••• Cindy Black will be moving her pizzeria, Saint Bibiana, from W. Ortega Street to the former Metropulos building in the Funk Zone. No word yet on whether her plans include expanded offerings, but here’s hoping the restaurant will be open for lunch. UPDATE 4/8: Black and I had a miscommunication about her plans; the original restaurant will remain open and the Funk Zone one will be a second location.
••• Third Window is now serving its burgers seven days a week: “Starting this Friday and Saturday, our kitchen and taproom will be open an hour later (11:30 a.m.-9 p.m., 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m.). Plus, we’re thrilled to announce that burgers are now available on Monday nights alongside our ranch oak fired sourdough pizza.”
••• Petra Cafe, as the restaurant at the Foxtail Kitchen & Bar space on E. Cota is now known, has opened. The hours are 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. The menu is focused on classics: hummus, baba ganoush, falafel, kofta, shawarama, dolmas, and even coffee brewed in sand, in the Turkish manner. Grab-and-go items are available, and you can smoke a hookah on the back terrace.
••• Speaking of falafel, Merci‘s new falafel sandwich is a keeper. (Give yourself permission to have the voluptuous chocolate mousse, too.) I feel obliged to point out again, however, that I would enjoy Merci much more if to-go orders came packaged in cardboard rather than thick plastic.
••• And while we’re on the topic of plastic, I don’t generally read the letters to local publications, but one to the Independent from Maria Zate caught my eye, and I can’t agree enough: “The plastic container invasion of produce and prepared foods has taken over the fresh food aisles in all grocery stores countywide and the state. (Trader Joe’s [below], the perennial favorite, is a huge offender) [….] Fresh vegetables (even cucumbers, for god’s sake!), fruit, and an endless abundance of prepared foods […] are now being sold in plastic containers that have nowhere else to go but in our kitchen trash cans and then the Tajiguas Landfill.” It’s indefensible in this day and age. According to a recent New York Times article, there’s hope the industry will change.
••• Moby Dick, on Stearns Wharf, is being remodeled to add an oyster bar. —Restaurant Guy
••• Pali Wine Co. went before the city’s Architectural Board of Review yesterday for changes to its tasting room at 205 Anacapa Street in the Funk Zone: “The improvements include a 159-square-foot demolition and 476-square-foot addition at Building A, replacement of the existing trash enclosure with a new trash enclosure, infill of a curb cut along Anacapa Street to conform with City standards, replacement of the parking lot with a new covered outdoor seating area, hardscape and landscaping, bicycle parking, demolition of an unpermitted exterior deck and shade structure, and associated minor exterior improvements including exterior paint color.” The plans and renderings are by Anacapa Architecture.
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Planet Protectors is a great local organization who is diverting Type 2 and Type 4 plastics from landfills – check them out!
Add to the plastic conversation that most of that produce is washed in chlorine and the plastic is a petroleum product. It is worth the effort to go to our farmer’s markets and take your own bags. I live only two blocks from Trader Joe’s but have never once bought the produce in plastic, even in a pinch. Funny, they don’t sell plastic sandwich type bags.
Why must so many restaurants default to those black metal chairs and barstools? They are cold, uncomfortable and aesthetically unappealing. And…if you are wide of booty (!)…they hurt.
Agreed, chairs seem to be an after thought in a lot of restaurants. Everything seems to lean toward durability and ease of clean-up. Function and comfort aren’t mutually exclusive.
The last Pali Wine elevation reminds me of a popular local elementary school design.
We can’t wait to show off more views of Pali!
Looooove those breeze block screens!
the entire plastic wrapped/packaged revolution came on the heels of taking away the plastic bag from the consumer #whatajoke
I do not shop Trader Joe’s because of ALL the plastic- try farmer’s markets.
i stopped shopping at Trader Joes when I started reading the labels – almost everything has sugar added, and and way too much of it. Every single lunch meat had added sugar! who needs sugar in their roast beef, or their turkey ?!?!?!?!?!?’vnvnvn
Ablitts holds collection of plastics a couple times a month usually. Sign up for their email. https://ablitts.com/film-plastic-recycling/
I avoid buying at TJ’s and other stores that have moved in the direction of packaging everything in plastics. It’s unnecessary and so bad for our environment.
Maybe something people can do is boycott and/or complain to the management.
Santa Barbara County has farmer’s markets every day of the week, and innumerable fresh produce stands, all with LOCAL organic produce sold by the very farmers who grow it. I will never understand why people choose instead to buy plastic-wrapped fruits and vegetables, washed in chemicals that you can taste, that have been trucked over from as far as Mexico, leaving not just plastic for landfills, but a giant carbon footprint. It’s shameful.
I so strongly agree with the “plastic container invasion”, with Trader Joe’s being one of the worse offenders. C’mon TJs! You’re going in the wrong direction! We want to REDUCE the use of plastic! I will call the Corporate offer and share my disgust. And, in the meantime, go elsewhere for fresh fruit and veggies.
I’m glad the use of plastic has become a public conversation. I’ve devoted my fruits and vegetable shopping to fruit stands because of it (I rarely make it to Farmer’s Market and am in the SYV a few times a week giving wine tours where they have fab fruit/veg stands). As much as I love TJs, I just can’t play the plastic game any longer.
St. Bibiana is so great — awesome that they’re going to move into that spot in the funk zone
I asked the good folks at St. Bibiana’s about them moving to the old Metropolous location and they advised this would be a second location for them, with the Ortega Street location staying open. They have the best pizza in town, so hoping this is correct. :)
When I first asked if the restaurant was moving, I was told yes. After I posted about it, I got a message that sounded like the plan could be to have two locations, so I asked for clarification but I never heard back. Thanks for reminding me to try asking again….
Black confirmed that the original restaurant will remain open and the Funk Zone one will be a second location.
I completely agree about the plastics invasion. Such a shame and so wasteful that markets and restaurants do this to our environment! I have written to TJ’s about this a couple times now. Everyone please voice your concerns to management/corporate sites whenever possible!
Wishful thinking but the very best business for that location–and they’d do well in almost any location–was Metropolis; truly excellent with great variety. Damn, I miss them. Could’ve used 5 of them in our area.