009: Ashlee Barbito, Food Director at Semi Tropics, on Sourcing, Balance, and Access

Its been four years since I moved over to Southern California for school, and while I’m already getting antsy to call a new coast home, I also am already missing so many spots that made this place feel like home.

Semi Tropics is a natural wine shop + bar located in the Newport Beach/Costa Mesa area. When I first discovered this spot over quarantine, it stood as just a bottle shop— a single room decorated by wine labels stacked on the coolest 60s inspired wrap around wood shelves. Photogenic, welcoming, artful, and worth all the glory and hype.

A couple months later they expanded into a bar where a number of West Coast talents orchestrate an almost overwhelmingly aesthetic space (not complaining). A continuation of detailed wood work adorned with soulful lighting by Tucci and terra cotta ceramics,,,, dreamy California surf culture meets sophisticated dining room.

While I could probably expand on the architectural digest moment I’m having, I wanna get to the good part: Ah, yes, you guessed it, the food. Its all the expected things of a wine shop— bread, cheese, olives— but elevated. With every return, I get a swell of tranquility just eyeing the menu,,, it’s simple, locally influenced, colorful, all encompassing MAGIC. I got to talk with the food director, Ashlee Barbito, over zoom just a week ago and I fell in love with the gem that Semi Tropics is all over again.

Ashlee had loosely heard about Semi Tropics and had ideas of potentially getting involved with them but nothing really came to fruition until a birthday party where wine, friends, and more wine came together to celebrate. Like most of us, after 2 glasses of red Ashlee shamelessly admits she gets kind of “sassy,” eventually stating that “the food in Costa Mesa sucks”— honesty at its FINEST. The owners of Semi Tropics were at the party & after hearing this, somewhat sprung Ashlee into her current role as a food director where she curates a rotating menu, gathers sources, and coordinates all food service personnel.

Apart from her background in food services (i.e Neat Coffee, Rye Goods, etc...) she is a current student at the Academy of Healing Nutrition, which integrates concepts of Chinese medicine and holistic health. At Semi Tropics she operates by emphasizing both those ideas. Tapping into the current seasons is an avenue that makes this possible. Howeverrrr, this can be difficult in the land that is 75 degrees and sunny, 365 days a year. Working with The Ecology Center, a farm stand based in San Juan Capistrano that focuses on organic produce and an ecological experience, she mentions that the farm doesn’t always reflect whats truly in season, that Southern California, different from most climates, offers fresh cherry tomatoes even in the winter. While she actively works to respond to whats available seasonally, she’s most grateful that Semi Tropic’s owners, Kyle Kennelly and Becca Mantei, are consistent in supporting her vision, which largely reflects her personal diet— a big salad with a ton of herbs, judion beans with lemon zest (inspired by La Buvette, a boutique wine bar stationed in Paris), and other meals that demonstrate convenience.

Beyond how Ashlee forms her menu, I was most curious about how she integrates balance in her life as she occupies her time working at a wine bar but simultaneously remains a student with the Academy of Healing Nutrition. I appreciated that she discussed the difficulty in balance— that its enervating, and its not something you ever really achieve, because it truly is a life long walk. “Sometimes I drink way too much and I have to have a Mexican coke the next day, and that’s health to me at that point.” This served as a reminder that balance is not a static thing and its necessary to frequently refocus yourself to tune into the body’s inner dialogue,,, even if that means going to get a Mexican coke. Conclusively, we both meditated on the fact that balance is less about trying to be foolproof or replicating what you think is health, but about fluidity and doing what is manageable for you in every day life, throughout your life.

This prompted a conversation on accessibility and how frustratingly backwards it is that so many simple, vital, and healthful things are unavailable to so many people, especially those in marginalized and low income communities. While places like The Ecology Center are EBT compatible, offering financial support to nutritionally assist low income individuals, its necessary to recognize that these individuals have to first have access to transportation to take advantage of such benefits. Disparity gaps like this one give so much insight to the broken food system we exist in. But,,,, when relating back to food service, we could both agree that all food businesses should emphasize accessible whole foods and attainability for all. “Food is what brings people together, but in this realm it serves to keep people apart and its awfully sad when the intent of food and dining and having meals together and sitting around a table is the most communal thing you can do.”

Semi Tropics, and more specifically Ashlee, aims to propel accessibility not only by partnering with brands/people/businesses that work locally and consider reachability, but also by including frequent pop ups that include different visions of restaurants/chefs to then bring a more diverse group of people together to gather and enjoy real, sourced, unique foods.

If you're around, here’s a round up of what to order :

-2 bottles of anything that catches your eye in the bottle shop. The guys in there will help steer you in the right direction based on your preferred palette buttt I personally don’t think you can go wrong with one bottle of orange and one red blend

-Capricho de Cabra: chèvre soft goat cheese with fine herbs, served with the most mouth watering bread

-The beans (duh)

-Crudite: Seasonal veggies with parsley & tahini dipping sauce and dukkah sprinkles

More about Ashlee…..

Listening to: Christmas music, NO APOLOGIES

Drinking: G&M La Bohéme Orange Wine

Making: Anything and everything with citrus