The Public Market’s Next New Vendor

••• The renovation of Tydes restaurant at the Coral Casino is on Thursday’s Montecito Board of Review agenda, and some of the floor plans are below. The extensive kitchen will be on the ground floor, with the dining room above. The courtyard is being filled in, and there’s space for a “piano lounge.” The glamour potential is off the charts. P.S. I think the signage in the illustration below is just placeholder, but dare we hope that it’s being renamed Coral Casino?

••• The sandwich-and-salads* stall at the Santa Barbara Public Market is being called Little Bird Kitchen, and it’s due to open in the next week or so. (*And burgers, corn dogs, and wings.)

••• A profile of Jonesy’s Fried Chicken, now open in Goleta. —Independent

••• The Pizza Mizza updates keep coming: “The sign at the former [Pizza] Mizza now reads Santa Barbara Courthouse Distillery and Events,” said Popeye. “There’s still a [Pizza] Mizza menu there but [Pizza] Mizza, as a restaurant, has gone under.” I walked by and asked. The restaurant is transitioning to Santa Barbara Courthouse Distillery and Events, but the menu is still Pizza Mizza’s, and the staffer I spoke with said she didn’t think it would necessarily change much. Imagine if something good were in that space….

••• The July 6 kamayan dinner at the Inn at Mattei’s Tavern is turning out to be a swan song for chef Rhoda Magbitang, who is leaving a week later to be the chef at the CanoeHouse restaurant at Mauna Lani, an Auberge property on the Big Island.

••• K. noticed Pang Zi Noodle Shop at 4427 Hollister Avenue [at Nogal Drive] and wondered if it was new or had already come and gone. The guys at the barber shop next door said it should open in the next few weeks.

••• Would you pay $285 to attend a four-hour dinner “near Santa Barbara” cooked by an unnamed “Featured Chef”? That’s the idea behind Secret Supper‘s August 8 event, which is sponsored by Le Creuset. Also, “Le Creuset, Secret Supper and the Featured Chef reserve the right to use any photograph/video taken at any event hosted as part of our events, without the expressed written permission of those included within the photograph/video. Le Creuset, Secret Supper and the Featured Chef may use the photograph/video in publications or other digital or print media material, as they see fit.”

••• Last summer, I caught wind that Lily’s Donuts & Pops appeared to be opening in the former Cold Stone Creamery space (State between Haley and Cota)—but until now, I was never able to suss out more info. “504 State Street will be our first location of this new concept we are hoping to grow,” said Omar Kashen, a partner in the project (who is also involved in The Ellwood at Goleta Beach Park). “We are also close to locking down a great second location that will be a fun way to feature Lily’s. Our brand was designed to be an homage to 60s/70s Southern California beach and car culture. This rings through in the stores design and colorful aesthetic. (All of our brand colors are original shades of 60s Ford Bronco releases). The focus is on high-quality, fresh-made donuts with flavor profiles that are nostalgic, but presented in a fun way. We also feature paleta-style popsicles that are made and decorated in house. We plan to source many of the ingredients for both items from local growers. Additionally we have a strong coffee program in place and partnered with a well-known wine sommelier to put together a pairing menu of nice wines and local beers we will be selling down the road at this location.”

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Comment:

8 Comments

Richard

“The glamour potential is off the charts” Agree about the potential. I’m afraid in the end we’ll all be scratching our heads wondering “ what ever happened to class?” to such a classy place as the Coral Casino. Things were way better when Four Seasons was in the picture.

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Cindy Pitzer

Hello,
Will the footprint of the Coral Casino be the same or are they trying to expand it?
Thank you

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Kim

The demise of the historic Coral Casino. Beyond sad. Warner continues to destroy the historic fabric of our community and join in turning everything into LA North

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Mick G

I have a pizza bone to pick with Mizza. We dined at the State Street location a couple of weeks ago, and the food and service were excellent—a pleasant surprise.

However, the next day when I looked at my receipt, I realized they had charged me $5 just to use a credit card. I politely wrote to the management there to express the bad taste that left in my mouth. It seemed tacky to be charged to pay that after paying over $150 for the (previously acknowledged) great meal and super waitress. The surcharge was never mentioned to me as I ApplePay’ed, and I never saw it on the menu or receipt at the time.

Some quick Googling revealed that these extra service charges and such had been outlawed, and a brand new one was to begin tomorrow, July 1st. The response I got from management (Craft House Group) was wholly dissatisfying. They basically said, the 1985 law you mentioned was later overturned, and the new one beginning on July 1st may still be amended.

Listen, I know it’s challenging to pay restaurant leases and staff and run a successful business, but clearly, customers don’t like all of these surreptitious surcharges, whether they’re legal or not. Is Mizza really expecting people to carry wads of cash around to now pay their dining bills? I mentioned we’re local and kind of thought management might have at least offered to refund the $5 (or give it to our waitress), but he didn’t.

I’m always sad to see a good restaurant in town fail, but forcing locals to pay an additional 3.5% because you want your food prices to appear lower than they really are is not a solution. Dining out is more costly than ever. Don’t nickel and dime us with tacky charges. If you can’t make your margins without that 3.5%, then raise the menu prices by that.

Locals would very much like to support local businesses, but this is not the way.

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Kristin St. John

Apparently foodies are willing to pay $285 for a secret supper – it’s Sold Out!

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Jenna

Excited for a new chef at Mattei’s. Really hoping they focus more on healthier and plant-based options that emphasize sourcing from a lot of the amazing local farms in SYV.

As for the Coral Casino, seems like an obnoxious boys club over there in their operations/management and the design choices are less than classy.

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