Tag archives: vegan

Inconspicuous Beauty
By Melissa Petitto   |   March 14, 2023

What a couple of weeks it has been in our beautiful town – rain, snow, and high winds! With the weather, I am still in the winter mode of craving warming and comforting foods and was drawn to the inconspicuous beauty of the celery root, bulbous on the bottom with bright greens on top. The […]

Winter Whites
By Melissa Petitto   |   February 28, 2023

Well, readers, it’s still cold outside and a nourishing soup is on my mind. This week, I was pondering the white vegetables in the farmers market and their often overlooked brilliance. These vegetables, which are lacking in pigment, have a phytonutrient, or plant chemical, known as anthoxanthin.  Vegetables such as garlic, onion, fennel, potato, turnip, […]

A New Brick and Mortar for Rascal’s And How the Community Can Help!
By Christopher Matteo Connor   |   February 14, 2023

When life throws you curveballs, what does the owner of the vegan joint Rascal’s do? In short, Dalan Moreno gets to work and gets things done!  After a sudden and unexpected notice to vacate his downtown residency on Cota Street on November 4, 2022, Dalan was left in a moment of uncertainty. But if 17 […]

An Ode to the Carrot
By Melissa Petitto   |   February 14, 2023

Walking through the Santa Barbara farmers market this week, I keep coming back to the carrot. This often-overlooked vegetable is one that when at its peak, is so utterly sweet and delicious that it can be eaten without adornment.  I love the colors of the heirloom carrots – bright purple with an orange center, radiant […]

Foraging Thyme: The Dance from Ballerina to Chef
By Melissa Petitto   |   January 31, 2023

Little did I know that my life would take the turn from young ballerina to celebrity personal chef in NYC or later that I would end up as Executive Chef and partner in a meal delivery start up in Santa Barbara. And now, I get to write to you, the readers of the Montecito Journal, […]

Wellness Providers
By Montecito Journal   |   January 12, 2023

Elevated, Luxurious Dental Practice Cosmetics, Implants, & Aesthetics Serving the Santa Barbara & Montecito Community Hlavaty Dental Arts737 Garden Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101(805) 564-3600www.hlavatydentalarts.com Nonprofit wellness organization whose mission is to build a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all. Montecito Family YMCA591 Santa Rosa LaneMontecito, CA 93108(805) 969-3288www.ciymca.org/montecito Premium personal training services including Private […]

Winter’s Garden and Sea Inspirations
By Claudia Schou   |   December 6, 2022

From area farms to the sea, celebrate the season with simple, homemade dishes that make the most of its best and brightest produce and pair them with fresh selections from our local fish markets.  Let’s start with a vegan/paleo butternut squash soup with roasted poblano chiles, which are mild in flavor but occasionally and unpredictably […]

Where It All Vegan
By Christopher Matteo Connor   |   July 19, 2022

Who remembers that cookbook How It All Vegan by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer? If you do, congrats, you’re older than you think. If you don’t, well, who can blame you? It was a vegan cookbook published in 2002. Before vegan burgers started popping up at fast food chains, before walls were packed with specialty […]

Basil’s Big Bash
By Richard Mineards   |   June 21, 2022

It couldn’t have been a more purr-fect evening when ASAP, the Animal Shelter Assistance Program, hosted its eighth annual Basil’s Big Bash at the Hilton, with 274 guests helping raise around $100,000 for the 33-year-old feline charity that provides shelter, veterinary care, and adoption facilities for cats in need. The beachside hostelry’s Plaza del Sol […]

PLNT PWRD MRKT To Close 
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   May 31, 2022

Less than six months after opening in Coast Village Walk on Coast Village Road, Montecito’s first “meatless” market will close its doors on June 3, according to owners. The concept was the brainchild of Tim Morton-Smith and his wife, Kamren, who found themselves buying plant-based items mostly online instead of in local stores; the goal […]

Montecito’s First Plant-Based Market
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   December 28, 2021

Montecito and Santa Barbara locals have opened Montecito’s first “meatless” market, PLNT PWRD MRKT (i.e. Plant Powered Market), in Coast Village Walk on Coast Village Road. Borne after owner Tim Morton-Smith and his wife, Kamren, found themselves buying plant-based items mostly online instead of in local stores, the goal of opening the market was to […]

PWRD Up
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   December 21, 2021

Montecito’s first plant-based market, PLNT PWRD MRKT, has opened on Coast Village Road; we’ll have more on the new shop in next week’s edition.

Josh Chapman: From Dolphin Whisperer to Vegan Animal Rights Activist
By Stella Haffner   |   June 10, 2021

Having grown up in a house on Miramar Beach, Josh Chapman has more than a few tales from his time in Santa Barbara. Between building forts from driftwood and playing dolphin whisperer with his friends, it would’ve been difficult not to develop an appreciation for the surrounding wildlife. Today, Josh is a freshman at Griffith […]

Hot Diggity Dog! Adventurous flavor combos elevate an American classic at Dave’s Dogs
By Claudia Schou   |   April 29, 2021

Ask a New Yorker about the ideal hot dog and they’ll likely say it’s a Nathan’s dog slathered in mustard and covered in sauerkraut, wrapped in tin foil. Another extreme might be the kind of exotic sausages – rabbit and rattlesnake, anyone? – served at hipster-friendly eateries like Wurstküche in Los Angeles. Whatever your passion […]

Girl Power!
By Richard Mineards   |   April 15, 2021

Luz Reyes-Martin, executive director of public affairs and communications at Santa Barbara City College, and Barbara Ben-Horin, former CEO of Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara, are being honored by the local chapter of the Association for Women in Communications at the 13th annual awards presented by Women Connect4Good via Zoom later this month. Independent […]

Venturing Out for a Bite
By Claudia Schou   |   January 28, 2021

Craveable Carryout: Colossal Burgers, Spicy Vegan Pop-Ups, and Savory Pizza Pies It’s only natural to seek solace in food during an isolating winter. But with an ongoing regional ban on both indoor and outdoor dining severely affecting Santa Barbara’s restaurant scene, doing so has become much more challenging. Many restaurants continue to offer both take-out […]

Fall’s Outdoor Feasts and Epicurean Classes
By Claudia Schou   |   October 21, 2020

In Santa Barbara, complying with evolving health guidelines and ensuring guests’ safety has been a challenge that restaurateurs, winemakers, and hoteliers have faced with energy and creativity. Perfecting the outdoor dining experience with new furnishings and socially distanced seating and alcoves for privacy are part of today’s operation. Outside areas, sidewalks, gardens, and parking lots […]

Letters to the Editor
By Montecito Journal   |   June 25, 2020

Not Missing After All Nicholas Schou’s article in the 18-25 June 2020 edition of the Journal is a deeply flawed and misdirected screed against private wells disguised as an “investigation” of “Montecito’s Missing Water.” An alliterative headline to be sure, but missing? It may be unknown, but it hasn’t gone missing. At the outset, when […]

Farewell, Oliver’s
By Richard Mineards   |   May 14, 2020

Oliver’s, the Coast Village Road vegetarian restaurant that took five years to transform from the old Peabody’s space under owner cell phone billionaire Craig McCaw, 70, has been sold, says my mole with the martini. McCaw, who has moved back to Seattle, has been divesting himself of his properties in our rarefied enclave, including his […]

The Right Stuff: Santa Barbara’s Kate Farms is Changing Lives with Plant-Based Lightning in a Bottle
By Nick Schou   |   April 23, 2020

Plant-Based Nutrition with Personal Roots Perseverance must be all over the Laver family DNA. It was there for tennis giant Rod Laver when he won the Australian Open in five sets, four hours, and one-hundred-degree heat. It was there for Laver’s nephew Richard, who, with his wife Michelle spent years developing their own home-grown nutrition […]