Jazz at the Ranch Platforms Great Food and…Los Lobos

October 15, 2024 – For a long time, it’s been a tasty irony that what seems like the middle of nowhere turns out to be the most important place possible. 

At least that’s true for the students at Rancho Cielo—and the communities they grow to support. 

The nonprofit sits out on its 100-acre Youth Campus, off Old Stage Road in Salinas, with roughly nothing around it. It’s there that it empowers high school students to turn trouble into triumph, teaching kids caught up in the legal system skills they can build a life and career around.

As Edible has spotlighted in the past, that includes training in automobile repair, construction and agricultural mechanical/electrical.

And it includes an award-winning culinary program helmed by chef Esteban Jimenez and general manager Wanda Straw that not only preps students to anchor events like Pebble Beach Food & Wine dinners, but host their own dining series, and staff area restaurants desperately in need of qualified cooks.

That epicurean acumen was on dramatic display earlier this month with the annual Taste of Markon. 

For the event, the Markon Cooperative Produce Company sends some 30 member chefs—from all over the world—to meet, brainstorm, mentor and cook with Rancho Cielo students.

Heading into 2024’s event, the collaboration had already raised more than $60,000 since 2021, uplifting 300 DCA students along the way, as the academy’s front-of-house instructor Laura Nicola highlights. 

“The opportunity for our students to work with such great chefs during a ‘real-life’ dinner service is priceless,” she says. 

Edible’s Aga Simpson was there to collect a few highlights. That started with predictable wow on the plate, with dishes like beet-dyed deviled eggs with crispy anchovies, shrimp paella bites with sticky saffron rice, pickled romaine kimchi, smoked pork belly-shrimp-and-grits, Meyer lemon infused halibut and leek terrine.

That came with accompanying perspective. 

“Being a chef is all about giving back,” said chef Gareth Burg of Charlotte, North Carolina. “We were lucky to have great mentors, and now it’s time to give back. These kids are incredible, and this program is unlike anything else.”

Marina-based chef Holly Jackson—who prioritizes serving as a mentor while juggling her thriving catering operation—echoed the sentiment.

“Cooking helped me discover that I can fit in and find my place in the kitchen among the crew,” she said. “I want these kids to have the same sense of belonging.”

Katlyn, a Drummond student who was paired with a chef from Michigan on desserts, was clearly enthralled by the exposure.   

“It’s great to work with all these chefs from all over the country,” she said. “It’s like having all these different plates with different cultures on them.”

Retired judge and former county supervisor John Phillips noted how rich the curriculum has grown to be, ticking off the robust gardening program, apiary program, dog training program, bike program, horse program and fishing program. (He founded Rancho Cielo after years seeking proactive solutions for juveniles in need of opportunity, not incarceration.)

Now Rancho Cielo’s transforming its rural headquarters into a destination with a whole new dimension.

This weekend’s Jazz at the Ranch (October 18-20) marks the second installment of the music fest, but the first that concentrates what was a weeks-long series into a loaded three-day slate.

The performances—assembled in collaboration with Monterey Jazz Festival—promise to be memorable.

Blues virtuoso Chris Cain, Australian singer-songwriter Sarah McKenzie, the Monterey Jazz Festival Regional All-Star Combo, Nicolas Bearde and the Full Spectrum Jazz Band, and the Latin Jazz Collective with John Nava will all play.

Then, on Sunday, Los Lobos will deliver the headlining show—as in the same Los Lobos who have won five Grammys, including one in 2022, across five decades as industry legends.

And while the lineup proves prodigious, so does the food, which comes included. 

On top of the students and Jimenez curating their own smorgasbord of strolling snacks, local craft beer and small-plot wines will also be available for purchase. 

Participating purveyors, in alphabetical order, include: 

• Alvarado Street Brewery
• Amapola Kitchen & Wine
• Ardent Culinaire Catering
• Bayonet Grill
• Cultura Carmel
• Folktale Winery & Vineyard
• Jerome’s Carmel Valley Market
• The Meatery
• Stonies Taphouse & Bistro
• The Salad Shoppe
• Tacos on the Go

All proceeds will funnel directly to Rancho Cielo’s arts and mental health programs. 

The shorter version of this story could simply read: Los Lobos are headlining a festival that does life-changing work that boosts the community in hard-to-quantify ways—and there’s outstanding eats included. 

But that wouldn’t do justice to a special place that’s not just launching young locals from next to nowhere to very special places, it’s plugging supporters into an area treasure that often goes overlooked. 

“It’s really great to see the venue utilized in this capacity because it’s such an intimate venue—with the mountain range behind you and Salinas Valley below,” says Straw. “People might be surprised this is in their backyard, as it is kind of secluded. Then as they come and help benefit such a great cause with all these students participating, the event’s really got just a feel-good vibe to it.”

More on tickets and Jazz at the Rancho Cielo via its website and event page.