When Heather Hovey co-founded Eye on I in Lompoc with fellow chef Jeff Olsson early in 2021, the sky was the limit for their new eatery.
COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were easing, and Lompoc diners were eager for a new restaurant — especially one from Olsson, the popular co-founder of Buellton’s celebrated Industrial Eats.
Olsson succumbed to cancer last September, leaving Hovey without a title to their eatery. However, with funds raised via a GoFundMe campaign and private donors, she regained sole proprietorship in January of this year, as well as a license to sell wine and beer.
She wants the community to know that its support “means a lot to us, as it’s important to continue what he (Jeff) started. It’s because of Jeff that we are here.”
Like “Eats,” Eye on I is eclectic on the inside, with an emphasis on family-style seating. Every available inch of rack space holds books, spices, paper goods and, for diners, utensils and condiments.
Local artists’ work adorns the walls, and Hovey emphasizes that she doesn’t take a percentage from any sales. The “art community has been helpful” in her promotion of Eye, she said.
Hovey, a resident of Los Alamos with her 9-year-old son, Blaze, reopened Eye with the goal of being “a sustainable business.”
“I want to have local, good-quality food that helps sustain fishermen and farmers,” Hovey said. Her focus is on handmade pizzas, sandwiches and salads.
Her goal is to have an affordable lunch of, say, $10 for a half-sandwich and chips, utilizing “really fresh food” sourced from local farmers and fishermen and women.
Hovey knows she’s smack in the middle of “some of the best wineries in the world” and wants to cater to the harvest interns at those wineries, as well as to Space X and Vandenberg Space Force Base employees.
She keeps a lean staff but for Fridays and Saturdays, when she and three or four others will work to meet increased demand.
Hovey has hosted guest chefs and classes, and hopes to continue to focus on the latter in conjunction with Motley Crew Ranch and others.
As a chef and owner, “it’s deeply fulfilling to be a part the community — to be a hub,” Hovey said.
Eye on I is located at 131 North I St. It’s hours are noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Online orders for “grab and go” can be made between 11:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. those days.
