••• Have you been to Salty at the Beach, the new harborside restaurant where Endless Summer used to be? I went for lunch with adjusted expectations—places in splendid settings don’t have to aim very high, and the airport-food menu isn’t my thing. So I was bummed to find myself thinking it should’ve been better. The view is certainly great, but the atmosphere is bare-bones and the burger and fries were meh. I guess I was hoping it would bring something new to the harbor, rather than a variation on Breakwater next door and Chad’s up the street. I don’t think this is a question of going too soon after the restaurant opened. Did I simply come at it from the wrong angle? Is Salty intended more as a bar, where drinking is the point? Please share your own impressions.
••• This Tuesday at 5 p.m., chef de cuisine Logan Jones of The Lark is teaching people via Zoom how to make the restaurant’s Mission fig tartine, one of the best things I’ve eaten in recent months. It’s free but you’re encouraged to donate to No Kid Hungry. Register here.
••• A reader heard a rumor that Derf’s Cafe at De La Vina and Mission has been bought by Genuine Restaurant Concepts, the company behind Brophy Bros., Benchmark, Farmer Boy, and On the Alley. I looked into it as best I could (which wasn’t much): a staffer at Derf’s said it wasn’t so, and Genuine doesn’t have any contact info online. Time will tell whether there’s anything to the rumor.
••• The deli at Little Dom’s Seafood in Carpinteria is now open Thursday through Monday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with takeout sandwiches, pizzas, salads, and prepared foods. And if you go to the restaurant proper for dinner, you’re advised to order the fried potatoes.
••• Another recommendation: Rancho San Julian is back selling its meat at the Saturday farmers’ market, which is great, but I was even more excited to see that it has its wonderful dry-farmed melons again this year.
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