If you haven’t seen the ad, “The Italians Are Coming,” now might be a good time, because that is precisely what is happening in the Santa Ynez Valley.
And no place exemplifies this invasion of great Italian flavors like Nella Kitchen & Bar in Los Olivos.
“This area is as close to Italy as you can get,” chef de cuisine Marco Longinotti said. “We’re surrounded by amazing produce and wine. We can buy the best ingredients, all grown five minutes from here, and then (in the Italian tradition) put them together in simple ways.
“Respecting the ingredients,” he added, “is the key to Italian cooking.”
Nella — at 2860 Grand Ave., attached to Fess Parker Wine Country Inn — is the result of a collaboration between Longinotti, S.Y. Kitchen’s Luca Crestanelli, and long-time restaurateurs Kathie and Mike Gordon.
Nella features traditional dishes like Tagliatelle Bolognese, Lamb Chop Scottadito and Branzino. But the star of the menu might be the Pinsas, a unique Roman-style flatbread.
More on that in a moment.
Longinotti moved to the United States in 2016 after realizing he was wasting his time in an office gig in Milan, Italy.
His true passion was cooking, but he found the doors in Italy closed to someone without formal culinary training.
“My education was spending time with my grandmothers,” he told Team Let’s Go Eat.
“I talked to a friend of mine from Santa Barbara; she said this could be the place for me,” Longinotti shared, “So I quit my job and came to California.”
Through acquaintances he met Luca Crestanelli, co-owner of S.Y. Kitchen, who offered him a two-day trial in their kitchen.
“In those two days I fell in love with it,” Longinotti recalled. “I knew this was what I wanted to do.”
When Crestanelli and the Gordons cooked up the idea for Nella, Longinotti was the guy they wanted to run it.
“The creation of Nella was to make sure the key people at S.Y. Kitchen had an opportunity to grow,” Mike Gordon told us.
The Gordons, by the way, are the couple behind the successful Toscana Restaurant Group, which they started 35 years ago, and now counts six restaurants in its portfolio, including S.Y. Kitchen and Nella.
Long-time restaurateurs Kathie and Mike Gordon and S.Y. Kitchen co-owner Luca Crestanelli cooked up the idea for Nella Kitchen & Bar and turned to chef de cuisine Marco Longinotti to run it. Credit: Rob Raede / Noozhawk photo
Along the way they got to know Crestanelli, who told them about his idea to open something in Santa Ynez.
“We got on board with him,” Kathie Gordon said. “We wanted to help him with whatever he was doing next.”
Crestanelli wasn’t available to talk for these interviews, being busy with a brand-new baby, but we expect to share his thoughts in a future article.
When you walk into Nella, you notice right away the welcoming and well-stocked bar area, which features creative cocktails, amari, aperitivi, tequilas and Scotches, and an extensive list of local and European wines.
“The way to really enjoy Nella,” Longinotti said with a smile, “is to come with friends, start with a cocktail in the bar. Then share some Pinsas over a beer, then the main meal with wine.
“And of course, since you’re in an Italian restaurant, you need to finish with an amaro.”
You may also need to stay the night in the adjacent hotel after a dinner like that.
So, what’s a Pinsa?
It’s essentially an oblong flatbread with a crust that’s made from soy, rice and durum wheat flours, so it’s much lighter than traditional pizza crust.
Crestanelli and Longinotti got the idea from a visiting Roman friend.
“We’re both from northern Italy,” Longinotti said, “and neither of us had ever heard of it.”
Unlike other pizzas, where it’s generally understood you don’t eat the crust (looking at you, Naples), “We think the crust is one of the best things about it,” Longinotti told us.
The Romini lettuce salad features hazelnuts, Bleu d’Auvergne cheese and lemon Caeser dressing. Credit: Rob Raede / Noozhawk photo
Currently Nella has five Pinsas on the menu, plus two daily specials, one of which is usually with black truffles. Team Let’s Go Eat orders this one every time we go.
The success of the Pinsas at Nella gave Mike Gordon an idea, and in a few months they’ll be opening a prototype “Pinsa cafe” in Santa Ynez, called Stica (means like “holy cow” in Italian).
We asked Longinotti and the Gordons how they might summarize the Nella experience.
“It’s not about just going out to dinner,” Mike Gordon said, “it’s about the experience.”
Kathie Gordon and Longinotti agreed, adding, “we want everyone who comes here to feel like family.”
If a group of great Italian chefs wants to move to Santa Barbara County and treat us like family, we can get used to that.
Locals Only
Ask for the “Scarpetta” Pinsa, not on the menu. It’s their bolognese sauce on a Pinsa crust.
When You Go
Nella Kitchen & Bar, at 2860 Grand Ave. in Los Olivos, is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The bar is open till 10 p.m.
Reservations are accepted.