••• Warner Ebbink of Little Dom’s Seafood in Carpinteria is taking over the former Oliver’s space on Coast Village Road: “We take possession at the end of the month,” he says. “I don’t have the design or concept fully flushed out just yet, but I will keep you posted.”
••• Nick the Greek offered me a free meal during its soft-opening if I promised to run a post on social media about it, which I took a pass on. (Everyone has a price, but I like to think mine is more than a chicken gyro.) I did swing by for a peek at the space and the menu. It officially opens this Tuesday, April 23.
••• The rumor flying around Montecito for a while now has been that SY Kitchen is taking the Via Vai space in the Upper Village. Chef/co-owner Luca Crestanelli told me that when he heard the rumor, the idea intrigued him, so he has spoken to the landlord. “It might happen or it might not,” he says. “But there’s nothing solid at this time. We’d love to be there, along with everyone else.” And he has his hands full right now, with his grab-and-go café/market, Stica, opening soon in Santa Ynez and All Roads, a “pinseria” and wine bar in Brentwood.
••• The front and back bar at the Santa Barbara Public Market are being called Cooney’s.
••• “Cagami Ramen, a popular restaurant in Camarillo that serves authentic Japanese Ramen Noodle, is planning to open a location in Goleta,” but the address is unknown. —Restaurant Guy
••• J. says that one of the owners of Brass Bird and Teddy’s by the Sea in Carpinteria told him that construction would start soon on the former McKenzie Market space on upper State Street—and that the plan is for a bakery/café. That sounds more like Brass Bird than Teddy’s (and a branch of the latter is what they had been intending to open there). I reached out for clarification, but I didn’t hear back.
••• April’s flavor of the month at Rori’s Artisanal Creamery is chocolate orange, and I love it. I bought a hand-packed pint that softened considerably, and deliciously, in my car on the way home. Another million-dollar idea: sell ice cream in a semi-frozen state.
••• An update from Rory’s Place in Ojai, which has been closed because of a fire for months now: “The new walk-in refrigerator is being manufactured, the repair to the wall is under way, remediation is happening inside the restaurant, and we have a target opening date for Rory’s Place around mid to late June! We are opening up reservations for July, and we can’t wait to see all your familiar faces in for dinner soon! […] Once our opening date is firm we will add some late June dates to Resy as well.”
••• Ethnic Breads‘s retail bakery in Goleta has opened. —Restaurant Guy
••• Edhat and the Independent have more on the plan to turn the Barnsdall-Rio Grande Gas Station in western Goleta into a café. From Edhat: “The new plan completely restores the original building inside and out, bringing it up to modern codes for earthquake, etc., while using as much of the original material as possible. Inside the building will be a historic exhibit with photos and the story of the building and the surrounding area. […] Additionally, they want to build a small coffee shop next-door with a large garage type door that will be open to the public. A new parking lot will be built to the east of the station and a large covered public seating area will be to the west of the station. The folks at Sandpiper recognized that their current snack bar is very popular with bicyclists, so they’ve decided to make this new café very bike friendly to encourage that. There will be multiple bike racks all around and where the old gas pumps used to be there will now be electric bike charging stations.”
················
Sign up for the Siteline email newsletter for the freshest food news in town.
Sad to see ViaVai go but SY Kitchen would be fabulous!
Man. Public market really didn’t workshop that name …did they?
Perhaps the name applies to the back bar, not the front? /s
The name implies that the bar program might be run by longtime SB bartender, Tim Cooney. Anybody remember his eponymous downtown nightclub, Cooney’s?
Agreed. That name is bad.
I was walking up State Street yesterday, Tuesday, when I spotted a long line of people on the sidewalk wrapping around Haley. They were all lined up, waiting to get into Nick the Greek.
The restaurant was giving out free food yesterday.
Where can I find Nick the Greek? I don’t see an address or on their website ????????
State between Haley and Cota.
We went to Nick’s today at 11:50 and there was a short line. They had a large crew working in the kitchen which was nice to see. We had the chicken gyro bowl and lamb/beef gyro that was delivered to our table in about five minutes. It was good and we will be back! By noon there was a long line but the food was coming out fast.
Message to Warner Ebbink. Welcome to the neighborhood! I certainly hope you can bring some of that Little Doms magic to our part of the world, but we need more variety than another Italian restaurant as you could throw a rock from the Olivers space and hit several of them. If the rumors about Mediterranean cuisine are true, that would be welcomed for sure. Anything but another Italian spot.
Hi David
Thanks for the warm welcome and for loving Little Dom’s. We definitely won’t be doing Italian there! We will be rolling out a new concept and reimagining the space with same level of detail and warmth that the Little Dom’s locations have.
Best
Warner