I was saying just the opposite and defending the many great employees at the restaurants. It’s really tough work and I did it for a few years long ago in my 20’s and was exhausted every night, so I have great admiration for every hardworking restaurant and cafe worker in this town.
Eat at Opal on State Street. Great food and Richard is a great guy with great life views.
Will the UP Bridge be double tracked to allow for future expansion?
Jefferson — There’s no mention of undocumented labor anywhere. It just says immigrants.
That's quite the claim, any proof he's using undocumented labor in his restaurants or are you just pulling that out of the air?
Good to know, these things matter.
It’s giving San Bernardino. But hey, at least we’ll have six lanes of backed up traffic instead of four.
Jack F gaggin...you house was built off the backs of immigrant labor - seriosuly, cope harder. My husband worked at luckys and was treated very well with big xmas bonuses, Stop speaking for others you have nothing to do with!! LOL
Jack is the type of people that drive around Teslas with burbling self hate
AFC - looking to discriminate based on politics. That's close minded.
Its all good! Just make sure you understand, you are close minded person. 100%.
IMHO the Lamb Kofta sandwich at Tamar is not only one of the tastiest offerings at Tamar-it's one of the tastiest offerings in the greater SB area!
Gene has made a portion of his considerable wealth off the backs of immigrant labor — the same people the party he financially contributes to is currently terrorizing. If you can look the other way and still claim he’s a good man, I admire your ignorance and privilege. Money made from the Montesano group businesses has been contributed directly to Trump and MAGA in 2016, 2020 and 2024. It’s on public record and easy to look up. His businesses deserve to be boycotted not celebrated.
I don’t know anything about the owners politics but we do go to Lucky’s and Tre Lune for special occasions and there are employees that have been there forever. I’m a liberal but inquiring about the politics of of every cafe and restaurant I go to might be an onerous and not always happy task.
I recently had a friend take residence at Serenity House- what a asset to the community- and drove the road for the first time...I was facinated by the low lyinging buildings, surprised at how much open space there was! The views! and yes, it was quiet- what a delight.
Erik, did you walk by the Highlands just to make snarky comments? Comparing a condo complex to multi million dollar homes is silly. The Highlands were built in the late 60's and early 70's as an apartment complex and were soon converted to condos. Serenity House was built in early 2000's. If you are going to dog on something get your facts straight. Yes I live here. In the peace and quiet, listening to birds and coyotes. I used to live in Montecito - perhaps the noisiest place in town.
It makes sense they would want to be developing that area on Calle Cesar Chavez. It is so close to the beach, and they're planning that huge development right there on the corner of Cabrillo as well as. I imagine they are banking that in some years this industrial area adjacent to the beach will be like State Street used to be derelict, and now is fully fixed up. In hindsight makes sense. This is prime real estate to have an industrial area, problem is it smells like sewage and really.... what is a warehouse/research and development building with outdoor areas.. it sounds like they're building a huge building, calling it something that definitely will be something else another day. These people are obviously position and selves for what they see the future development to be in the area.
Gene Montesano is a very good man and restaurateur.
He has longtime employees that he cares about very much—low turnover is a sign of good management. Also, some of his restaurants have been serving excellent food for over two decades. Therefore…he’s definitely not a “supreme dweeb” serving mediocre food. Dweebery and mediocrity don’t last long in a great community like Santa Barbara. Unkindness has no place here either…
Yup. No more business from me.
I get the argument that we shouldn’t just be pushing environmental externalities far away where we can’t see them. And incurring the environmental cost of transport.
However, the oil reserves off the coast here are trivial in magnitude compared to the total US reserves. And the economic cost of a spill vastly outweighs the economic benefit to the US or especially Santa Barbara (who see pretty much none of it— they don’t generate much revenue or jobs here). So much of our economy is tourism, even fishing, and our quality of life comes from spending time on the ocean.
I’m hoping for an honorary flame post from Christine! but rejecting offshore drilling here is a correct purely economic argument, not taking into account the emotional or environmental. We bear all the economic risk and get none of the benefits. Maybe if the profits were flowing directly into the County and City of SB it would be different.
Parking definitely the Funk Zone’s Achilles heel…
Didn’t realize all these (overpriced and mediocre) places were owned by one guy who seems like a dweeb supreme. D’Angelos, Lucky’s, Tre Lune, Joe’s. It’s funny when I found this out I thought, “not surprised.”
Other proprietors running better spots around town who actually need our $ rather than just trying to empire build. Thanks for enlightening me.
Welcome Gene and crew- after posting this news on our local Los Alamos page- the response was 100% positive to having a new daily option- most of us don’t go to Bob’s as it is always packed! Plenty is not open daily, Charlie’s is, but limited indoor seating.
Oh, good. More Santa Barbara County residents can dine at Montesano restaurants like this new one, Lucky’s and Joe’s Cafe unaware that Gene uses his wealth to support MAGA, ICE and fascism.
So glad you provided a photo and note of Sarah Vedder's amazing paintings being featured at Sullivan Goss studio. I purchased several large paintings from her for our home we built over 30 years ago and they stand with grace every single day. It would be worth seeing her show!!!
South Coast Deli going into that space would be awesome since I go to their other locations about three times a week. However, the parking is interesting. I drive a truck so I can "legally" park in the yellow zone, I'm supposed to be loading or unloading and I consider getting a salad or sandwich, . . loading. But so does everybody else! On Carrillo people park in the yellow, in the red zones and even in front of the fire hydrant to run in and pick up their order. These issues being said, I would love it. Tamar might not. . .
I tried the Stroopwafel from Stroop Haus and it is heavenly. The flavors were complex but subtle. I got hints of maple and cinnamon but it was melty and delicious and I wish I had more. I highly recommend you get your hands on them.
From a week ago: https://www.sitelinesb.com/yetzs-bagels-opens-in-goleta-tomorrow/.
