Toma, the popular Italian restaurant across from the harbor on W. Cabrillo Boulevard, is entering a new era. After 20 years, Tom and Vicki Dolan are retiring, and they’ve sold the business to Julian Sanders and Sam Grant. You may recall Sanders from his time as an owner/operator of Café Ana or handling beverage service at Caruso’s, while Grant has most recently been a silent partner in Best Pizza & Brew in Oceanside and Shorehouse Kitchen in Carlsbad.
The official takeover will happen next month; in the meantime, Grant and Sanders will be at the restaurant getting the hang of things. According to a press release, “the restaurant will not undergo any immediate changes, respecting famous dishes such as the tuna cones and rigatoni. Future plans include implementing tableside cart service, sourcing from local purveyors, and installing booths in the dining room.”
The release also says that there may be more restaurants to come; the other partners in the company, PSG Worldwide, are Richard Sanders (“a third-generation Santa Barbara resident [whose] family has been active in the local commercial real estate community for more than 75 years”) and Bill Parsons, former chairman and CEO of TS Restaurants, where Grant spent much of his career.
················
Sign up for the Siteline email newsletter for the freshest food news in town.
Adding booths in this intimate restaurant, to me, will change the uniqueness considerably. Booths are for chains and the mundane.
Very true