The Latest Montecito Restaurant Buzz

Hello loves! Wonder no more my dears about the latest on new biz in Montecito. I am here with the first dining notes teaser on the soon-to-open Monte’s Restaurant, at 1198 Coast Village Road. 

Sipping my organic matcha tea as I write this, I can hear you sigh, “The location with the most storied restaurant history of any location on CVR.” Indeed, I myself last week overheard two high end realtors’ musings [who will remain anonymous but seen at Pierre Lafond bakery], “…just give us back the old Peabody’s vibe and it will be a success there with the locals, and add live music…” Peabody’s opened in 1982 with its historic antique Hawaiian dancing girl tiffany lamp on the backbar. It closed and reopened with new owner in 2018 and closed in 2023. Next at the location were Oliver’s and Bar Lou, both a short visit.

However, there is higher hope for Monte’s [and the Palms in Carpinteria] via their Executive Chef Daniel Kim and their produce supplier, the organic regenerative Rincon Farm Carpinteria managed by Aiden Ostrowski; with both restaurants backed by owner Ryan Sohn, CEOof the Endwell Hospitality Group NYC. Both Sohn and Kim have a Korean background and will bring their Korean touch to the menus, a new concept for our town.

Endwell’s biz is built on “farm to table,” which of course works at their first restaurant, One White Street in TriBeCa NYC supplied by Rigor Hill Farm. TriBeCa’s pre-gentrification history was one of crime, abandoned produce warehouses, and industry. As artists got pushed out of Soho they ventured to TriBeCa, and were later pushed out by the upandcoming peeps, followed by an influx of upscale condos, takeout, auto-sushi, and pasta-a-plenty restaurants – #IYKYK. 

In California, we are definitively “spoiled” with our sophisticated restaurateurs and executive chefs having worked with fresh farm foods since at least the 1980s; think Wolfgang Puck’s Spago, and right here in Montecito (whom I reported on ages ago), longtime Four Season’s Biltmore Executive Chef Alessandro Cartumini, whose signature since 2010 is “farm to table” – working with local seafood and produce suppliers and even growing his own fresh herbs in the hotel’s garden (!). And of course we can’t go without mentioning our dearest dear, Chef Mollie Ahlstrand of Mollie’s CVR [early 1990s, and today in Carpinteria].

Endwell’s socials are doing a great PR in stating that employee prospects for Monte’s Restaurant are “gasping in their interviews” upon hearing the name of Executive Chef Daniel Kim as their boss. Kim’s impressive résumé includes the MICHELIN 3 Green Star restaurant Providence on Melrose Ave, Los Angeles; the Restaurant at Meadowood, St. Helena, CA; a seasonal gig at Michelin Guide recognized Hibi in Koreatown L.A., and former Michelin star Le Cirque Restaurant, Las Vegas.

About Ostrowski, he shares on his socials, “I started farming back in October of 2018 using my abilities as a mechanic and carpenter to get a job with a local Carpinteria Family Ranch managing avocados. I spent the next six years learning the ins and outs of California soil, seasons, and weather before meeting the fledgling Rincon Hill Farm team and starting with them in January of 2024. My inspiration to farm comes from a love of nature that started when I was a child, spending as much time among the trees of New England as possible. In college, while reading The One-Straw Revolution, Masanobu Fukuoka planted a seed in my mind that farming is what I wanted to be doing. Along with John Steinbeck’s depictions of California agriculture and the writings of Wendell Berry I saw farming as a way to unify my moral/spiritual, philosophical, and physical beliefs into one practice, while also providing a space for me, my wife, and children to learn and grow in a unique way that living with a close connection to Nature’s cultivation allows. My favorite project on the farm has been growing potatoes. I enjoy the simplicity of the job and the hidden reward. There is nothing like reaching into the soil and pulling out handfuls of potatoes!”

Stay reading, loves, as I am attending a private meeting at the farm with all concerned next weekend and will have those most recent updates for Monte’s Restaurant and The Palms just for you.  

Till next week, Xx, JAC

411: @montescalifornia and @rinconhillfarm