The Monarch Has Landed: Montecito’s Newest Eatery

Baked Brie

Montecito doesn’t often open new restaurants, but the August, 2018 arrival of The Monarch is much anticipated, and something much needed.

After the raging Thomas Fire in December 2017 and the January 2018 mudslides, Montecito suffered greatly, as did all of Santa Barbara.

But fast foreword half a year and new growth has sprung up in the form of The Monarch, perhaps fittingly called as the butterfly…well, you know. Embracing the local-ness of our community the overarching point of the Monarch is a hyper local approach to its food. Local is a culinary buzzword these days, and hyper-local, even more so. But what is it? As the words imply, locally sourced ingredients within 100 miles of any given establishment. So what The Monarch has done is actually to list their purveyors right on their menu so you know where your food, even the hand made custom plates, comes from. The restaurant is the brain child of husband and wife chef duo, Phillip Frankland Lee and Margarita Kallas-Lee.

The space focuses on beige and tan colors. The open bar and open kitchen means that nothing can hide from you. A handful of tables including some tables with couches make it feel both comfortable and slightly upscale. Copious light pours up into the restaurant windows facing Coast Village Road keeping the feel very bright. If you end up waiting for a table they will offer you complementary sparkling wine. Wines on the list are predominately local, all the wines by the glass, with the exception of French champagne and a handful of bottles for purchase. They have a nice selection of spirits including a number of Mezcal's and a few Japanese whiskeys, and will gladly make you a cocktail.
 

As a starter I had the Gabe’s Baked Brie ($15), a triple-cream cheese from Stepladder Creamery in Cambria rolled in a light puff pastry (photo above). The triple cream might sound heavy but it is the reverse of that – light, delicate, creamy. The Brie sits on a bed of greens - a blend of nine different herbs and wildflowers giving an earthy savory component to it – and fresh berries. The whole of this is a terrific combination of savory, sweet and earthy. One of the reasons I chose this, aside from my love affair with cheese, is that you don’t often see baked Brie on menus much anymore and it’s a departure from the norm.

Their Duck Breast and Leg ($46) is the entrée I enjoyed with lightly glazed honey, jasmine and coriander. It’s slow roasted inside their oven, then finished on the grill. Alongside the moist duck were lovely grilled carrots, potatoes and corn on the cob, sans cob, which is topped with herb butter. The kernels are small and slightly crunchy after being shucked off. I don’t eat much corn, but the texture of this was intriguing. An accompanying salad of fresh tomatoes, micro greens and fresh beans was simple yet stunning. This is what happens when you use ultra fresh ingredients  - you get an explosion of flavor, both subtle and nuanced as well as obvious and potent. I’m glad The Monarch has landed and once you visit, you will be too.

TheMonarch at the Montecito Inn

1295 Coast Village Rd.

Montecito

Wednesday – Sunday 5p.m. to closing

Flowers, Fauna & Fun: Lotusland - A Day in Montecito

Lotusland is 37 acres of the best manicured and lovingly tended to gardens you will probably ever see. Last privately owned by Madame Ganna Walska, a Polish opera singer in the 1920s, she routinely arranged her vast collection of plants into bold color schemes and unusual shapes. For over four decades she tinkered with her gardens, shaping, creating and recreating them to suit her wishes. But the estate was made for this. The first owner had a commercial nursery on the land in the 1880s. After Walska’s death in 1984 her estate, Lotusland, so named because of the lotus flowers on the property, became a non-profit. It is one thing to visit a botanical garden, but it is another to wander through a magnificent wonderland of plants, trees and gardens.

From the moonscape barrenness of the cactus gardens, to the topiary garden and their array of animals, to the serenity of the Japanese garden, to the olive allee and formal English-styled gardens, and across the great lawn, Lotusland is that rare stop where you feel you could stay forever. In fact, one of the staff gardeners has been there for over 30 years. It is truly an awe-inspiring place. It can get brisk as many parts are so heavily wooded that you can’t see the sun. The wide walking paths easily accommodate wheelchairs and there is no elevation gain. If you love botany, horticulture, or like me you don’t know much about either but you love plants, Lotusland is a treat. Bring your camera and comfortable shoes.

This is a public garden operating in a residential neighborhood, therefore reservations are mandatory. Lotusland is located at 695 Ashley Road in Montecito, 805/969-9990, http://www.lotusland.org/. Tours are offered at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday between mid-February and mid-November only. Admission is $25, adults; $10 children age 5 to 18 and the tours last two hours.

If you do the 10 a.m. tour, when you’re done it will be lunch time. Close by in Montecito, a five minute drive away, is what is known as the Upper Village, less crowded than Coast Village Road in the lower village and there are several eateries close by. For sandwiches and salads, sweets and such, the Pierre Lafond Montecito Market, (516 San Ysidro Rd., Montecito, 805/565-1504, open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.) gives you great options to eat there, or take away. The Prosciutto and Basil Flatbread is wonderful, and their Farm Cake is terrific. They also have a coffee bar, small produce area as well as cookbooks, olive oils, chocolates and even a few wines. Or head down to trendy Coast Village Road, where there is plenty of shopping and restaurants, and try the excellent (though pricy) turkey meatballs at Trattoria Mollie (1250 Coast Village Rd., Montecito, 805/565-9381, open for lunch and dinner, closed Mondays), made uber-famous when a local resident by the name of Oprah Winfrey, plastered the meatball recipe on her TV show. From there it’s a two minute drive to Butterfly Beach for a walk on the dog friendly sand.

As it’s probably nearing later afternoon, the Four Seasons Biltmore is right there for a glass of local wine, so you can sip while you stare out to the Channel Islands and watch the sun languidly sink into the Pacific. Not a bad way to spend the day.