••• Santa Barbara is suddenly rich with entrepreneurial bakers delivering their goods—besides Triple Chip and Skylar Bryce, we now have Chez Justine: “I’ve been baking professionally for 10 years and am so happy to share some treats with you. All items are made with as many organic and local ingredients as possible.” Order by 5 p.m. Wednesday to receive delivery Friday between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. The current offerings are here—that’s a salted caramel brownie at right—and you can sign up to receive weekly menu updates by email. She delivers to Santa Barbara, Goleta, Montecito, Summerland, Carpinteria, and Lompoc.
••• Restaurant Guy reported that M. Special‘s brewpub on State Street (between Ortega and Cota) could open as soon as this weekend: “There will be a full-time walk-up restaurant named M. Kitchen built into the Santa Barbara location. M. Kitchen will be run by Chris Chiarappa, co-founder of Mesa Burger, Lighthouse Coffee, and Corner Tap.” (It looks rather bare-bones.) And then Noozhawk followed up with this: M. Special “held a soft opening Thursday night that will last through Saturday, and it plans to open fully to the public next week.”
••• Speaking of Mesa Burger, I was skeptical when T. told me that the prices at Mesa Burger‘s Coast Village Road location are higher than at the Mesa and Goleta outposts. Sure enough, all the sandwiches and salads are $1.50 more. Maybe Montecito wouldn’t have it any other way.
••• Nice to see that Chad’s got a new URL (chadscafe.com) to replace sambosrestaurant.com. Looking forward to when the menu online doesn’t mention “Sambo’s pancakes” and “Sambo’s burger”….
••• Goleta’s Old Town Coffee has started roasting beans, calling the new endeavor Goleta Coffee Roasters.
••• Last October—so long ago I can’t remember who told me—I posted a rumor that the folks behind S.Y. Kitchen were taking over the former Bear and Star restaurant at the Fess Parker Wine Country Inn in Los Olivos. It turned out to be true. From the release: “The new wine country venture headed by executive chef and owner/partner Luca Crestanelli will, at the start, offer dining via The Farm & Cheese Bar—with a lengthy cheese list and a curated charcuterie plate. A wine list featuring both local and world wines, joins craft and classic cocktail variations [….] Nella Kitchen & Bar’s initial soft-opening hours are 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday through Monday. Next in Nella Kitchen & Bar’s soft opening phase, the restaurant will reveal its open-kitchen concept serving scratch-made, Roman-style pizza, or ‘pinsa.’ [Menu here.] Once able to do so, the restaurant and bar will launch full lunch and dinner service.” Photo by Bri Burkett.
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