••• Exciting news from the Santa Ynez Valley: Daisy and Greg Ryan of Bell’s in Los Alamos plan to open something in the former Sides Hardware & Shoes building in Los Olivos. Given the recent Covid-19 craziness, they have yet to finalize the concept, name, and so on. More as it develops…. And if you haven’t been to Bell’s yet, it’s so worth the trip. The fries are some of the best I’ve ever had, anywhere, and the braised beef cheek sandwich—with broccolini, Béarnaise aioli, Emmental cheese, and tarragon—on the lunch menu is pure decadence.
••• Plus, on the way home, you can stop in at Cailloux Cheese Shop in Solvang. It’s your best bet now that C’est Cheese is no longer.
••• Mesa Burger‘s Coast Village Road location has opened.
••• Also on Coast Village Road, Sweet Wheel Farm‘s farmstand is back at the Letter Perfect shop’s outdoor space. This is the farm’s second stand, along with the one in Summerland: “Have more farm space!” replied proprietor Leslie Person Ryan to my query on Instagram. “We just planted almost 15 acres in Orcutt, certified organic.” Then she emailed over the back story, which is pretty great:
Our food cart began because of a debris flow story. For over a week, we literally had no food in Summerland to purchase. There was no grocery store. Summerland was cut off from Carpinteria and Montecito.
A year later, in our Summerland pop-up, I met a young mother. Although I was used to hearing stories from Montecito about the debris flow disaster, no one talked about Summerland. She told me she had gotten into a fight with another woman at the Summerland Liquor store “over the last stale sandwich.” When I expressed dismay, she said “What was I supposed to do? I have three children!”
We started the cart and then moved back to help Summerland during Covid. Then I realized that Summerland needs a safe, clean agricultural supply of food. Our lease of 7 acres on Whitney Avenue was recently approved for an organic farm started in June. The neighbors are overwhelmingly in favor. They like that we are local in Summerland—much preferring it to a development—and that we help solve the food desert with our organic foods as well as give food to the needy in Summerland. Before it was stopped for Covid-19, our cart supplied all the food for the free veterans’ breakfast in SB. We are an all-female group until just this week. (I didn’t plan it, it just oddly just worked out that way.) I am the only farm in the county, I think, that’s owned solely by a female. I drive the tractor and plant, and every girl on our team has to do a day of hard labor on one of our farms to appreciate all farm workers.
••• Every day this summer, Low Pigeon is selling $2 cold brews from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
••• The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on De La Vina is closing this Saturday. —Restaurant Guy
••• Magic Castle Cabaret says on its website that the club is temporarily closed because of Covid-19, but the building on Los Patos Way sure looks like it’s done for good.
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