On warm summer days, the Los Olivos Wine Merchant and Café offers an intimate wisteria-covered patio for dining, enjoying good company, and people watching. On cold winter evenings there’s a fireplace and cozy interior for drinking bold syrah and lingering over tantalizing cuisine. It’s an atmosphere that has made the restaurant a favorite with locals and visitors alike.
In the middle of an area like the Santa Ynez Valley, which has abundant outstanding wine and irresistible cuisine offerings, it’s hard to stand out; but the café is one valley establishment that has not only attracted its share of attention, but it’s done so for two decades.
Los Olivos Wine Merchant and Café recently celebrated 20 years of providing quality wine, food, and experiences to the community.
Owners Sam and Shawnda Marmostein started the business as Los Olivos Café with a vision of creating an inviting place to enjoy pastas, pizzas, and salads paired with local wines. Though it’s evolved over the years, it’s changed to accommodate the needs of guests and the community, Shawnda Marmostein said.
“We credit our establishment’s longevity to listening to the needs of our guests and the community, and growing with it.”
Not long after the Marmosteins first opened their café, the focus began to evolve and the attention turned toward creating a more gourmet eating experience, allowing their chef to play with the many flavors available on the Central Coast.
Everything from the dressings and sauces to the pastas and desserts—even the ice cream—are made in-house. The owners have their own organic farm in Los Olivos, called the Café Farm, where they source many of the vegetables used in the restaurant’s dishes, Marmostein said.
In 2001 the owners expanded to include a bigger wine selection, and the café was renamed the Los Olivos Wine Merchant and Café.
“When we first opened 20 year ago there wasn’t much competition. Now that there are many wonderful choices for enjoying fine wine and cuisine in Santa Ynez Wine Country, we set ourselves apart by maintaining our casual approach and atmosphere, while offering an award-winning wine list that no other valley restaurant compares to,” Marmostein said.
The wine-merchant part of the café offers up to 500 wines, most of them local, with a focus on Central Coast wines. Marmostein said that about 90 percent of the wines offered are local but they do offer wines from other regions if the wine meets their criteria for quality and value.
Part of that selection includes the Wine Wall, which was the backdrop of a dinner the main characters enjoyed during the movie Sideways.
The Marmosteins recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the café with a winemaker dinner and a contest for the best story that summed up the Los Olivos Wine Merchant and Café experience. The winner, Patricia M. Mahon, detailed how one rainy day she watched as an elderly couple, looking for a place to get in out of the rain, was turned away from another café because it was between serving hours. The author approached them and walked them to the Los Olivos Wine Merchant and Café where they were quickly seated next to the fire. In her story she summed up why the establishment is so special: “It truly is a gathering place where friends meet, stories are told, wine is shared, and despite an outside world that often rages beyond our control, we can take personal moments and make our part of everyday life a little more perfect,” she wrote.
The Los Olivos Wine Merchant and Café is located at 2879 Grand Ave., in Los Olivos. More info: www.losolivoscafe.com.
Highlights
• United Way, Toyota of Santa Maria, and Good360 distributed $150,000 worth of Cabela’s Clothing and shoes on Dec. 18. The donations went to nonprofit organizations that in turn will distribute the items to people in need.
Editor Shelly Cone wrote this week’s Biz Spotlight. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, email, or mail.
This article appears in Dec 24-31, 2015.