high-end steak house with wagyu and Kobe beef, and on the five-page wine list alongside the usual Bordeauxs and Barolos are a bunch of Santa Barbara County wines,” he explained. “It’s clear we’ve made it; we’re international now. We’re a world contender in wine, and we need world-class food to match that.”
To that end, the Rosensons hired Chef Steven Snook, a fixture in Michelin-rated restaurants and protégé of Gordon Ramsay, who has also worked at Kenwood Inn in Napa. Snook composes plates with the eye of a painter, but the man can cook, too, pulling off slightly odd combinations such as a lobster dish with crunchy granola or French-style duck breast sous vide with Asian red miso sauce. “The dishes are layered with flavors, textures, complexity,” said Rosenson. “A lot of thought and care goes into each dish.”
