••• Frequency Wine Company has a fantastic new space at 804 Anacapa (Canon Perdido/De La Guerra)—it’s in the back left corner, with that huge fenced off terrace for its outdoor tables. (The photo was taken a while ago.) There’s just wine for now, with food to come at some point. And I hear another winery is taking its former space next to C’est Cheese the Cheese Shop Santa Barbara. More on that when it’s confirmed….
••• “The city is asking about 25 businesses [on the State Street Promenade] to reshape their outside patios to make more room for first responders, mainly the Santa Barbara City Fire Department.” —KEYT
••• Restaurant Guy noticed that Embermill‘s Facebook page says it has permanently closed, but there are no other indications. (I wouldn’t make too much of the fact that the building has been on the market.) I’ll investigate later today. Update: Edible Santa Barbara found a rental listing for the space, which is much more meaningful. Update #2: I called, and the restaurant is open tonight but closing for good tomorrow because the rent got raised too much.
••• Costa Kitchen & Bar at the Mar Monte Hotel has closed till February 13.
••• Taqueria Santa Barbara (State between Victoria and Anapamu) is now serving breakfast.
••• Lilac Patisserie has temporarily closed for a big expansion into the space next door. The end result will be double the indoor dining capacity, space for private events, and possibly a larger menu. The bakery hopes to partially reopen by Valentine’s Day, with the full project completing sometime in May. Follow the progress with the “Bakery updates” highlights on Instagram.
••• De La Vina Lounge, as Jimboz Lounge is now known, reopened a few weeks back.
••• Soul Bites is opening at Music Alley on State Street (Haley/Gutierrez), according to banners outside. It serves soul food.
••• Today at Your Choice Thai restaurant on upper State: “We will be trying out a new concept where we will serve ‘off-menu’ items. The inspiration comes from our favorite dishes from our family meals. The first three dishes we are introducing are very near and dear to us and all share one common theme, home and family.” The three items are pork egg rolls, pho, and Khao man gai, and they’re all gluten-free. Hours are 10 a.m. till everything is sold out.
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I ate at Embermill last night. Honestly I don’t know how they have survived or will continue to much longer. There was only a few tables and one server, I can’t imagine paying State Street rent with such an empty restaurant. It took a long time to get food and things were forgotten but we’re in a pandemic and the Great Resignation so I remembered I needed to reset expectations and just be glad I wasn’t in lockdown and could go out to eat at all. On that note, my favorite restaurant, Black Sheep, had to put a message on their story today about people leaving bad Yelp reviews in the midst of a pandemic. Their service and food has always been on point so if they are having a few tough nights so is everyone else. Might be good to remind readers to reset expectations or just stay home. XO
I feel for Embermill — the concept was interesting and welcome, but that spot has been traditionally hard with steep rent. Coastrange also posted about recent negative reviews (particularly long waits). I wish Yelp had a great resignation. While a directory of what’s available to eat in an app is great — the reward system for Yelp fosters horrible or unreliable reviews. I wish the focus on that app was different, and the way Yelpers can sink a business is disgusting. And part of why I am on a rampage to over-tip every establishment what I can. This bothers me much, I’ve deleted the poorly run app forever and will rely on Siteline, Edible, The Restaurant Guy and even Eater for local food ideas (and similar sites elsewhere for when I travel).
Way back in the day- the spot Frequency now is using, anyone remember when it was briefly a spot called MANGO?