Bar Le Côte Channels Land and Sea

A nineteenth-century stagecoach stop, Los Olivos sits inland from California’s central coast in the Santa Ynez Valley. Rolling golden hills dotted with scrubby coastal live oaks and rich farmland surround the town (pop. 1,020) on the Chumash Highway, where picturesque, historic buildings host tasting rooms, restaurants and boutiques. Just down the street from the landmark Los Olivos flagpole, first raised in the railroad days of 1918, stands a weathered 100-year-old building, originally a hardware store. Today, it houses Bar Le Côte, a seafood and farm-to-table restaurant that evokes both old California country ease and European flair.

Inside, bold, green walls, a French-style bar with a zinc countertop and an open kitchen welcome. A Spanish influence runs through the menu, in an echo of the area’s history. “We’re a neighborhood seafood tavern,” says chef Brad Mathews, who owns Bar Le Côte with Daisy and Greg Ryan of Bell’s Restaurant, an acclaimed spot in nearby Los Alamos.

Originally from Ithaca, New York, Mathews absorbed the tenets of farm-to-table cooking at an early age, and counts the movement’s unofficial godmother, Alice Waters, among his influences. “If you’re paying attention, nature tells you what to do,” he says. At Bar Le Côte, yellowtail crudo shifts from peaches to pluots to pears in concert with the seasons. Mathews visits suppliers daily and is a regular at local farmer’s markets.

“The farmers are wonderful,” says the chef. “It takes me back to how there’s a richness and a simplicity to all this.”

A web of relationships built by Mathews connect Bar Le Côte with the wider community, starting with the staff. “Our team isn’t afraid to go out and be utterly proud of what we are doing here,” he says. Nearby wineries in the Santa Ynez Valley, such as Carhartt Family Wines and Tyler Winery, produce blends specifically for Bar Le Côte. Pacific Gold oysters arrive fresh from Morro Bay’s chilly waters and are served raw over ice, while halibut caught off Santa Barbara pairs with locally grown tomatoes, basil and a lemon aioli.

Though he doesn’t like to call his food art, Mathews has a keen eye for detail. “I think of everything in tones and colors,” he says. A brilliant green nasturtium leaf from the garden out back floats over gleaming black caviar on a bright white crème fraîche enlivened by lemon. Colorful cherry tomatoes and summer squash pop against verdant spinach-infused Bomba rice in a vegetarian paella. Handmade ceramic dishes showcase each offering.

“I want to take the best possible ingredients that I can, be really nice to them from start to finish, and by the time it all hits the plate, it should be delicious.”