The Cool Cats Keep Coming for Good Lion Hospitality

 If you consider a visit to a haberdasher prior to bar-hopping, you’d want a top hat before sashaying into The Lion’s Tale, and a pith helmet before slinking into Jaguar Moon. That’s relevant sartorial information as both establishments just celebrated their first-year anniversaries. The former, gracing Coast Village Road in Montecito since October 2024, offers a swellegant hotel bar experience akin to the finest one at The Connaught in London. The latter, livening up downtown Ventura since November of the same year, takes you to the tropical Yucatán. The two join the other seven establishments that comprise the ever-growing Good Lion Hospitality (GLH) group headed by couple in business and marriage Misty Orman and Brandon Ristaino.

Given Ristaino insists it “takes a year to take a first breath” when opening a spot, it seemed a good time to check in on all things lion to see if everything was good.

Not to give the game away one-sixth of the way through the article, but the answer is complex. Crowds have been great and locals supportive, so much so that Orman and Ristaino couldn’t even get IN to their own Lion’s Tale over the holidays. “It was so crowded,” Orman explains, “that we didn’t want to come in and stress the staff having to figure out where to put us.”

Care to read the rest then do so at the Independent's site.

Answering the Urge for Urchin

 

How much just shy of delicious decadence can you take? If you’d care to find out, get yourself to Carp for brunch at Little Dom’s Seafood. Now almost six years since it took over the beloved space of Sly’s, Little Dom’s has settled into its own lived-in and local feel — servers fist-bump regulars and the bar room’s booths feel like they’ve been there for decades (the space had high-tops in the Sly’s days).

But it also has a classy and cool feel, too, starting with that very elegant Deco bar and carrying right through the menu. Especially from September to March when Brandon Boudet, executive chef and co-owner, gets to drop a few in-season uni dishes. None beats the simple-sounding but far from simple-tasting uni and eggs on brioche.

Care to read the rest then do so at the Independent's site.

Get Ghirardelli in Your Santa Barbara Belly

If it's going to take non-local businesses to rescue State Street, at least they better be California icons, and based on the line of folks queuing up to score a free sundae on opening day, January 22, I'd wager Santa Barbarans are going to welcome Ghirardelli with open arms and hungering gullets. Unless you have Rip van Winkled for 174 years, I assume you know of Ghirardelli, as Domenico opened his first store in San Francisco in 1852 when he could have met a living Washington Irving. That's one reason the name is practically synonymous with chocolate, but it's more than a long-established brand. On its website it claims to be "one of the few chocolate companies in the United States to control every aspect of its chocolate manufacturing process," which, of course, leads to a better tasting product. So combine ace flavor and a heaping helping of nostalgia and you have a winner. (Do note they are currently owned by giant Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG, but at least Lindt also has a history of quality chocolatiering. And there aren't any small companies anymore in a world dominated by massive capital. I'll put my Marx away....)

So the Santa Barbara store, located on lower State in what had mostly recently been Pascucci's (which, I know, most most recently was on upper State, sorry for any confusion), is so brand-spanking renovated it can come off a bit mallesque--all blue and white and tile and light--but my guess is time will add its patina eventually. The center of the store offers oodles of ways to take the famed chocolate bars home in more varieties than you might imagine (I'm not going to reference Wonka, I'm not going to reference Wonka). But no doubt the main attraction is the ice cream bar and its 26+ versions of sundaes, many starring Ghirardelli's famously rich, thick, and addictive hot fudge sauce. So while ice cream can seem an extension of the brand, it certainly doesn't mind literally bathing in the company's roots.

In the photo up top you see the Ocean Beach, a sea salt caramel sundae for those of us who know that saline hit of savory makes the chocolate all the better. And note your dessert comes with its own dessert--atop each sundae rides one of their SQUARES® and you get to call dark or milk chocolate. I have to admit I didn't know you could copyright geometric shapes. I think after eating one of these I'm headed to a governmental office so I can own ROUND®. It is scrumptious, definitely.

What's even better, Ghirardelli gives back. To celebrate being part of the Santa Barbara community, locals & students will receive a local discount of 15% off their entire purchase (with proof of valid ID). 

Drink Your Mesquite Neat

The whiskies from Islay in Scotland are as hard for some to swallow as it is for others to pronounce Islay (it's EYE-luh). That's thanks to the peat--Islay is where all the best smoky single malts come from. They roast barley over peat, and that flavor stays strong through the distillation process. If you're a fan--and I imagine all you mezcal-lovers out there just got interested--it's sort of addictive. Who doesn't love the scent of a campfire?

So, sure, there's a muchness to it. But for many, this writer included, that intensity is thrilling. One of the best Scottish Islay expressions can be found at Laphroaig, so it's exciting to know that Laphroaig's longest-term distillery manager, John Campbell, is now making whiskey at Warbringer in of all places Oxnard, CA. That might seem like too far from home in too many ways, but remember what Hubert Germain-Robin did for U.S. brandy and you'll realize there is some repeatable history to emulate. 

Of course, California shores aren't famed for their peat bogs. One thing we do have is mesquite, although to be honest, what Sespe Creek Distillery, which is the over-arching company for Warbringer, uses is charcoal from Texas--hence the official name, Southwest Bourbon. As their website puts it: "mesquite smoked corn comprises the majority of our mash-bill (65%), the rest is fire-roasted in a rotating steel drum, caramelizing sugars and imparting a sweet, roasted flavor." (The remainder of the grain bill is rye; as bourbons go, this one's low on the sticky side.)

Think big and bold--that makes it seem more Californian to me. Yep, there's a big hit of campfire on the nose and on the first sip, but then everything begins to balance as if a gifted cinematographer was pulling focus for you so you can explore all the frames of the drink. Caramel, a bit of graham cracker, a hint of cocoa--sure, think a drinkable s'more. Warbringer is finished in sherry casks, so gets a bit of pedigree in its finish. 

Obviously, and especially at 98 proof, it's a fine sipper all on its own, particularly after dinner around the fire pit. (If it ever stops raining so we can sit outside. How is this California.) It also works well as a smoky sub in cocktails like Difford's 100 Year Old Cigar, of course. But I had to know how it might do in a Health Inspector, my variation a Penicillin (long story--thought I was allergic to penicillin, so needed to make my take on the drink have anime that wouldn't make me ill). Typically the cocktail gets a float of Laphroaig to get some smokiness direct to your nose. Typically the whiskey bill is a blended Scotch, and to honor my Dewar's drinking dad, that's long been mine, too.

But, what happens if you skip the float and go straight for the smoke, using the Warbringer as all your whiskey? Well, that's a perfect delight, especially on a damp winter night. 

Smoke Em if You Got Em

(makes 1 drink)

3/4 Tbs. honey (try a local one wherever you are--I liken from Hollister Ranch)

3/4 Tbs. ginger extract (Liquid Alchemist does a vivid one)

1 oz. fresh lemon juice

1 oz. dry vermouth

2 oz. Warbringer Mesquite Smoked Southwest Bourbon

Add everything to a cocktail shake. Stir, first, as the honey takes a bit get incorporated. Then add ice and shake, vigorously, because, you know, that honey. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon peel.