photos by Yasmin Alishav and Jakob Layman
story published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on 4/12/18
To hear Chef Philip Frankland Lee describe his Buttered Maine Lobster Sandwich is simply mouthwatering.
“We use a
five-pound live Maine lobster that’s flow in, we keep it live on ice, we steam
it live, then pull the meat out, chop up the whole lobster and then chill it,”
he says.
Chef Lee’s
wife, Margarita
Kallas-Lee, makes the butter on the stovetop, and she folds in the cracked lobster
shells to infuse flavor. She also makes the brioche bread, which
is griddled on the outside to keep the inside soft and dressed with homemade
cocktail sauce. Lobster meat goes on, along with the warm butter, lemon juice,
shaved iceberg lettuce and plenty of Mr. Frankland’s proprietary seasoning salt.
“We close it
up, put a pair of toothpicks in it and then cut it in half,” the chef
concludes. “It’s inspired by the way I like to eat lobster. We just make the
whole thing into a sandwich and make it killer.”
No wonder,
then, that this sandwich has become the number one seller at
Frankland’s Crab & Co., the brand new and much-anticipated street-front
eatery at the Montecito Inn. Opening day was April 6th,
and the restaurant’s been buzzing ever since. "Jam-packed, busier than we
expected, and we expected to be busy,” admits the chef. “The community has been
incredibly supportive.”
On
expectation alone, Frankland’s was bound to launch big. It’s the first of four
dining concepts in the works for the Montecito Inn by the celeb chef couple
behind LA’s Scratch Restaurants, and it was just one week away from opening day
when the Montecito debris flows hit on January 9th. The hotel’s
re-opening last month was, even if just emotionally, a welcomed step forward
for the Santa Barbara community. Frankland’s own grand opening, even if three months
behind schedule, strikes an emotive chord, too.
 |
| Chef Peter Frankland Lee (Alishav) |
“We’re not
just back on track,” says Chef Lee, optimistically. “As a community, we’re further
than we were, and we’re keeping it growing.”
But the chef
and his team are aiming to strike expectations head on, and they intend to
deliver. There’s only counter service at Frankland’s Crab Co., and while the
food comes out fast by design, quality prevails. “People come
in here to eat, not dine. Like when you’re coming back from the beach, in
sandals, and just want to pop in to grab a bite,” says Chef Lee, 31. “There are plenty
of other spots up and down Coast Village Road that do the fine dining thing,
they’re more proper, and they do it great. We’re a high-brow approach to
low-brow cuisine.”
Dovetailing
from the out-of-the-box concepts that have shaped the chef pair's Scratch eateries over the years, high-quality ingredients are sourced both
locally and globally, and pretty much everything on the Frankland’s menu –from
breads to sauces to pickles – is made from by hand and onsite. “We’re more like
a French brigade of chefs – a team that’s trained more in a fine dining style –
that happens to be doing this more approachable type of food,” says Chef Lee.
“So, if you’re having a sandwich here, you’re getting the best product money
can buy. And we’re making everything else ourselves, and we’re tasting
everything for quality.”
The
Frankland’s menu is concise, with a tip-of-the-hat to as much that’s local as
possible; the “Specials” board this week has featured local spot prawns, local
sea urchin and local rock crab.
Oysters and
clams ($3 each) are available raw or fried, and they stay live until they’re
fried to order. Steamed items are presented at market prices, including snow
crab claws, king crab legs and live Maine lobster. Sides include corn on the
cob, salads and potato chips, though the Frankland’s Style Fries ($8) are the
star: Yukon gold potatoes sliced thin, tripled-blanched in the fryer until
crispy, seasoned with Frankland’s seasoning salt, topped with a heaping ladle
of homemade clam chowder, bacon, cheddar and scallions.
Sandwiches
highlight a seafood variety, like the Beer Battered Branzino ($15), the Soft
Shell Crab ($16) and the Lobster Grilled Cheese ($14). There’s also a Prime
Angus Cheeseburger ($12). And the Breaded Chicken Breast ($13) is another early
winner: Mary’s Free Range Chicken breast, butterflied, panko-crusted and fried,
served on fresh brioche with spicy mayo remoulade, a multi-colored pickled slaw
of cauliflower, fennel and carrots and seasoning salt. “It’s what all my chefs
eat while on break,” jokes Chef Lee.
 |
| Margarita Kallas-Lee (Alishav) |
In the
near future, the Frankland’s team aims to provide picnic baskets to go (inside
logoed Igloo coolers) and even seaside delivery. Says Chef Lee, “We’re working
on a drop-off point at Butterfly Beach, where maybe people are laying out, they
can order by phone, we ride down in a beach cruiser and deliver food to them on
the sand!”
Three other
dining concepts are in the works, including The Monarch around July, a fine
dining option inside the former Montecito Café spot across the hotel driveway
from Frankland’s. Margarita’s Snacks should open in the fall, a
France-meets-California seaside patisserie doling out ice cream, cakes, pies,
doughnuts and scones. And The Silver Bow, a super-deluxe, reservation-only,
chef-led dining concept in a private alcove on the inn’s ground floor -- an
experience Chef Lee predicts will be “the French Laundry of Montecito – could
be welcoming guests for New Year’s Eve.
Frankland’s
Crab & Co. is open seven days a week, 11am to 10pm.
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