••• Dart Coffee Co. has taken over the Airstream outside Godmothers bookstore in Summerland. It opens tomorrow, with the same hours as at the other Dart cafés (7 a.m.-4 p.m, Monday through Thursday, and 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday through Sunday). “We want to maintain the class act that the bookstore represents,” says David Dart. “We’ve been upgrading all coffee and water equipment, espresso machine, grinders, teas, R/O system, and so on.” The Airstream poses some constraints, so while the food (pastries, burritos, empanadas) and beverages are similar to what’s at the Funk Zone and harbor cafés, there are slightly fewer drink options.
••• Elsewhere at Godmothers, you can find a holiday pop-up of Meghan Markle’s As Ever line of jams, teas, etc., on the second floor. —805Foodie
••• Great news: Aegean is now accepting reservations. And an Independent profile of the restaurant says that chef Efe Onoglu plans to open a mercantile one day.
••• Speaking of reservations…. I love Little Mountain—the food, the service, everything. But I’ve been surprised that, unlike pretty much every significant restaurant around here, it doesn’t allow you to choose inside or out while reserving. There’s simply a warning on the booking engine: “The majority of our tables are on our heated covered and uncovered patios. Indoor seating is primarily reserved for larger parties. Please share any seating preferences when booking, and we’ll do our very best to accommodate.” While this is less of an issue now that the restaurant is taking a seasonal break from seating people on the uncovered terrace, you might want to dress accordingly.
••• L. asked where to find hot mulled wine. The Miracle holiday pop-up at Pearl Social is serving it. Has anyone seen it elsewhere? UPDATE: WM says Satellite has it. UPDATE 12/8: Add Imperial Lounge to the list, says S.
••• According to an Independent profile of Bistro Amasa, “lunch service should be in place at the beginning of 2026, and eventually, there might even be a cocktail lounge on the Upham’s front porch.”
••• An update from Rish Rozera about the plan for the former L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele space (1031 State, between Carrillo and Figueroa): “We’ve decided not to go with the name Social anymore. Instead, we’re bringing back the original name of the building: The Copper Coffee Pot. It also won’t be just a pizzeria. We’re turning it into a full café and restaurant, so we’ll have the freedom to serve both American and Italian food. Our new menu is ready, and right now we’re just waiting for the health permit to be approved under the new name.” The Copper Coffee Pot Café in Ventura may have some thoughts about this….
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Just call it ‘The Copper Kettle Café’ or ‘The Copper Cup & Kettle’ people will understand, and you won’t have to get into a whole thing with the Ventura place.
At this point just go with The New Original Cafe (iykyk)
Satellite has great mulled wine!
Re: Little Mountain
We are there last week. When you pay, check your bill, and note there is an extra 5% additional fee, so you may not want to give a 25% tip.
Better yet, don’t patronize places with add on charges. Reward places that price honestly to begin with. I’d much rather see a higher, but accurate price, on the menu, than a footnote.
Agree! (in very small print):
“Supplemental Santa Barbara liveable wage and benefits charge” ?!! How do we know staff ever gets it? That’s deceptive at best.
Instant drop to 15% and a comment on the ticket explaining why. Should be illegal for restaurants to create extra charges out of thin air.
The lack of generosity above is truly astonishing. Santa Barbara is an extraordinarily expensive place to live, as we all know. The 5% toward team members that we sometimes see at restaurants is a very small contribution to help ameliorate the cost of living — many restaurant employees have to commute long distances to get to work. And what is with the cynicism that the 5% charge doesn’t go to the employees? Do you think all businesspeople are liars? I too have dined at Little Mountain — and have noted that the servers seem particularly happy to be working there. Perhaps it is partially due to this small, but generous offering of 5% which is clearly listed — and OPTIONAL — on the menu. The folks above above are the same people who under-tip, never imagine what its like to raise a family on a server’s income in a city where a cheap apartment is $5k/mo. Imagine outside of your bubble of privilege and you will see why this is a necessary tool for local businesses to keep good team members. I pay the 5% and thank my lucky stars we finally have some glamorous places to eat in town that also treat their staff with dignity.
What if, and bear with me here because this is complicated, restaurants just paid their staff normally and charged prices that reflected those expenses, i.e. like every other business in existence.
Extra charges/fees are cash grabs that diminishes the dining experience. Tipping is out of control, then layer in the fees, and I ask myself if I want to come back to that establishment. I’d rather see a higher price on the menu to know what my true costs are vs dealing with these up-charges at the end of the meal.
I intensely to test Sur charges for the cost of doing business. Will they give back 5% profits to the patrons when they do extremely well? If they are running a successful business, then they need to pay their staff accordingly. When they stop paying taxes on tips, that will be a huge windfall and pay raise. I truly appreciate good service, but high-end restaurants can can afford to pay for good employees.
Geo , you know absolutely nothing about the restaurant business.
That 5% would go to all employees proportionate to their hours I would presume compared to tips where more skilled staff take a higher percentage, bartenders and servers more than bussers and barbacks. Is that separated out from wages to reduce payroll costs and workers comp?
I think just charge more. There is a feeling of can I trust its actually being given to the employees in full. People generally dont like being nickle and dimed.
The Copper Coffee Pot gets my nod.
Agreed. The Pizza Social name and concept was doomed from the start. Great idea to leverage the history of the place. I hope they bring a good chef in. I’d hate for that space to become like the one across from the courthouse.
The Copper Coffee Pot name will be the kiss of death unless it’s another breakfast spot.
Just call it “The Copper”
Little Mountain just isn’t organized. Everyone is very nice and the atmosphere stylish, but there is something wrong with it. The food is weird, portions (even though they are for sharing) are too big, many of the tastes just don’t work, wine pours are 4 oz. and the tables are too small to accommodate all the dishes. I may try it again, but not for a while.
I agree about the skimpy wine pour. However, we loved the shared entrees (chicken and salmon) with their special rice. Yes there were leftovers but the chicken tasted even better the next day. Little Mountain is one of our new favourite places!