The SB Post

epicure.sb - October 6th: 1st Thursday

Posted On: Thursday, Oct 13, 2011 4:58 PM

1st Thursday is an evening of art and culture in Downtown Santa Barbara. On the first Thursday of each month, participating galleries and cultural art venues open their doors from 5 to 8 p.m. offering the public free access to art and fun in a social environment. The October 6th event hosted a handful of epicurean-inspired art exhibits such as Whatever the Cuisine by Andre Monlleo on view at Bella Rosa Galleries, a meet-and-greet with the co-founders of Edible Communities – the nation’s largest publishing company dedicated to the local foods movement, and the art of flan was put to the test at CASA Magazine as they hosted their 3rd Annual Flan competition.

The outdoor performances along State Street really took the cake though as Santa Barbara Canning, a company dedicated to teaching and continuing the effort to encourage sustainability throughout Santa Barbara, offered food canning demonstrations on the Santa Barbara Museum of Art corner, and the historic Casa de la Guerra played host to the 3rd Annual Downtown Taste-Off. The featured category for this year’s Taste-Off was chocolate - yum!

Indulged – Cuisine is rarely featured during 1st Thursday, as the main focus is art. However an exception was made for the October event while epicure.sb was in full force.  The Downtown Chocolate Taste-Off certainly had my sweet tooth aching as seven downtown restaurants entered their best chocolate rendition for judging. Entries included decadent items such as Valrhona Chocolate Fondant with Lemon, Double Chocolate Mousse Pie, Triple Chocolate Crunch Truffles,  a gluten-free and vegan chocolate cupcake and more! Pierre Lafond Wine Bistro ultimately stole the show with their Salted Caramel Bittersweet Chocolate Tart with Cantilly and Caramel Oreo Popcorn. This salty-and-sweet combination had everyone going in for a second bite, and the dish walked away with the night’s honor of Best Chocolate.

Imbibed – Close to 20 different venues along the 1st Thursday route offered wine for art-lovers to enjoy while they perused the walls and chatted with fellow artists. Many of the wines poured were from local vintners right here in Santa Barbara County.

Inspired – 1st Thursday embraces culture at every stop on the map! Upwards of 40 cultural venues took part in the October event and showcased a local artist or musician. The artwork changes from month to month to keep the evening exciting, and you can always count on Santa Barbara locals to pop up on State Street with their own unique musical renditions and art displays. At the end of the night, I walked away feeling stuffed with both chocolate and culture!