Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the culinary culture of Santa Barbara County’s wine country was thriving like never before, with establishments from Los Alamos to Santa Ynez able to compete with the best big-city menus. While the coronavirus dust is far from settled, there’s strong optimism that most of that edible landscape will survive the shutdown.
“It seems to us that being in the valley, our shop, as well as our friends and neighbors with restaurants and shops, have not been as hard hit as larger metro areas like L.A. — maybe even Santa Barbara — since we serve a smaller demographic with definitely less competition,” said Bob Oswaks, owner of Bob’s Well Bread in Los Alamos, which started a curbside takeout service more than six weeks ago. “And, with lower-density living, people seem to have less fear about visiting us.”
Yet that hasn’t helped the many Santa Barbara residents who love Bob’s bread, Full of Life’s flatbreads, Pico’s burgers, or Bell’s bistro eats. So a few weeks ago, many of the Los Alamos restaurants started delivering packages down to Santa Barbara on the weekends.