Tag archives: Mollies

In Other News
By James Buckley   |   December 17, 2020

I’ve often extolled Mollie Ahlstrand’s food. She’s the owner/chef of Mollie’s on State, formerly Mollie’s Ristorante on Coast Village Road. In recent months, she has had her challenges. Upon closing her Coast Village Road eatery (after a 25-year run), for example, she and her son, Ali Ahlstrand, opened Mollie’s on State. Then, of course, the […]

Once More for Mollie
By James Buckley   |   August 22, 2019

She’s been the toast of the town, friend of Oprah and Ellen, been to the White House with President Obama. Her list of notable customers ranges from Katy Perry, the aforementioned Ms Winfrey and Ms DeGeneres, Kirk and Anne Douglas, and, well let’s put it this way: they didn’t come for the publicity; they came […]

Hola Alito’s
By Richard Mineards   |   April 11, 2019

Just ten months after opening their new State Street outpost, Mollie’s, next to the Granada theatre in the former Tupelo Junction space, culinary dynamic duo Mollie Ahlstrand and her son, Ali, have launched another eatery, Alito’s, further downtown on the busy thoroughfare. However, unlike their former nosheteria on Coast Village Road which closed in August, […]

Carlitos Way
By Richard Mineards   |   October 25, 2018

Carlitos Cafe y Cantina, the popular State Street eatery, a tiara’s toss from the Arlington Theatre, is celebrating its 40th anniversary next month. The Mexican restaurant, owned by Montecito residents Carlos and Leslie Lopez-Hollis, is one of the longest-reigning businesses on the ritzy rue. “We saw great potential with the location and knew we could […]

Good Golly, Ms Mollie
By Richard Mineards   |   June 21, 2018

Major social gridlock took place when Montecito dynamic duo Mollie Ahlstrand and her son, Ali, opened their new Italian hotspot Mollie’s, the State Street eatery just a tiara’s toss from the venerable Granada. The tony twosome have long run their popular nosheteria Trattoria Mollie, on Coast Village Road, whose lease is up in the New […]

Lunch at Mollie’s
By James Buckley   |   November 16, 2017

If you are a regular reader of Montecito Journal, it won’t come as a surprise to learn that Trattoria Mollie is just about my favorite restaurant. And, there are at least three solid reasons for such devotion: 1) Mollie’s lasagna, featuring her hand-made pasta and a delicate cream-based tomato sauce reigns supreme; 2) Spaghetti with […]