A renowned Santa Barbara County chef and a company dedicated to the restoration of boutique hotels will open a new eatery later this month at The Steward Santa Barbara.
Restaurant Terra will open inside the newly remodeled hotel located at 5490 Hollister Ave. — formerly Pacifica Suites, just east of Highway 217.
The property includes plenty of outdoor space, 87 suites, patio dining, a breakfast room and the new dining area with a full bar.
The Steward Santa Barbara is a Tribute Portfolio Marriott Hotel, a division of Marriott Hotels & Resorts.
The five-acre site harkens back to the mid-1800s, when the family of pioneering horticulturist Joseph Sexton built a home for his family on the estate.
The historical Sexton House remains on the western edge of property, which contains many of the original trees.
Terra’s executive chef is Augusto Caudillo, the chef and co-owner of Lompoc’s popular Scratch Kitchen, which operated from May 2015 to August 2019.
Caudillo and his sister and brother-in-law, Anna Caudillo and Gonzalo Pacheco, founded Scratch.
Both Augusto Caudillo and Pacheco worked at Montecito’s Lucky’s Steakhouse before opening their Lompoc restaurant, Pacheco as chef and Caudillo as pastry/brunch chef.
Caudillo, a 41-year-old native of Guanajuato, Mexico, and a graduate of Dos Pueblos High School, also worked as bistro chef at Montecito Country Club, as chef at both Seattle’s Bako and Dargan’s Irish Pub, and as sous chef at Brendan’s Irish Pubs in Camarillo.
He studied his craft at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts.
In the wake of Scratch, Caudillo worked as a chef at Goleta’s Raytheon Technologies and, during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, as a private chef.
Before being hired at The Steward, Caudillo had another stint at the (now) renovated Montecito Club.
Here at the new hotel site, the remodel has been gradual.
“We closed off some sections and kept others open for business,” Caudillo said.
In fact, during UC Santa Barbara’s commencement weekend last month, the hotel was full.
“This is a unique property, and was remodeled to reflect its roots,” Caudillo said.
Adjacent to the Sexton House is a water tower that houses the property’s original well. Today, the property is supplied in part by the well and in part from Goleta water, he said.
As chef, Caudillo created a simple but strong breakfast and dinner menu and an elite wine list that focuses on Santa Barbara County producers and one or two selections from Paso Robles.
Among the breakfast items are pancakes made from sweet corn (half pureed and half left whole kernel) and olive oil in a “custard” corn style and topped with fresh berries and a berry compote.
Also for breakfast is avocado toast — charcoal sourdough from Oat Bakery topped with spicy cold-smoked salmon pastrami, avocado, pickled onions, a quail egg and flowers from Good Witch Farms.
Caudillo’s goal is simple: “Food doesn’t need to be complicated, it just needs to look and taste good, and fill you up. I hope to put out good food that people like.”
Because Pacifica Suites offered guests only a complementary-style breakfast, the restaurant’s original kitchen was limited to four burners and “a flat-top” (part griddle, part grill), he said.
“I designed this new kitchen to be functional from the start,” he said, commending the hotel management for its support. “It’s rare for a chef to be able to do that.”
At the rear of The Steward’s deep lot is an additional building targeted to house more suites after a remodel, and a barn destined to be a Pilates studio, gym and juice bar, Caudillo said.
More than 100 Tribute Portfolio properties are scattered around the globe, although most are in North America.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts launched The Tribute Portfolio in 2015, and Marriott International acquired it the following year.
