••• Alma Fonda Fina will introduce a new, more casual menu—and possibly a name change—sometime next month. (Here’s hoping the suadero taco, above, makes the cut.) There will still be table service, though.
••• My understanding is that the plan for Skyfield, at the southwest corner of Anacapa Street and Ortega Street, no longer includes a restaurant. But that’s all I’ve heard.
••• If you’d like a sneak peek at The Grand on State (1218 State Street), it’s having a New Year’s Eve party; tickets are $75 per person and include music and hors d’oeuvres (but the party is BYOB).
••• Jamie Slone Wines has opened a sparkling wine bar, Santa Barbara Bubbly Lounge, at 23 E. De La Guerra Street. (Enter via Jamie Slone Wines or the Street in Spain paseo.) And both venues have hot mulled wine.
••• The inaugural Coffee Culture Fest—”where caffeine meets creativity”—will be March 28 at the Marjorie Luke Theatre and Santa Barbara Junior High School.
••• I did a little recon in Ventura the other morning. First stop: Room Service Coffee, with coffee from Coastal Coffee Collective and pastries by Skylar Bryce. It’s in the Gasworks adaptive-reuse project by Becker Group that calls to mind The Mill here in Santa Barbara. Everything was great, and I’ll have to return for the biscuit, which looked remarkable. Also, there’s plentiful outdoor seating (not shown). P.S. Type “Room Service” into Google Maps and it serves up actual hotels. How is that remotely helpful? (Adding “Coffee” will get you to the café.)
••• Second stop: Buena Bodega, Tessa Bigtree’s fun addition to Midtown Ventura. It’s a shop-restaurant hybrid, with a menu of breakfast and lunch items (with more to come) and a lot of intriguing products on the shelves. I had the bodega chopped bagel—the bacon was a welcome, if rather treif, addition—and a donut, for research purposes. And then I picked out a bunch of things to give my family for Christmas and forgot to actually buy them. P.S. A restaurant called Luke’s on Main (“mostly sandwiches”) is opening next door.
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$17 dollars for a bagel? Not even the eddy is that crazy 😆
Glad to hear Alma is becoming more casual. Hopefully the menu will be more akin to their successful Corazon sisters.
Wish they could just call it Corazon Montecito and have the same delicious menu. Los Agaves seems to do well with that model.
It was inevitable that they would pivot to something casual. I wonder if they’ve considered renaming to… “Little Alex’s”
“Corazon Montecito” would be my bet as well. When I first heard Corazon was opening in Montecito, I assumed it would be the same fabulous menu as Corazon in the SB Marketplace. Some of the best Ceviches and Mexican food in town ! And please have Corazon’s tortilla chips on the menu . .. best in town !!!!
Agree. No one wants to spend $33 on an enchilada and eat it in a parking lot. Have the same Corazon as the Public Market and it will be a hit!
Either that or bring back Little Alex’s (and Peabodys! :))
I may have heard or read that public market doesn’t want them duplicating the same menu. May be why Empty Bowl opened with a different name in Montecito (and sadly failed).
That’s not true
I wonder if the landlord for a Montecito restaurant space are only expecting a level of rent that could be paid by a casual restaurant that sells tacos and burritos.
A nod to CVR row to identify as Summerland 🤷♀️. … less expensive rent rates. Who doesn’t love the vibe of Summerland?