A New Chapter for a Santa Barbara Institution

In March 2022, it was announced that seafood distributor Gene Sanchez; his wife, Carolina Jimenez; and restaurateur Francisco Ibanez had purchased The Harbor Restaurant/Longboard’s Grill operation on Stearns Wharf, with plans to reinvent it. After Ibanez dropped out, Sanchez and Jimenez engaged attorney and real estate agent John J. Thyne III and his wife, Olesya Thyne, also an agent, to help search for an operating partner along the lines of Larsen’s or Gladstones. Instead, the Thynes decided to sign on: “We realized it was a wonderful opportunity,” says John, citing a Waterfront Department report that six million people walk past every year.

The first phase was “triage”—thoroughly cleaning, painting, and getting health-and-safety matters in order—and they’ve redone one room to nice effect, as you can see below. It’s spare in the right way, to better emphasize the view. Further renovations are underway.

But their ambitions run much larger. They have submitted plans to the city to split the 14,000-square-foot building into multiple concepts: the core restaurant (which may get renamed); a café/gelato shop; a ground-floor lounge (which, like the café, could be run by a partner business); a takeout counter; and roof decks that would have even more extraordinary views. They’d also like to bring back valet parking and become a brunch destination, the way the Biltmore used to be.

And they’ve hired chef Katie Teall—who worked at the restaurant in the late 1980s—to rethink the menu, which Sanchez says will be divided between classic American and half South American–inspired dishes, such as lomo saltado and empandas. (He and Jimenez are originally from Chile.) The restaurant remains open, but it’s a work in progress. The four proprietors say that the fully revamped menu and interior should be ready by the end of January.

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