••• The beer-and-wine license application posted at Mony’s made me wonder whether dinner might be in the cards. A staffer said the plan is to revert how things were before the pandemic, when the restaurant closed for an hour after lunch and then reopened for the evening with a smaller, different menu.
••• The new issue of 805 Living includes a brief Q&A with Berkeley “Augie” Johnson, the man behind Augie’s tequila. He said the forthcoming Augie’s restaurant at State and Ortega should open “in late July or early August [and] we’re hopefully going to have the largest selection of tequilas and mezcals on the West Coast. There will be a huge wall of every tequila I can possibly find plus a spot just for local varieties of agave spirits.”
••• 805 Living also mentioned that weekend brunch at Local is in the works, so I reached out to owner Mike Sheldon, who said to expect it in the next fortnight or so.
••• The proprietors of the restaurant coming to the former Beachside Bar-Cafe at Goleta Beach Park have landed on a new name (having dropped SeaLegs a while back): The Ellwood. And “they’re now anticipating a fall opening […] though they do hope to open the adjacent beach shack by this summer to serve donuts, coffee, ice cream, and maybe even cocktails.” The Independent article then recaps a lunch at China King in Goleta, where the Chinese menu (as opposed to the Chinese-American one you’ll probably be handed first) sounds intriguing.
••• Aperitivo‘s pasta club entry this week is lasagne all bolognese for two, which comes with a bottle of Lambrusco ($69). We had it last time and loved it. Order by 9 p.m. on Sunday and then pick it up Tuesday between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. (and heat it up at home). Quantities are limited.
••• “Hummus Republic opens in Isla Vista.” —Restaurant Guy
••• Something interesting is coming to Old Town Orcutt: Lark + Sparrow, a gourmet market and (I think) bar.
••• Any discussion of the best breakfast sandwiches in town must include the decadent one at Merci, with steamed egg, bacon, and Mornay sauce (béchamel with cheese). The bottom of the biscuit is crispy—with butter? bacon fat?—and wow.
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