Good Lion Hospitality Roars Through the 10-Year Mark

 

When the Good Lion opened in December 2014, it not only reimagined the cocktail bar for Santa Barbara, but it also signaled the dawn of a Central Coast mini-empire. As they aptly put it on the Good Lion Hospitality (GLH) website, they have “a vision of exciting, comfortable, and dynamic eating, living, and drinking spaces featuring world-class hospitality.” That vision and hospitality begins with couple Brandon and Misty Orman Ristaino, curious, clever compadres in class and taste.

If everything goes to plan (and all “trying to open a business in these parts” warnings must apply), by year’s end, GLH will include the bars Good Lion, Test Pilot, and Shaker Mill in Santa Barbara; an as-yet-unnamed project in the Montecito Inn; Strange Beast, Bank of Italy Cocktail Trust, and Jaguar Moon in Ventura; and the “bed-and-beverage” Petit Soleil in S.L.O.

Turns out expansion was always the plan.

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

Canary Hotel Hosts Community Cocktail for a Cause

Since the holidays were mostly impossible in these parts, the Canary Hotel and Finch & Fork restaurant are stepping in to raise our spirits. On January 20, on their closer-to-the-stars rooftop, they’ll be throwing a party called Community Cocktail for a Cause.

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

Test Pilot Takes Off in the Funk Zone

Don’t let the kitschy glasses with their totem pole faces fool you. While Test Pilot is indeed tiki-inspired, this new Funk Zone hotspot is not mired in the Polynesian motif of yesteryear. “We didn’t want it to be a classics bar,” said Brandon Ristaino, who owns this establishment as well as The Good Lion on State Street with his wife, Misty. “We wanted to modernize the drinks, clean them up, dry them out. In some, we switched out the rum.”

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