Vamos to Vicenta’s
Vicenta’s is the latest eatery from prolific restaurateur Carlos Luna, who opened his first nosheteria in 2008 aged just 27, and now includes five branches of Los Agaves and Santo Mezcal on State Street.
The 160-seat Mexican restaurant in Goleta was quite bustling when I went for lunch with my trusty shutterbug, Priscilla, and dined on a selection of chicken and fish dishes washed down with Treana, a delightful 2016 cabernet sauvignon from Paso Robles.
If you’re a sports fan, Vicenta’s will give you a ten percent discount if you’re wearing a Gauchos hat or jacket.
Becoming Michelle
Montecito TV talk show titan, Oprah Winfrey, has interviewed former First Lady Michelle Obama for the cover story of Elle magazine.
The sit-down, to promote Obama’s best-selling autobiography, Becoming, included her whirlwind life in the White House, and how drastically things have changed since she and her family left.
Michelle, 54, received part of a $65 million advance for the memoir, part of a joint book deal with her husband, former president Barack Obama.
Goop Grows
Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow‘s lifestyle website Goop is heading to TV!
The Montecito actress hinted as such at a Wall Street Journal teach conference in Laguna Beach, but she did not elaborate on any specifics.
She also revealed Goop, her $250 million wellness and lifestyle brand, which recently launched its first international pop-up in London as part of a European expansion, will next move into the Australian market.
Gwynnie has also launched her Christmas gift guide, but it is not for the faint hearted, as she dubs it “ridiculous, but awesome,” including an Aston Martin, Louis Vuitton pajamas, and even a $7,700 Hermes surfboard for the beach bum who has everything.
Other gifts include a Surf Air private plane membership for $1,950 a month, a Four Seasons Hawaii volcano adventure costing $39,500 for four people, and a $3,000 a night stay at the Brando Resort in Tahiti.
His Songs
Santa Ynez resident Bernie Taupin, the legendary lyricist for Sir Elton John, is front and center at a New York sale.
The Manhattan auction house, Bonham’s, is selling a slew of rock and roll memorabilia, including the original signed handwritten lyrics to Elton’s early hit “Your Song” written in 1967 when the singer was an office boy for a London publishing firm and Taupin was 17.
The auction also includes a suit worn by George Harrison, an autographed Beatles album, a signed Johnny Cash guitar, and the original demo tapes of Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.”
Sightings: Actor Don Johnson noshing at The Monarch… Bo Derek at the Bacara… Dennis Franz lunching at Tre Lune