••• My husband and I went to Blackbird in the Hotel Californian the other night, after calling to make sure it had reopened after a repositioning. But the restaurant had only two changes: the entrance was moved further north, and there’s a communal table off the bar. The food was good enough, if not quite as memorable as I recall, but the service was dismal—and a manager watching over the room did nothing when we were clearly desperate for assistance. Perhaps the “relaunch in fall 2019” will still happen. For my money, they should convert the restaurant into a classic French bistro, à la Balthazar in New York; they could even keep much of the room as is, although the furniture has to go.
••• The Independent has a long article about makers of natural wine in Santa Barbara County.
••• The outpost of Mesa Burger coming to Coast Village Road in Montecito is slated to open in the spring. —Santa Barbara News-Press
••• Edible Santa Barbara points out that Goleta Valley Library has cake pans in its collection. The link in the tweet goes here.
••• Love seeing local businesses work together—in this case, Dart Coffee Co. (in the Tyger Tyger building) is now selling a few of Buena Onda’s empanadas.
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