The California Beef Council invited me on an amazing San Diego farm tour at the Flying F Ranch and dinner hosted by Whitney Bond at her beautiful bayside home. A group of us arrived at the San Diego Mission Bay Resort and we boarded a bus to drive us up to the Flying F Ranch. The ranch is located in the mountains of Santa Ysabel. We spent a couple hours touring the ranch and learning about how they raise their cattle. The owners of Flying F Ranch, Alli and Bryce Fender, live on the ranch with their 2 boys who love to help out on the farm.
Flying F Ranch in San Diego, CA
The Flying F Ranch is part of a family ranch that's been around since 1921, after Alli's relatives traveled to the United States from Switzerland. Her family came to assist a few dairies in Southern California in the hopes of starting a new life. The Santa Ysabel Ranch was a Spanish Land Grant and had three successful dairy operations that spread through the valleys and mountains of Santa Ysabel, Mesa Grande and Julian. Her grandfather helped managed two of the dairies and her family currently lives on one of them, the Mesa Chiquita Ranch. When Alli married Bryce, her father gifted them with 10 cows, which is how Flying F Ranch got started as a direct to consumer farm in 2014.
Pasture Raised and Grain Finished Cows
The Flying F Ranch provides high quality and delicious whole and half custom beef to locals in San Diego. They use spent brewers grain from local craft breweries to provide the cattle with extra nourishment and backgrounding. The leftover grain is recycled back into the finishing steers as a beneficial feed source full of protein, fiber and energy to develop delicious beef. Flying F Ranch is a BQA (Beef Quality Assurance) Certified ranch and use CAB (Certified Angus Beef) genetics. They will be offering bulk beef in whole or half shares in May-August 2024. Learn More >
Try one of our fav beef recipes!
Ranch and Restaurant Pop Up
After the ranch tour, we went to food blogger, Whitney Bond's home for an amazing beef filled dinner. We were greeted with my favorite dish of the evening, a Sous Vide Top Sirloin Steak Crostini! Whitney and her team did an amazing job cooking and serving our group the entire evening. Every dish had a beer from Viewpoint Brewing, or wine pairing from Franciscan that was served together and paired so well.
Sous Vide Top Sirloin Steak Crostini Ingredients
- 2 pounds top sirloin steak, 1 ½ inches thick
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
- 1 baguette
- olive oil cooking spray
- 8 ounces goat cheese
- 2 tablespoons horseradish cream
- balsamic reduction
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped – optional, for garnish
Other standout dishes of the evening included the Coffee Crusted Smoked Tri Tip (above) and the Brazilian-Style Rotisserie Picanha/Sirloin Cap! (below)
I hope you try some of Whitney's amazing recipes and check out Flying F Ranch in San Diego! xo, Bri
Thank you to the California Beef Council and Beef - It's What's For Dinner for including me in this amazing event. All opinions are my own.
Leave a Reply