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Hot Diggity Dog.
Milpas Street is now home to Dave’s Dogs.
Owner Dave Reynoso opened his doors at 900 North Milpas Street a week ago and has been feeding hungry hot dog-eating patrons practically nonstop ever since. The building is on the corner of Milpas and Canon Perdido streets, within walking distance of Santa Barbara High School.
For Reynoso, he has come full circle. He started with a hot dog cart on lower Milpas Street in 2015, then opened a restaurant on Turnpike Road near San Marcos High School.
“But I always felt like I wasn’t home because I started on Milpas Street,” Reynoso said. “When the opportunity came to come to Milpas again, I jumped right on it.”
Now, he’s home.
Reynoso grew up in Santa Barbara, and part of his passion is giving back to his community.
“The is not just for me, but for my whole city,” Reynoso said. “I am trying to give them a place where it’s not expensive, it’s fun food, and everyone can come have a different style hot dog. It’s a menu that everyone can enjoy.”
The restaurant offers a variety of creatively styled dogs.
There’s the Pulled Pork Mac, which comes with bacon, pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, barbecue sauce and cilantro, for $6.50. There’s the El Nino, which includes bacon, grilled mozzarella, barbecue sauce, spicy mayo and avocado, for $5.50. One of Reynoso’s recommendations is the Hot Cheeto & Cream Cheese, which features hot cheetos on top of a cream cheese spread, for $4.50
He also offers a Chicago Dog, with neon-green relish, tomatoes, onions, mustard, sport peppers, celery, salt and pickle for $5.50.
Reynoso, 33, said before he became a hot dog entrepreneur he worked as a buyer for a local company — but he hated it. He emptied his savings and cleaned out his 401k to start his business.
“I had a career job, but it never was really who I was,” Reynoso said. “I felt like I needed to do something more. I had this crazy idea ever since I was a kid to own a hot dog cart. I always loved hot dogs.”
He also saw a market for the hot dog.
“You’ve got taco places here, you’ve got burger places, but I just thought the hot dog was forgotten,” Reynoso said.
Reynoso, who has a seven-month-old daughter and another baby due in three months, hopes to inspire other people to follow their dreams.
He said he would never go back to a day job working for someone else. He works hard enough, as it is, for himself. He frequently spends 14 hours a day in the kitchen, pacing around in his black “Last of the Locals” T-shirt and “Santa Barbara 805ers” hat.
“I am a local guy who wants to show the new generation of local kids that you can make it in your hometown,” Reynoso said. “You don’t gotta go nowhere. You just gotta work hard and make it happen.”
Blissful Boutiques Opens Holiday Storefront
Last minute holiday shoppers have more hope.
Miracle on State Street, 1021 State St., offers hope daily through Christmas Eve. The store, owned by longtime Santa Barbara resident Lisa Green, is a holiday store for local artisans to sell their wares.
Green started the concept in the front yard of her house four years ago, when she held a “Holiday Boutique.” She sought out different locations to create an outdoor market to provide local artisans a platform. Eventually she teamed with Paseo Nuevo’s management team to create the “Makers Market,” held every weekend from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the De la Guerra Place courtyard of Paseo Nuevo.
The State Street store will be open from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
Green said in a news release that her market and storefront are unique because they allow consumers to “touch, taste and see the variety of products that are made locally.” The artisans are also more than willing to create a special order for your likings, she said.
Breakfast Culture Club Closes
One of Santa Barbara’s most-millennial coffee shops and art galleries has closed its doors.
Breakfast Culture Club, 711 Chapala Street, quietly went out of business a couple of weeks ago.
“It’s been an amazing three-and-a-half years of coffee, art shows, concerts, poetry readings, movie nights and everything in between,” owner Morgan Maasen wrote in a letter posted on a window outside the shop. “It’ been nothing short of an honor to serve this community as a hub for creativity and a space for anyone to come and relax, study and socialize.”
The spot was a frequent hangout for techies on laptops and people looking for a break from the corporate coffee scene.
— 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.