After more than 30 years in Los Angeles — where he opened cabarets frequented by Madonna and U2 before settling into the easier pace of a romantic Mediterranean restaurant — Frederic Meschin rolled his 1955 Citroën Traction into Santa Barbara. He was ready to bet on the potential of our mountain-to-sea setting, so he signed a lease on that iconic Craftsman restaurant space across the street from the county courthouse, once home to Elements, the most enduring tenant of recent decades.
He began plotting a second version of The Little Door, which is still considered one of the more intimate places to eat in L.A. But then Meschin ran into the other thing that Santa Barbara is increasingly notorious for: a cripplingly expensive, time-consuming, occasionally nonsensical permitting process. “Everything went sour,” said Meschin, his French accent still thick despite 35 years in California. It took three years to open The Little Door at 129 East Anapamu Street.
“It’s the most beautiful city on the coast of the Americas. It has the water, the beauty, all of the components of the French Riviera — everything is here,” said Meschin, who was born near the coast of Bordeaux, France, in a small town much like Santa Barbara. “But the bureaucrats have been keeping it sleepy and choking it. I believe the city is naturally going to open up. It has to. There is no more choice. That’s why I am here. I want to participate until it blossoms.”