Another Vegan Restaurant Is Closing

••• Oliver’s, Green Table, Mesa Verde…. Santa Barbara vegans are losing yet another option: Fala Bar‘s last day at the Santa Barbara Public Market is January 31. “This is mainly due to rising costs,” the owners told Restaurant Guy. “We will be returning to our roots by opening Haas’s Fine Ice Cream, adjacent to Little Alex’s at Five Points. The shop will be back at its original space, where my Dad opened in 1982.”

••• And Pascucci Restaurant (509 State Street) has lost its lease and will close in mid-March after 31 years at various locations; it’s looking for a new location. —Noozhawk

••• According to the plans submitted in advance of the Historic Landmarks Commission’s January 29 agenda, the Runyon development at 301 E. Yanonali (at the northeast corner of Garden Street) will include 23 shops and, more pertinent to this post, four or five* restaurants, ranging in size from 527 square feet to 3,174 square feet. The project had previously been referred to as Platform Santa Barbara, as in a sister to Runyon’s Platform in Culver City, but that name doesn’t appear in the current plans, possibly because someone pointed out that the complex at 126 E. Haley Street—home to Renegade Wines, Organic Soup Kitchen, and others—is also called The Platform. Anyway, here’s a rendering (which doesn’t show the proposed trees) and the ground-floor and second-floor floor plans; the tan spaces are restaurants. (*A list in the plans includes five restaurants, but the floor plans only show four.)

••• Oat Bakery‘s Goleta outpost is now open Tuesdays, which great because thats when I always seem to want to go there for lunch.

••• An Independent profile of Bar Lou says that the restaurant at Hotel El Roblar in Ojai will be called the Condor Bar, and the hotel is “expected to open later this year.”

••• Considered Coffee is now at The Factory (616 E. Haley Street) every “Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and we’ll add more days as it picks up. We have pop-ups scheduled for every weekend in February with other food vendors and friends there, and there are picnic tables, wifi, and bathroom access. The shortie school bus tagged out the VW bus and will be moving around town to all our other service locations and doing private events. Both operations also have an expanded menu now, too.”

••• “The Lompoc City Council voted  2 to 1 in favor of supporting the Santa Barbara County Vintners Association’s ongoing campaign to establish a 1% assessment on wine sales in the county. However, two members recused themselves due to industry ties, meaning that the 3-vote requirement to grant such an assessment within city limits was not achieved. […] That means Lompoc will not be included in any of the organization’s future marketing efforts, and will be removed from advertising campaigns, maps, events, and so forth.” —Independent

••• I thought this donation line on the bill at a local restaurant was interesting, so I posted it on Instagram, along with a caption pointing out that it would be more meaningful if the restaurant was matching any amount. (I didn’t name the restaurant because my goal was not to shame it, so please don’t include it in a comment.) While I don’t doubt for one second the good intentions behind the donation line—and encourage everyone who can to donate to help those impacted by the fires—it struck me as virtue signaling without costing the restaurant anything; in fact, the cynical among us see the opportunity to shift the tax deduction from the donor to the restaurant. Most folks who replied agreed with me, but a few didn’t, which is certainly fine—it would just be great if we could have a conversation about complex matters without my being called “just another asshole with an opinion,” even if it’s true.

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Comment:

25 Comments

Dennis

It’s no different than the supermarkets hitting us up for donations after they’ve overcharged us.

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J

I often hear this argument that businesses collecting donations are gaining an undue tax benefit and I’d love to understand how people figure. If properly accounted for the donation is a liability that’s passed through, and the business is not entitled to a deduction. The original donor is and should keep receipts. Alternatively, the business could book as revenue and then offset with a donation, making it a neutral event. I’m not a tax expert, but this is my basic understanding. Someone educate me.

Sure, the business benefits from
goodwill, but it does take a little administrative overhead to run such an effort.

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JC

This is functionally correct. There is no way for the business to benefit in a tax sense without violating the law.

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Jenna

Enough with all these subpar restaurant openings and poor quality vegan options. Joi Cafe and Erewhon, if you’re listening please come to SB! In the meantime, I’ll stick to the SYV farm stands and cooking everything myself :)

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Mike Jones

Erewhon would be an incredible addition! How about at the new Post Montecito?

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ES Corchero

Erewhon needs to be in a location with parking (visit the one in Calabasas to understand) and I am just not sure the Post is a big enough spot or is really ideal traffic-wise.

I’d love to see it in place of Pavillions (what a let-down that Vons is) or where the failed development on the corner of State and Gutierrez downtown (again parking might be a real problem) or where Sprouts is on Milpas.

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J

Never going to stop correcting the misconception that The Post is in Montecito. It is not literally nor is it figuratively, try as they might to position it that way. As someone born and raised in Montecito, the freeway is the divide. The Post belongs squarely to Santa Barbara, along with the bird refuge, the Zoo, and the East Beach volleyball courts. Santa Barbara is allowed to have nice things too! And for the record I think Runyon is doing a fantastic job with it. Thank you for tolerating this asinine post (pun intended?)

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Hefe

Their address is Santa Barbara. Naming it Montecito is a better descriptor/locator and a smart business decision.

J2

J, if the freeway is the cutoff, would you then agree that Rosewood and the esteemed Coral Casino are also Montecito Pretenders?

D

I wasn’t born here, but the freeway is not actually the divider according to maps from Santa Barbara County as well as the Montecito Fire District. These boundaries are also reflected in GIS data and any online mapping tool.

Butterfly Beach, Coral Casino, etc, are all in Montecito and south of the 101.

Ironically, neither the Montecito Club nor Coast Village Road are actually in Montecito, but rather, in the city of Santa Barbara. However, people accept them as Montecito in practice, just like this new development will be.

Conversely, the “Santa Barbara Cemetery” is actually in Montecito, in spite of the name and being South of the 101.

DJ

Do we really need another grossly overpriced “super” market? Erewhon makes Lazy Acres look like Walmart.

Roy

Tamara there is no need to announce that you are cooking your pie healthy meals sister! Just keep on doing what’s right for you and there is no need to let everyone know. We don’t care.

R.

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Roy

Tamara there is no need to announce that you are cooking your healthy meals sister! Just keep on doing what’s right for you and there is no need to let everyone know. We don’t care.

R.

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Pete

I had been told this Runyon development was going to be where Erewhon was looking to build their location but these plans don’t indicate that. Too bad. Underground parking would be nice as well.

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Toasteroven

Happy to see Oat is expanding their hours for that location, love their sandwiches.

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Art

Not very clear what LAFD is. Is it for county or city fire department? or some unnamed charity?

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JB

I love reading your opinions, and, don’t think you’re an asshole – for whatever it’s worth!

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Christine!

Sorry to see the news from SBCVA- about omitting Lompoc from its media- how on earth will their media output not look ridiculous?

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John Jorgensen

The latest images in the article I find confusing from prior presentations to the City and further confusing as the building layout is rotated near 180 degrees. The perspective view also seems to hide the second floor to the east on Yanonali. The prior siteline article from April 2023 was much easier to digest.

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Nick Thiel

The sad truth, none of these vegan restaurants were very good. When Oliver’s first opened it was great, and then steadily went down hill year after year until we stopped going. The best plant based food in Santa Barbara is at the Miramar resort. In my opinion Chef Massimo is the best plant based chef in California but very expensive. Would love if he opened a more casual vegan restaurant in town.

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Keith

Am I the only one who thinks it odd that they are building a new one-story retail building in a city supposedly starved for housing? One or two floors of housing, affordable or otherwise, would fit here well. To solve the housing crisis we are going to have to get rid of the housing/retail apartheid mindset. This looks like another opportunity lost.

P.S, I don’t think you are an asshole either!

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