If the Santa Barbara shoreline is the American Riviera, Montecito is its St. Tropez. This tiny seashore city is understood for its celeb residents, jaw-dropping mansions, lovely seashores and elevated eating scene. Regardless of being a mere 10 minutes away from Santa Barbara’s bustling State Road, it appears like its personal world totally. The native restaurant panorama has grown over time, and now restaurateurs Brandon Boudet and Warner Ebbink are bringing Bar Lou, a French Riviera-inspired restaurant specializing in farm-to-table delicacies made with domestically sourced components, straight to Coast Village Street.
Chef Boudet and Ebbink, the crew behind L.A.’s Little Dom’s and Carpinteria’s Little Dom’s Seafood, didn’t initially got down to open a restaurant in Montecito, and have been as a substitute specializing in a bigger, ongoing venture down in Ojai. Nonetheless, as soon as they received phrase that Oliver’s, a vegan restaurant on Coast Village Street, was closing, they knew taking up the area was too good of a possibility to move up. “I’ve pushed by the situation for years and at all times thought it was an amazing spot,” Ebbink, who handles the enterprise and architectural facet of the eating places, tells Observer. “Figuring out the enterprise that occurs on Coast Village Street and the way properly eating places usually do there, we acknowledged the potential and jumped at bid. Because the saying goes, alternative by no means knocks if you’re sitting house doing nothing.”
The duo, who cut up their time between Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ojai, introduced in Isabelle Dahlin Design and Mahte Design to remodel the area into 4 distinct eating rooms, with mirrored partitions, classic French oak flooring and darkish inexperienced accents. “We have been each closely concerned within the ending touches,” says Ebbink. “We have been going for a ‘trendy California bungalow meets French bistro’ vibe.” Large bronze sliding doorways open to the patio, contributing to the indoor-outdoor really feel, and visitors will be capable to dine beneath the celebrities alongside lush greenery and a comfortable hearth.
By working carefully with native farmers and purveyors, Bar Lou hopes to supply a number of the freshest fare in Montecito. “We work with native fishermen in and round Carpinteria for each Bar Lou and Little Dom’s Seafood, together with Ben Hyman of Wild Native Seafood Co. and Stephanie Mutz of Sea Stephanie Fish, who has the very best uni from Santa Barbara,” chef Boudet explains. “We additionally go to many alternative farmers markets to seek out the freshest produce in Santa Barbara, Carpinteria and Ojai.”
Whereas Italian meals appears to reign supreme in Montecito, Bar Lou shall be increasing choices with a menu geared towards French Mediterranean flavors. “We noticed a possibility to carry a brand new power to a city that’s stuffed with some nice ‘old-fashioned’ spots and figured we might add one thing completely different,” Ebbink says. “Brandon is feeling energized by the French Mediterranean delicacies, however most significantly, Bar Lou provides an intimate scale the place we are able to put our personal private contact on all the pieces.”
The menu will revolve round contemporary seafood, vibrant spices and premier produce. From crunchy fried zucchini blossoms to charcoal-grilled beets with horseradish cashew crema, even patrons who comply with a plant-based or vegetarian food plan will discover loads of choices. “The smoked black cod smørrebrød is our tackle the Danish open-faced sandwich,” says Boudet. “It options house-smoked cod, dill pollen crème fraiche and pickled fennel, and we serve it on griddled, gluten-free bread sourced from Oat Bakery.”
The ocean urchin spaghetti is a traditional Santa Barbara dish that locals will love, however chef Boudet expects the chicory, manchego, pecan, date and sherry French dressing salad to change into a signature Bar Lou merchandise. The menu may also function a strong collection of decadent desserts created by the restaurant group’s longtime pastry chef, Ann Kirk. Highlights embrace a vegan chocolate avocado mousse made with coconut cream and cocoa nib brittle and a golden-brown corn, blackberry and ricotta fritters with whipped crème fraiche, that are paying homage to New Orleans beignets.
After all, no dinner in Santa Barbara is full with out a bottle of vino. “We labored with a good friend of ours, Drew Cuddy, who owns Satellite tv for pc SB to curate a wine listing that options over 30 varietals from France and California,” Boudet tells Observer. The crew additionally put collectively a cocktail listing of authentic signatures and modernized classics. The Negroni un Café elevates the traditional negroni with a coffee-infused gin whereas the Jaune (“yellow” in French) is a fragile mixture of French spirits, yellow chartreuse and lemon.
Although Bar Lou will solely supply dinner service the primary few weeks of opening, Boudet and Ebbink plan on providing lunch service together with weekend brunch quickly. Along with bringing again the very best patio in Montecito, the crew is offering a completely new eating idea for locals whereas bringing a real style of the South of France to the American Riviera.
