The big news in the regional restaurant world this week was that Sea Legs Santa Barbara will be the next restaurant at Goleta Beach, having won the bid over three other competitors. They’ll be taking the place of the Beachside Bar-Café, which operated in that county-owned location for nearly 37 years but shut down in January due primarily to pandemic-related challenges, a year before their lease was up.
For those who want more of the straight story, with details, comments, and so forth — but minus my own direct opinions — I wrote a news-ish story about the decision here .
I was able to pre-write the story last week and publish it right after the vote came through on Tuesday, because the proprietors, Joe “Diggs” Dies (pictured below) and Omar Khashen, reached out directly to me a week in advance to tell me their story. When such strategic outreach comes my way, I’m always on the lookout for becoming an agent of advanced spin, of having my voice be co-opted to get ahead of and perhaps shape community reaction.