••• The rooftop space at Linden Square has a tenant: Arnie Sturham, former owner of The Treehouse Café, a restaurant and music venue on Bainbridge Island outside Seattle. He plans on opening a bar here called Arnie’s. More details in good time….
••• Dom’s Taverna has opened in the former Trattoria Vittoria space on E. Victoria Street (State/Anacapa). Here are the menus.
••• Aegean, chef Efe Onoglu’s new restaurant at 731 De La Guerra Plaza, is throwing a pre-opening party tonight (Sunday, August 24) from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.: “Expect street food favorites, drinks, and a first taste of what’s to come.”
••• Sama San Roque has launched an every-other-Wednesdays pop-up called Woody’s, devoted to fried chicken and other Southern food. The next one is September 3. Noozhawk has more on it.
••• “Givens Farms on Ward Drive in Goleta has a new farm stand open Thursday-Saturday 10-5,” tweeted @SB_Updater. “Local organic produce and farm animals to pet.”
••• Noozhawk ran a mini-profile of Luna’s Cafe, which is open for breakfast and lunch: “Longtime [Judge for Yourself Cafe] employee Federico DeJesus and his family purchased the restaurant [and tweaked the menu a bit. They also replaced the floor, fixed up the bar and touched up the inside. The name comes from the family dog, Luna, a shih tzu.”
••• First impressions of Rozzi Pizza…. Chef David Rosner is leaning into New York City, both in the type of pizza and the subway-style signage, and I thought the location on Montecito Street in West Beach has a certain outer-borough zest, with the car wash and train tracks across the street and, when I was there, a bare-chested guy wandering back and forth. (Rosner’s authentic, all-business demeanor factors in, too.) You order via a monitor, which takes a second or two to get used to, and you’ll receive a text when the food is ready. (Or, if you’re sitting nearby, Rosner may slide open the little window and hand it to you.) Perhaps it was because the pizza is going for slice joint authenticity that I liked the plain cheese slice the best, but the sausage on the Manhattan slice also had terrific flavor. The restaurant also offers soft-serve ice cream and chocolate chip cookies, and I can see it being a real boon for West Beach residents (whose options are fairly limited); patrons of the adjacent Seven, Rodeo Room, and Brewhouse bars; and the many visitors staying in the neighborhood’s many hotels.
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Rozzi is the best, and so is his pizza.
The West Side is incredible! Rozzi’s the best.l, love that they added the soft serve.
Rozzi’s is such a special place. He really makes everyone feel like a friend. The pizza is incredible and the salad with pizza croutons is fun. We’ve brought many Rozzi pizzas back to the harbor!
I haven’t tried Rozzi’s yet, but their prices are ridiculously high! You can get the best quality pizza in Italy for a fraction of the price of these. Welcome to America the rip-off!