Young and promising, the new year has already delivered welcome rains and renewed hopes. Equally full of promise, Santa Maria’s Town Center greets 2010 with fresh paint and a sunny atmosphere, as well as a line up of local merchants and restaurants ready to serve the community in style.
Nearly two years ago, Greg Kozak and his company, Architectural Ventures, purchased the mall and set about creating an inviting complex where locals can shop, dine, and enjoy themselves. He increased security and complemented favorites, such as Macy’s and Sears, with a toy store, pet shop, children’s barbershop, and soon, a by-the-pound candy store and lively food court.
To provide mall visitors with a variety of tempting food choices, Kozak hired Chef Ryan Gromfin and his wife, Erin, both culinary arts graduates with experience at five-star hotels throughout Texas and Los Angeles.
“People need comfort food right now,” Ryan said, “so we’re not trying to push the edge on anything. We’re just bringing back dishes people are already familiar with, but we’re doing them better.”
The Gromfins moved from Los Angeles to Santa Maria in February 2009 and immediately faced their first challenge: to quickly replace a pizza parlor that had recently closed. After working up a menu of pizzas, entrees, and fresh salads, they named the new restaurant Semplici.
“It means ‘simple’ in Italian,” Gromfin explained, “and that’s exactly what it is. It’s a New York Italian, pizza-by-the-slice concept, and it’s all about quality.
“We make two different doughs from scratch every day, and we hand stretch them,” he continued. “We use fresh, whole milk mozzarella, and we make all of our sauces and salad dressings.”
Semplici’s specialties include stuffed pizzas that Gromfin compared to calzones. The crusts are made from two different kinds of dough for contrasting textures and filled with meatballs, sausage, and/or pepperoni.
Other popular items include strombolis made with chicken, artichoke, sundried tomatoes, and ricotta cheese, and pasta salad laced with basil, mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, and housemade pesto.
In the midst of the Semplici launch, the Gromfins helped create Deckers, a retro-diner featuring lunch counter sandwiches, such as egg salad, fried egg with bacon, and “griddled” cheese. Juicy hamburgers, French fries, onion rings, and chili fries round out the fare, along with a children’s plate of burger, fries, drink, mini fruit pie, and a toy.
“Greg and I came up with the name,” Gromfin said. “The idea is like a single-decker, double-decker, triple-decker burger, and the focus was on the ’40s and ’50s, when burger joints were becoming an American icon.
“We wanted to go back to what a burger used to taste like,” he added. “We went through probably 50 different combinations of ground meat to get the burger we wanted, and we have it custom ground by a local butcher.”
The Gromfins have also been instrumental in creating Central City Market, the mall’s new restaurant/market/deli. Here, they make their own ham, smoke the turkey and pastrami on site, and stock the deli case with a variety of sliced meats, coleslaws, and pasta, potato, and fruit salads.
Restaurant items include a mouthwatering open-face, bacon-wrapped meatloaf sandwich with real mashed potatoes, gravy, and crispy onions, and every Saturday, slow roasted prime rib with scalloped potatoes, fresh veggies, horseradish cream, and au jus.
The market aisles hold fine oils, vinegars, jams, honey, chocolates, pasta, spices, and an extensive collection of beers and local wines.
“Central City Market is a big concept,” Gromfin admitted. “The foods are familiar, but the whole market, deli, restaurant-type thing isn’t something that people are used to in this area.”
The market’s neighbors include Macy’s, a jewelry store, flower shop, and soon, Gina’s Piece of Cake.
“We want to make it the gourmet corner of the mall,” Gromfin said, “a one-stop-shop where you can pick up food, get a cake, get some flowers. Everything you need is right here.”
Also on tap are a quick service restaurant, called Q-Pits, featuring Santa Maria-style barbecue, and Clucken Buckets, where hungry shoppers can order fried or rotisserie chicken and a selection of seasoned wings. These restaurants, along with Semplici and Deckers, will eventually be located in the new food court, near Sears.
“After that,” Gromfin revealed, without a trace of weariness, “we have plans for a family style, sit-down restaurant upstairs to accompany the movie theater, when it’s completed.
“I know we’re on the right path,” he said. “We’re providing top-quality food and the response has been great. Our sales in all the restaurants grew every single month last year.
“But this is not about me or the restaurants,” he said. “It’s about the mall succeeding. It’s really important, as a revenue center for the city, and as a great community center for the city.”
K. Reka Badger succeeds at everything she does. E-mail comments or ideas to rekabadger
@hotmail.com.
This article appears in Jan 21-28, 2010.