Municipal Winemakers Is Leaving the Funk Zone

••• Funk Zone pioneer Municipal Winemakers announced that its tasting room at 22 Anacapa Street will close on January 25. The whole statement is worth a read, but here’s the part about Muni’s presence in town going forward:

Most of you already know this because you’re already spending time there: Potek Winery has become our Santa Barbara hub. It’s where we make the wine and where I’ve been hanging out. I know that many of you have been doing the same (because I see you there). We’re all crushing Third Window’s smashburgers with our Sangiovese, mountains in the background, lots of space to breathe and for the family to spread out. Starting in February, we’re launching a weekend Muni pop-up bar there, so you’ll get all the Muni wines you love in the space you’re already choosing. And then there’s Ventura. If you haven’t made it down to The Avenue yet, I hope you will. It reminds me so much of what I loved about the early Funk Zone— independent, unpretentious, full of possibility. It’s where Muni feels like itself again.

••• Nearby at 42 Helena Avenue, meanwhile, the plan for a seafood-and-cocktail bar is off, and a “for sale or rent” sign is posted on the rear facade. (The price is $2.65 million.) Related: I was disappointed to see that SB Biergarten has blocked the paseo that runs between Helena Avenue and Anacapa Street with a table, so you have to weave through the restaurant.

••• “Any update on the opening of the Lucky Penny outpost in Los Olivos?” asked M. “It hasn’t seen much activity and wondering if it got hung up by the County or something.” I couldn’t tell you why there might have been a delay, but Acme Hospitality says the restaurant should open early this year.

••• I can’t be the only fan of Aperitivo who was excited to see that the restaurant has introduced paper menus (instead of a QR code). And while I know folks who are disappointed that it no longer serves pasta (you can go around the corner to Manifattura for that), my husband and I had a satisfying meal of marinated artichokes, a salad of arugula and roasted delicata squash, polenta with braised boar, and an especially excellent bruschetta with pickled mushrooms, radicchio, and prosciutto. Plus, we walked right in.

••• Merci is now closing at 3 p.m. “in preparation for dinner hours. Stay tuned for official dinner launch and menu.”

••• Happy Cat Eats is proposing to convert its two parking spaces to more outdoor seating.

••• The former Backstage at 409 State Street (Gutierrez and Haley) is now a nightclub called Son y Sabor (according to the sign outside and the Instagram account) or Sabor y Son (according to Yelp and the liquor license transfer).

••• A profile of Que, now open at the Santa Barbara Public Market, includes the news that its parent restaurant, Whiskey ‘N Rye in Solvang, is in the process of signing a lease for a Santa Barbara location. —Independent

••• According to the liquor-license notice in the window of Cantwell’s Market & Deli (1533 State Street, at Arrellaga), the new proprietor is Pradeep’s Inc., a business owned by Pradeep Shastri, the developer of that lot. The plan calls for 27 apartments, with space for the store on the State Street side.

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