RESTAURANT GUIDE: Brown Pelican up for bid

BY JOHN DICKSON

A changing of the guard may be occurring soon at the Brown Pelican. Reader Foodie Dan tells me he saw a bid acceptance proposal from the County of Santa Barbara, requesting bids to operate the restaurant and snack bar at Hendrys Beach (officially known as Arroyo Burro Beach). They have put out a similar notice for the concession stand at Jalama Beach.

Here is a quote from the press release: “The County of Santa Barbara/Parks Department is seeking a corporation, business, or individual to lease and operate a restaurant and snack bar at Arroyo Burro Beach County Park. The licensed premises consist of an area of approximately 3,600 square feet of lease space located at Arroyo Burro Beach County Park, 2981 Cliff Drive, Santa Barbara, California 93109.
The intent of this RFP process is to result in a concession lease agreement for a restaurant and snack bar at Arroyo Burro Beach County Park.”

RESTAURANT OF THE MONTH: Max’s Restaurant on upper State Street is being highlighted this month in the SantaBarbara.com Restaurant Guide. Owner Henrietta Forystek started working at the restaurant in 1984 and became owner in 2002. She tells me that she was impressed by the way everything is made from scratch and continues the tradition.
Popular breakfast items include soufflé-style omelets (Brie omelet and Guatemalan omelet), orange pecan pancakes, corned beef hash and turkey sausage (all made from scratch). You can even use a French press to make gourmet coffee right at your table. Lunches include soups made from scratch (clam chowder plus soup-of-the-day), Santa Fe turkey melt and more. Their popular salads include albacore tuna, cobb and muffelata salads. 3514 State St, Call 898-9121. Open every day 7am-3pm.

NEW INDIAN RESTAURANT: The explosion of new Indian restaurants in Santa Barbara continues! Back in May I mentioned in this column about a new restaurant named “Saffron” opening at 113 W. De La Guerra St. (near Chapala). Reader John confirms that this will be an Indian restaurant. Flavor of India used to be the only game in town. Over the last few years Santa Barbara has seen a variety of choices appear on State St. including All India Café, Spice Avenue and The Taj Café. Isla Vista saw the opening of Indian restaurant Naan Stop last year.
DINE AND DASH: Five juveniles left Denny's in Goleta without paying their $55 bill. They were last seen fleeing in a "newer Volkswagen Beetle."

THE HABIT SOLD: As mentioned in last Friday’s Daily Sound, the owners Brent and Bruce Reichard have sold an 80 percent stake of their Habit hamburger chain to a group of investors led by Karp Reilly in Connecticut. As part of the deal to sell the 20-location chain, founded in Goleta in the late 1960's, the Reichard's will retain 100% ownership of all Santa Barbara and Goleta Habit locations. The new owners plan to expand rapidly, opening 16 new restaurant locations over the next two years.

JAZZ DINNER AT SOHO: Minnie Driver & Special Guest, Sunday, August 12th, 8pm, $23/$18 with dinner, all ages. Harp Magazine says: "Minnie Driver isn’t like most actors who treat making records as a hobby. She’s actually good... Volleying between lush, ethereal, British pop melodies and easy-strumming Americana, the disc is composed of songs about all kinds of love... Ever since [landing a deal with Zoë/Rounder Records] she’s been blasting holes in the actor-singer stigma." Call for reservations 962-7776.

IT LIVES UP TO THE HYPE: I finally broke down and bought an iPhone. I researched the thing to death but couldn't decide whether or not to make the leap until my friend let me borrow hers. Only Steve Jobs could have the vision and determination to dictate the creation of a phone so advanced and easy to use at the same time.
And this is coming from a guy who has never owned a Mac. I have retired my relatively new, previously cutting-edge web & email-enabled Treo 700wx cell phone. It is a dinosaur by comparison. The iPhone doesn’t just bring Internet bells & whistles to the table – it reinvents voice mail too.
With the iPhone, your voice mail automatically downloads directly into the phone so you can listen to them in any order, just like email. Given that the iPhone is already years ahead of everything else on the market, and will only get better and cheaper over time, Motorola, Nokia and the rest of the cell phone industry must be shaking in their boots. The king of mobile email, the Blackberry, will be with us forever, but most other "smart" phones might be extinct in 5 years. I can pretty much run SantaBarbara.com from the iPhone, which means less back strain from sitting in an office chair and a better tan!

John Dickson’s column appears every Tuesday in the Daily Sound. E-mail your restaurant news tips to info@SantaBarbara.com.