Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/760410
$ z w i n t e r 2 0 1 7 | 5 3 PASADENA-BASED CHEF CLAUD BELTRAN SHOWS HIS L.A. PRIDE IN SUPPORT OF RIBOLI FAMILY WINE ESTATES' SAN SIMEON OFFERINGS by Jessie Birschbach / photos by Cal Bingham L Angeles is a big city. But being a part of the supportive food and wine community makes it feel a lot smaller. One chef in a particular, Chef Claud Beltran, hailing from Pasadena, is par- ticularly proud of his Angeleno heritage. Outside of cooking, one of Chef Beltran's favorite things to do is to introduce his guests to San Simeon wines. San Simeon is a Monterey/Paso Robles–based tier of the Riboli Family Wine Estates portfolio, made at the family's original San Antonio Winery, which has operated in Down- town Los Angeles since 1917. Says Beltran, "I love turning people onto this wine. Almost every time they'll say to me, 'Man, this is really good; what is this?' And I get to say this is actually from a winery here in Los Angeles. The grapes were grown up north in the fam- ily's estate vineyards, but the wine was barrel-aged, blended, and bottled here in L.A. San Antonio has great vineyard holdings in Paso Robles, Napa and Monterey, and the end result is really good. Killer fruit and we do very well with it here." I stood at a metal counter watching Beltran kneading a giant bowl of gnocchi for the seasonal menu of his newest restaurant in Pasadena, Bacchus' Kitchen. The sun from the windows at the top of the high-ceilinged open kitchen shone onto the gray-haired, sparkly blue-eyed chef like a warm spotlight. The brick-covered Bacchus' Kitchen isn't Beltran's only baby, though. He also owns Eatery, a Pasadena staple with a rotating, thematic menu, in addition to running a catering business, Claud & Co., while Angeleno Love