The Bear and Star, one of the Central Coast’s most ardent attempts at true ranch-to-table cuisine, will be closing at the end of the year. That’s according to Ashley Parker Snider, daughter of the late Fess Parker, whose family owns the Los Olivos hotel that houses the restaurant as well as the ranch that provided the meat, produce, and many other supplies for the kitchen.
“The concept was brilliant, and delicious, but the last two-and-a-half years proved to us that it wasn’t sustainable in such a small market,” she said in an email on Tuesday.
The Bear and Star opened in May 2017, and frequently hosted famous guest chefs from around California in its kitchen. The menu blended Texas barbecue with California style, relying on wagyu beef from the family ranch, raised by Katie Parker McDonald, Fess Parker’s eldest granddaughter.