••• I finally made it to Na Na Thai, the pop-up at Bar Le Côte in Los Olivos on Tuesdays. There are hurdles: it opens at 4 p.m.; there will likely be a line; and everything tends to sell out within a couple of hours. But it was a such a treat to have Thai food of this caliber—pictured above is the fried chicken, among the best I’ve ever had—and the atmosphere is a breath of fresh air, like the proprietors are doing something for kicks as much as profit. Here’s hoping that chef Nik Ramirez and manager Ashley Ramirez, both of whom work for the Bell’s empire, can turn it into more than a moonlighting gig. P.S. You pay for food with cash or Venmo, while you can use a credit card at the bar for beer and wine.
••• The Victor, the new restaurant at the Santa Ynez Inn, is in a soft-opening phase with limited reservations and a grand opening scheduled for October 1. But the peeks on the website are appealing, as is the menu, which is still a work in progress. (I wouldn’t mind more vegetables….) The restaurant sent over this description:
What makes the Victor special, just remember “Live Fire * Land * Sea.” What sets us apart is the cooking methods and the Chef. Chef Beto [Huizar] has a Josper oven at his disposal, wood fired and temperatures up to 900 degrees. […] If that is not enough fire, we are building a Santa Maria barbecue pit and grill just outside of the kitchen so the Chef can fire up more goodies on the grill…..
••• The Montecito Journal jumped the gun on La Lieff Wines’s Funk Zone tasting room; the winery says it hasn’t opened yet.
••• Artist Michael E. Long completed another marvelous diorama of a local restaurant: this one is of Finney’s. Update: It’s the one in Westlake Village.
••• 805 Living featured three recipes from Barbareño’s forthcoming cookbook.
••• The Teddy’s outpost coming to the former Mackenzie Market space on Upper State Street is going back in front of the city’s Architectural Board of Review on Tuesday. The plans don’t look so different from what we saw in February.
················
Sign up for the Siteline email newsletter for the freshest food news in town.
Thank you for the update! Everyone in San Roque is so excited about teddys coming to this spot. We are huge fans of teddys in carpinteria and wondering if they are doing something similar to their other restaurant? Does anyone know when they will open and will it be the same menu? as their Carpinteria location?