Santa Ynez Valley Guest Current Issue Articles

Current Issue Articles
	Very few small inns can boast of having a European trained, certified Master Chef at the helm in their kitchen, much less one who prepares full-on gourmet dinners four evenings a week, not only for the inn’s guests, but for the public as well.
But the Mirabelle Inn and Restaurant in Solvang can boast of having just that. Master Chef Norbert Schulz, who has been the Consulting Chef there since February of 2009, recently took full-control of the Mirabelle’s evening cuisine.
The mailbox, framed with ivy, is ready to receive your postcard praising the Mirabelle's wonderful food, service and delightful European ambiance.	And oh what a difference a chef makes! Recent diners rave about the food, and the restaurant has already garnered some very positive reviews. Norbert Schulz was born in Germany in 1950 and began his formal culinary training as an apprentice there in 1965, working his way up to the rank of Young Chef by 1975. “I took a break then,” he recently explained. “I went to Los Angeles and worked as a Chef at Scandia for a year, then I went back to Germany and got my Master Chef certification by 1979. It’s a long process, you know, you have to go to culinary school for three years. Then you can go out in the world again.” The part of the world Norbert chose was California, and he moved to Santa Barbara in 1981, where he opened his first restaurant, Norbert’s, with his partner Brigitte Guehr, who was born and raised in France. Norbert’s was one of Santa Barbara’s first contemporary fine dining restaurants and it soon received accolades from Bon Appétit, Gourmet and many other national and local publications, as well as a strong local following.

While Norbert created miracles in the kitchen, Brigitte headed the wine program and they also received the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence for their extensive wine selections.
A short partnership with John Downey at Downey’s followed, as well as the opening of Brigitte’s, which to this day remains a Santa Barbara favorite, now known as Opal. Other restaurants owned and operated by Norbert and Brigitte were Oysters, Allegro, Fennel and Café B. During this time, Norbert trained several young chefs who became very successful in their own ventures, such as Mark and Margaret Huston at Montecito Café and Scott and Ann Mason at the Ketchum Grill.

Photo of Chef Norbert by Gretchen Bender

Master Chef Norbert’s enthusiastic smile
and greying beard echo the sculpted face of Bacchus, the Greek god of food and wine, who very appropriately welcomes guests at the entrance to Mirabelle Inn and Restaurant.

  After the sale of his restaurants, Norbert consulted and headed the kitchens at Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos, the Santa Ynez Feed and Grill and the Santa Barbara Club. He still executes some private dinner parties and events.
   Now Norbert has once again teamed up with Brigitte at the Mirabelle Inn and Restaurant. If past history is a good predictor of the future, their restaurant will become as popular as their past ventures. They are certainly off to a good start.
Welcome, Master Chef Norbert Schulz. We look forward to many good meals in your restaurant.
  People visiting or planning to visit the Santa Ynez Valley will definitely want to reserve one of the Mirabelle Inn’s ten romantic guest rooms, which are individually decorated, featuring antiques, fireplaces, some jacuzzi tubs, luxuriously soft beds and comfy duvets. The inn also provides televisions in every room, DVD’s and WiFi.

The menu is posted outside so you can plan your dinner.

Complimentary breakfast and afternoon wine and appetizers are served in the parlor.Also available are concierge service and spa treatments. Guests can also arrange to go on winery tours with Brigitte Guehr, who is a wine connoiseur and expert on both California and European wines. With its wine celler firmly under Brigitte’s direction, the Mirabelle Inn and Restaurant has already won the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence for 2009-2010 for it’s extensive wine list, which offers the best local vintages, as well as rare older Napa and Sonoma vintages. We expect them to be soon winning more awards for Norbert’s cuisine.
A “Mirabelle” is a type of small plum that grows in the part of France where Brigitte grew up, and it must be a delicious plum, indeed, judging by Mirabelle Inn and Restaurant.