••• Noozhawk profiled Shalhoob‘s new outpost at the Santa Barbara Public Market. It currently only sells burgers (with two patties or three) and fries. Might be worth adding a kid’s option….
••• Finch & Fork is temporarily closed now that the Kimpton Canary hotel’s rolling renovation has begun. The restaurant aims to reopen next month.
••• The plans for the old Avis office at 36 E. Montecito Street in the Funk Zone, uploaded in advance of today’s Architectural Board of Review meeting, say it’s going to be a wine bar with a kitchen and a bocce court. I don’t see any liquor-license application in the state database yet.
••• The county’s Architectural Review Board hated Chick-fil-A’s cheapo design for a new restaurant in Goleta, and rightly so. Just look at it! Anyway, the details: “The plan that it presented showed a reconfigured property, with the driveway aligned with Dexter Drive. People turning into the fast-food location would not be doing so near the Starbucks property at the end of the street. Chick-fil-A wants to demolish the entire [IHOP] building, remove the trees and install new plantings. The drive-thru queue would hold 32 to 35 cars on the property and about 50 spaces on the property.” —Noozhawk
••• I finally got around to peeping in the window of the Cliff Room, which has been closed for a renovation. You’ll have to tell me whether anything has changed.
••• And then I went and peeped in the window of the former 805 Hazy & Deli space at Carrillo and Santa Barbara, which has been stripped of most everything except the refrigerated cases. Still no word on what’s coming. If you know, let’s hear it: email [email protected] or text 917-209-6473.
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Honestly, I don’t see how the CFA design looks much different from the Starbucks nextdoor. The shopping center at the other end of Turnpike (Hollister) surely doesn’t look very “Santa Barbara,” either. Sometimes I think the ARB loses their minds when reviewing design plans. There’s zero continuity to their decisions. No wonder people complain about the local process.