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Ali Ahlstrand is opening another restaurant in Santa Barbara.
Ahlstrand, who owns Trattoria Mollie at 1218 State St. with his famous chef mother Mollie, is about to launch Alito’s at 509 State St.
The restaurant is set to open on Tuesday, and Ahlstrand promises high-quality Mexican food made with fresh ingredients.
“It’s high-end, upper-scale Mexican food,” Ahlstrand told Noozhawk.
Chef Eduardo Carranza plans to bring his family’s recipes for tacos, enchiladas, taquitos, sopes, sea bass, salmon, fajitas, salads and even gluten-free chips.
Ahlstrand encourages people to check out the restaurant, which he said offers the best Mexican food between Gutierrez and Victoria streets.
Ahlstrand opened Trattoria Mollie in May of 2018, next to the Granada Theatre, at the site of the old Tupelo Junction.
“We want to bring some of the success downtown,” Ahlstand said.
New Village Properties Office
Village Properties has opened a new office at 1296 Coast Village Road in Santa Barbara.
“We love our local community and are thrilled to open our second office on Coast Village Road to further serve the needs of our clients and the community,” said Renee Grubb, owner and co-founder of Village Properties, Santa Barbara’s largest locally owned real estate company.
The new office is in a mixed-use building that features four commercial spaces on the ground floor.
Village Properties’ neighbors in the commercial spaces include Heather James Fine Art and the Folded Hills Wine Tasting Room, which is the first wine tasting room on Coast Village Road.
Silver Air Expands Operations
Private jet management and charter company Silver Air, based in Santa Barbara, is expanding its services, offering new operations in Reno, Nevada.
The company has operations in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Seattle, Dallas, Houston and New York. It also has added a Citation X jet under PURE Jet Management.
“As Silver Air continues to expand our fleet, we continue to grow our super-mid category of aircraft,” said Chuck Stumpf, Silver Air’s president of business development. “We are excited to bring on this beautifully appointed Citation X with winglets. The Citation X is a leader in speed, power and value while low drag and powerful engines provide the jet with unsurpassed speed from city to city.”
Silver Air, 3760 State St., was founded in 2008. The company manages a fleet of aircraft from light to long-range heavy jets around the clock, 24-hours-a-day.
Transient-Occupancy Tax Dips
The city of Santa Barbara’s hotel transient-occupancy or bed tax dropped by .08 percent year-over-year in February. The city took in $1.4 million during the month.
During the first eight months of the fiscal year, Santa Barbara took in $12.84 million, and expects to take in about $19.6 million by June 30.
Click here for the month-by-month report on TOT.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.