••• Congratulations to Little Mountain for its well-deserved rave—three stars out of four—in the New York Times. While the reviewer got a lot of things right about the restaurant, the location is certainly not “in a strip mall” and the headline’s emphasis on “freakiness” is bizarre for such an establishment so effortlessly elegant in terms of its food, setting, and service. (Photo of chef Diego Moya by Kort Havens, courtesy Little Mountain.)
••• Restaurant Roy owner Roy Gandy announced to the Independent that the restaurant will close by year end. “It’s not so much retirement that’s pulling him away but a desire to be close to family in Texas, especially considering his life as a grandfather. He imagines the possibility of an interested and passionate party—a surrogate Roy, if you will—taking over and continuing the tradition, with the option of the real Roy returning in a few years to resume his royal Royness.”
••• An outpost of the Raising Cane’s chain, specializing in chicken fingers, opens October 12 in Kyle’s Kitchen’s former space at Hollister Village Plaza (the one with Smart & Final). —Noozhawk
••• Kyle’s Kitchen, meanwhile, opens its new location at Storke Plaza (the Target corner) on Tuesday. —Noozhawk
••• Sweet Hustle cookie shop in Isla Vista has closed. It was called Cookie Plug when it was on State Street. —Restaurant Guy
••• Pascucci Restaurant finally closed yesterday. —Noozhawk
••• The Los Olivos Wine Festival is October 10. (Wait, isn’t every day in Los Olivos a wine festival?) “Set amidst the peaceful gardens of St. Mark’s-in-the-Valley, this curated tasting experience offers a rare opportunity to sip exceptional wines, meet acclaimed winemakers, and take in the charm of this iconic region. Enjoy live music, a souvenir wine glass, and more.”
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I love Roy. His food is delicious. I worked with him at Oysters on Victoria back in the day. Happy for him but that’s a legend leaving town.
I’m not one to diss restaurants – having had one myself, I know it’s pretty hard – but I must say that had it been up to me, Little Mountain would have gotten two fewer stars than it received?
Hm, not sure about that. Every meal I’ve had at Little Mountain has been extraordinary, heads and tails above many others in SB. Personally I think their (NY Times) 3 stars is warranted.
It’s a pretty restaurant with an attentive and courteous staff, but we did have to send stuff back – not accustomed to doing that when out?
Darn, that’s really unfortunate. Consider giving them another shot—perhaps it was an off night? I’ve been a handful of times and have had nothing but excellent food.
What’s up with this annoying trend of affixing a question mark to the end of a declarative sentence?
I won’t be trying Little Mountain until they drop the pricing shenanigans. Adding a 5% surcharge at the end may not seem huge in the big scheme of things, but it’s unfair to restaurants who price transparently.
I’ve not really heard great things about the food anyway, though Erik who runs this site seems to love them, and I usually respect his reviews.
Agreed. How an establishment that charges $50 entrees and $8 for bread has to tack on 5 percent for their staff? Siteline seems to have a blind spot for this.
I don’t like the fee; I wish the restaurant would just make the prices higher—if the clientele anywhere can handle it, it’s there. But whatever, it’s the owners’ choice. So I just factor that 5% in and move on with my life.
Every visit to Little Mountain ends the same way: somewhere on the drive home, one of us asks, why is everything so salty? And not just the entrées. The desserts, too, arrive with a distinctly salty handshake. I’m no chef, but I’ve always understood that salt is meant to coax flavor out of good ingredients, not stand in for them. The artful kitchens do that work with careful sourcing, herbs, and a light hand, rather than reaching for the salt cellar. So, honest question: are we the only ones who’ve noticed, or is everyone else just too polite to say it?
We had to send a dish back because it was too salty.
“Finally closed” seems a little harsh for Pascucci, a well loved restaurant that will be missed. Everything I ever ordered was delicious. I am sorry to see it go.
Pascucci announced its closing in November 2025.
And? She tried really hard to stay open. I think finally was a poor choice of words.
There have been so many press releases about the closing that it reminded me of a furniture store going out of business for years as a marketing ploy… “finally” is a completely accurate word.
Not to go on a tangent, but this whole NYT thing gives me a bit of a pit in my stomach. I’ve been to Little Mountain and I can see the craft and care that went into it. Congratulations to them, sincerely. I know critics review restaurants, not towns. But for a lot of readers, that review is now the picture of Montecito, and it’s built around the one place that looks the least like the village most of us know.
Lucky’s always had its glamour, but it used to wear it lightly. You’d find someone worth millions next to someone who’d just come off a job site, and nobody cared which was which. That was the magic. Now the valet line looks like a car show and the dress code feels like a red carpet. Nobody set out to change that, but it changed.
This isn’t about Little Mountain’s owners, who by all accounts care about this place. It’s about what comes next. A Times rave puts a town on the radar of people looking for their next prestige address. I just hope whoever opens here next, and there will be more after this review, thinks about what they can give Montecito, not just what a Montecito address does for their brand. Aspen and Jackson Hole didn’t lose their soul overnight. It happened one “exciting new opening” at a time, until the locals walked into their old hangouts and no longer recognized them.
I’ll keep going out and supporting what’s here. Maybe I’m wrong about all this. But we still have a lot of that old character left, and it’s worth protecting.
While I really like Little Mountain, every time I walk in, I miss the old PLF Bistro.
I lived in sb long ago, constantly visited and then moved back in 2010 and Montecito has always had big estates and wealthy people and high end restaurants. Whether you bought a few acres for 850k in the 1960’s or a few acres for 12 million in 2026 it’s always been upscale. I hope the restaurant can survive, it’s a tough business. We go to Lucky’s 3 or 4 times a year (usually celebrating birthday or special occasion) and sitting on the patio (or in the bar) and watching the diners is my favorite part of it all. And trust me more than half are in jeans and casual clothes.
Agreed (Seth). With nostalgia and melancholy.