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We were lucky to find anywhere to sit amidst the Sunday lunchtime rush on the patio of Linden Square, Carpinteria’s brand new food hall development that opened last week.
The line for Third Window’s smashburgers spilled far beyond its front door, and Tina’s — the smaller sibling to Montecito’s beloved Bettina — sported only a slightly shorter wait, though we were warned it might take up to an hour for the pizzas to come. That was fine, giving us ample time to settle into our corner couch, people watch, and drink our bottle of “Rolfshark” Lambrusco rosé. (And it wound up being less than 40 minutes anyway.)
Across the deck, Corazon’s line ebbed and flowed during our two-ish hours there, and a musician was setting up by the time we left. But the overall crowd — a mix of beachy-styled Carp locals as well as more hipster-ized and/or fancily clad presumed visitors, stretching from the patio’s many dining tables to the upstairs balconies — never really dissipated. In fact, it seemed to be swelling even more as we walked back by the square following our Rori’s scoops a little ways down Linden Avenue.
That was all expected, of course, given that this block-long development is probably the most anticipated collective South Coast restaurant opening since the Santa Barbara Public Market debuted in 2014. I imagine the crowds will persist into the summer as well, since Carp’s seaside setting hums most consistently during the upcoming months.
But Carp is a tiny town, and one with a handful of solid existing restaurants already and more on the way, including what will happen to The Palms. I can’t help but wonder whether the city’s population of around 13,000 residents will be able to sustain so many new restaurants for the long-term, especially into the later fall and winter months, when tourism creeps to a near halt.
This math was obviously in the equation for the folks at Bettina, Third Window, and Corazon before they opened. I trust that their recipes for success — which each endured a global pandemic, mind you — will serve them into the future here as well.
My growing restaurant sustainability concerns, however, extend far beyond Linden Square, which is probably better insulated than standalone operations. Even after a steady decade of new and exciting openings around town, we are on the verge of so many restaurant debuts that it’s hard to keep track, as reported on regularly by both The Restaurant Guy and Siteline S.B.
Many of these are in the usual commercial hub of downtown Santa Barbara, such as Dom’s Taverna in the old Pascual’s/Trattoria Vittoria spot, the expanded Aperitivo concept for State Street, the Jonesy’s at Derf’s, and the new Barbareño concept in the Upham Hotel, to name a very scant few.
But there seems to be even more new spots coming to Montecito, from the many things happening at The Post to the new plans for the Biltmore (Nobu? Thomas Keller?) to what’s in the works for the Upper Village (such as Little Mountain and an S.Y. Kitchen spin-off). This is all coming right on the heels of the recent rush of new places on Coast Village Road, many of which I tried to hit in one night as I covered here.
Though certainly closer to Santa Barbara’s, Montecito’s population is even less than Carp’s — not quite 9,000, and who knows how many of those even live there most of the time? Or rely on personal chefs more than going out?
Also, given the swanky addresses and presumably monied clientele, these new Montecito spots are going to be on the high-end of the price scale. That may limit a certain supply of middle-class, even upper-middle-class Santa Barbarans that are usually integral to sustained sales here. And this growth is happening at a time when the overall economy is, if not struggling, rather weird. Things are slow, say many of my restaurant friends, and the future remains totally unclear.
As a restaurant fan who loves checking out new flavors and scenes whenever possible, I’m mostly thrilled by every new opening I hear about (aside from those that displace otherwise successful spots), and I’d like to see them all succeed. I’ve never run a restaurant, so perhaps the expected sales greatly outweigh any of my concerns over the slow months. And I’m also aware that sometimes restaurants, like wineries or hotels, can be vanity, branding, or portfolio plays, meaning that the bottom line is not the driving motivation.
But I’ve been here 30 years now and seen a lot of restaurants come and go. Meanwhile, our population hasn’t grown much at all, and the grumbling I hear about the high costs of restaurants only seems to be growing louder every day.
So the question remains: Who is going to fill all these new seats?
Underwater Wine Is Back, But in Oregon
Remember all the craziness that came with Ocean Fathoms, the company that was aging wine underwater off of the Santa Barbara coastline and then got shut down by a flurry of federal, state, and local agencies for allegedly not getting any of the correct permissions? (I wrote quite a bit about them, and links to all those stories can be found in this report.)
They’re back! But this time, the company is operating with the apparent support of authorities out of Coos Bay, Oregon, and going under the name Neptune’s Vault. Here’s the story.
Personally, I thought the concept was interesting enough to be marketable to wine lovers seeking a unique story, and I found the wines, when tasted side-by-side against regularly aged bottles, to be noticeably different, if ever so slightly. I also didn’t think that there was too much harm in putting a handful of some small cages on the ocean floor. But having covered environmental battles over the years, I’m very aware that you don’t mess with the California Coastal Commission, which is really what seemed to sink Ocean Fathoms the first time.
I’m curious to see how it plays out in Oregon.
Rhône Rodeo Tasting
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Epiphany, the Rhône-focused brother brand to Fess Parker Winery, the winery’s founder Eli Parker and winemaker Blair Fox will be joined by syrah legends Bob Lindquist and Andrew Murray for a collaborative tasting through current and library wines. It’s rare to find these four pioneers all pouring together, so join them on Saturday. June 7, 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Epiphany Tasting Room in Los Olivos. Tickets are $75, or $60 for club members. Click here for tickets and details.
Recent Bites & Bevvies
Last week was my first taste of Mission City Sandwich Shop, and I was instantly hooked. I ordered the Spicoli, and somehow ate the whole thing. My son’s Italian Petting Zoo hit all the hoagie high points (and was still good two days later), and my wife devoured the Voodoo Tuna Po’ Mofo. We will be back, frequently.
I lunched with Ryan Zotovich at Bar le Côte last Friday, running through a parade of great wines and delicious dishes. Of especially fascinating note was the day boat scallop crudo, with an earthy mighty cap mushroom broth and crunchy dill pollen, an eye-opening mix of earth and sea. The yellowtail crudo was no slouch either, and I finally got the first taste of the Los Olivos seafood tavern’s fried chicken sandwich, which is worth the hype.
On Saturday, I grilled up some lamb cuts that I got from Topher de Felice and Alice Anderson while reporting on this Wine Enthusiast story about their regenerative farming. I also made an enchilada-like sauce from guajillo peppers and marinaded a thick cut of regionally raised flank steak from Motley Crew Marketplace. That was chopped up into tacos, and served with the Tecolotito agave spirit bottling, made by Ventura Spirits from agaves grown up Glen Annie Canyon by the Giorgi family. (More on them to come later!)
Julia Child Meets the Whackerspoon
The renowned underwater photographer Bob Evans, who I’ve covered in various capacities over the decades, saw my stories about Julia Child in recent issues and sent me a letter that the famed author-chef sent to his mom about one of Bob’s inventions. The picture tells the whole story. Do you have a whackerspoon? Bob is still up to all kinds of stuff, most notably this company Tiabzu, which I don’t quite understand.
From Our Table
I wrote a number of stories that were published over the last week, including:
- Introducing Kira Malone’s Pars Fortuna pinot noirs. Kira will be at Good Land Wine Shop on June 3.
- An interview with the Carpinteria-raised authors of the new avocado book Green Gold.
- An inquiry into whether my long-ago colleague Mo (Foley) Claffey inspired the Montecito royals to craft marmalade with her Red Hen Cannery. (I say yes.)
- Another inquiry into whether the Rosewood Miramar’s director of wine Rob Smits might be able to breathe some life into the dying meal-form known as the winemaker dinner. (I hope yes.)
- Putting on my Wine Enthusiast hat, I did three features for the California issue: an updated look at Alice Anderson’s Âmevive wine and regenerative farming projects; a dive into the controversial state of California’s nascent agave spirit industry; and a profile of numerous Paso Robles families who have been in the wine game for generations.
