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For Valentine’s Day last month, Delish.com released its list of the most romantic restaurants in each state. Coming out on top in California was West Hollywood’s The Little Door.
Trying to recreate that vibe in downtown Santa Barbara is Emma Recher, the owner of a second Little Door at 129 E. Anapamu St., which opened Feb. 20.
The high-end restaurant offers front-row seats of the Santa Barbara Courthouse’s Sunken Gardens and a French Mediterranean menu overseen by Chef Jean Paul Luvanvi. The Little Door also offers wines, cocktails and specialty cakes.
Recher, a native of France who’s lived in Santa Barbara with her family for two years, said the restaurant uses only organic ingredients from local farmers and purveyors like Jordano’s, the Berry Man and the local fishing community.
Her cousins Nicolas and Frederic Meschin cofounded the original location 20 years ago. Recher said they wanted to open another restaurant in Santa Barbara before falling in love with the city.
“It’s paradise, and I really, really love living in paradise,” she said.
Simple word-of-mouth promotion has brought in a steady stream of customers, she added.
The Little Door is open Monday through Thursday from 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 4:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Tangonadas opens on State Street
Opening one day before The Little Door was Tangonadas of 1014 State St.
The empanadas, coffee and pastry shop is the brainchild of Jessica Manuzza Max, who has incorporated her clothing and fashion store Malulani Shop into the space.
Max said her quest to open a store started out down south in Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach.
“Everybody started telling me Santa Barbara is more of your style because it’s hippie-chic, and that a lot of people like handmade stuff at the moment,” she said.
“I came here, and I fell in love immediately. The day after I came here, I started looking for places, and a week or 10 days after, I got my place.”
A native of Buenos Aires, Max has decorated her shop to resemble the Argentinian city’s colorful La Boca neighborhood.
“I fell in love with this country,” she said. “I’m here working, and I’m putting all my money, all my effort to be here and be part of the community and serve the community.”
Tangonadas is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Light Santa Barbara opens
Filling in a very niche industry in the city is the newly opened Light Santa Barbara, which offers all sorts of lighting equipment and lighting design services from 1 N. Calle Cesar Chavez #15.
Its founder is William George, a Bostonian trained in interior design with work experience in lighting design, hair salons and construction project management.
He said many of his Los Angeles-based jobs brought him up to Santa Barbara, where he had to round up extra parts for the projects he worked on.
“I had the hardest time finding light fixtures” here, he said.
In addition to providing the lighting and lighting design for large-scale building projects, George said his store is open to individuals looking for as little as single light bulbs for their homes.
The Bear and Star to open in Los Olivos
Opening next month at 2860 Grand Ave. in Los Olivos will be The Bear and Star, a “refined ranch cuisine” restaurant by Eli and Ashley Parker of the Fess Parker family.
The breakfast, lunch and dinner establishment will feature a dining room, wine room, a chef’s room and a bar and lounge.
Heading up the kitchen will be chef and restaurant partner John Cox, and taking up general manager duties is Andrew Scherer.
— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.