For more than 50 years, dinner at Clementine's Steak House ended with the same question. Somewhere between the homemade soup and salad and a platter of fried chicken, prime rib or steak, someone at the table would start weighing which slice of pie to order.
Sunday, Oct. 4 was set as the last day to ask it. The restaurant at 4631 Carpinteria Ave. opened in 1976. The McLenithan family took over in 1982, when Irene McLenithan stepped in on April 30, her 52nd birthday. Her son Lloyd, the owner and chef, told Coastal View News that the building and property had sold. He said his family always knew this chapter would end someday because they never owned the property. After the announcement, reservations filled through the final weekend until the restaurant was "almost overbooked."
Clementine's did one thing for decades and stuck to it. Fish and vegetables came in fresh, meat was cut in-house, and soups and dressings were made in the kitchen. Many of the businesses moving onto the same street this fall are being built the other way. One room handles breakfast and dinner, or groceries and lunch, or a coffee counter in the morning and a wine bar at night. The reason has less to do with trends than with a number Carpinteria shop owners have been saying out loud.
The math behind the shuffle
Earlier this year, Coastal View News asked downtown business owners what they made of all the turnover. Ryan Moore gave the plainest answer. He and his wife, Ashley, run Lucky Llama and Sunburst Wine Bar, run Heritage Goods and Supply with partners, and reopened Rincon Designs. Moore said their rule of thumb starts with Carpinteria's population of about 15,000. They cut that in half to estimate how many locals are likely to shop or eat in town on any given day.
"There needs to be a few more people around to keep business flowing year-round."
Ryan Moore, speaking to Coastal View News
That small, steady pool of customers shapes what a new business on this street has to be. A place open for one meal gets one chance each day at a few thousand people. A place open for three gets three chances. Moore also described what happens when a new shop opens in a category that's already covered: "we feel it for about six months, but then things level out again."
Established businesses are adjusting too. Andre Jackson, owner of Corktree Cellars, told the paper she has been staying open later, booking more live music and putting more emphasis on the sports on her screens. That is a change from Corktree's original identity as a place for wine, dinner and conversation. She described the town as being in a phase "where people are considering whether what we are seeing is simply change or growth."
The first newcomer is already open
The Larder by Field + Fort shows the model clearly. Kyle Irwin and Susie Bechtel opened Field + Fort in Summerland in November 2019 as a retail store with a restaurant attached. Its café, Feast, did well enough that the team needed a bigger kitchen. When The Food Liaison in Carpinteria came up for sale, they bought it and opened The Larder there in late August.
The space is at 1033 Casitas Pass Road in Shepard Place Shops. It is set up mainly for grab-and-go breakfast and lunch plus dinner pickup, and it kept the communal table inside and the seating outdoors. Shelves hold packaged gourmet goods, fresh pasta, ice cream, specialty ingredients and kitchen items. General Manager Paul Burns told the Santa Barbara Independent that the team is bringing parts of Chef Austin Moore's Summerland menu south and adding new dishes, including the Larder Bowl with grilled chicken, farro, tomato confit and romesco. Feast regulars will also find the breakfast sandwich on a homemade English muffin and the tarragon chicken salad. As of the Independent's Oct. 2 profile, hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the team hopes to open seven days.
The space has changed format before. Chef Nirasha Rodriguez and Jason Rodriguez ran The Food Liaison's lunch counter there for 13 years. Nirasha said at the time that they planned to relaunch it as a community kitchen after the counter closed in February. Her comparison of the town to a snow globe is still the best description of how Carpinteria handles change: "It's so beautiful, but we have to embrace change in order to build the culture and keep it special for future generations."
What's coming, by address
Most of the remaining arrivals sit near the corner of Carpinteria and Linden avenues. Timing varies, and only one is open so far.
| Address | Business | Format | Status as of early October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1033 Casitas Pass Rd. | The Larder by Field + Fort | Café, grab-and-go, gourmet retail | Open since late August |
| 5003 Carpinteria Ave. | Ojai Rôtie | Rotisserie restaurant plus Winebox wine bar, garden seating | Targeting fall, no date announced |
| 5036 Carpinteria Ave., at Linden | Carpinteria Ceramics Collective | Nonprofit pottery studio, classes, retail | Coming, no date announced |
| 4745 Carpinteria Ave. | Rincon General Bodega and Wine Bar | Counter service by day, table service at night | Targeting year-end |
| 701 Linden Ave. | The Palms | Restaurant and market, event floor, rooftop bar | Under renovation |
| 659 Linden Ave. | Rincon Designs | Surf shop | Reopened under Ryan and Ashley Moore |
Ojai Rôtie, the corner everyone has been watching
Ojai Rôtie's original location describes itself as a casual Lebanese-French picnic restaurant built around rotisserie chicken, handmade sourdough and the Winebox wine bar. The Carpinteria space is larger than the Ojai one. It has 40 seats indoors and room for another 80 in a dog-friendly garden with a ranch fence, lemon and olive trees, bougainvillea and string lights. A wine bar and a garden that seats twice as many people as the dining room point toward long afternoons and evenings as much as lunch.
The opening has slipped before. A July 2025 report in Siteline SB said the Carpinteria location was aiming for January, and the company's current announcement says only "this fall." Carpinteria Valley Radio reported on Oct. 2 that "Opening ASAP!" signs had gone up out front.
Rincon General, two services in one room
Rincon General Bodega and Wine Bar may fit the double-shift idea most literally. Siteline SB reported on Sept. 27 that the restaurant will offer counter service during the day and table service at night in the street-level space of developer Justin Klentner's project at 4745 Carpinteria Ave. Its operators have not been named publicly, though Siteline says they have been mentioned in the Michelin Guide. The project also includes 24 apartments and a six-room hotel called The Rincon Rooms, so some of the restaurant's customers will live or stay upstairs.
The Palms, three floors and three uses
At 701 Linden, Mark Armenante and Young Sohn bought the historic Palms property in 2023. The approved renovation puts a restaurant and market or café retail on the ground floor, banquet and event space on the second floor, and a rooftop bar and dining area above. In March, Siteline SB reported that the plans call for casual Korean barbecue with a grill-your-own option downstairs and fine dining on the second floor. Scaffolding and crews are now on site. No reopening date has been announced.
The Ceramics Collective, a daytime draw that isn't food
The Carpinteria Ceramics Collective is a nonprofit community pottery studio led by founder and executive director Atlas Klapp. It is moving into 5036 Carpinteria Ave. at Linden. Carpinteria Valley Radio says the space is where the soap and candle shop used to be. Plans include wheel-throwing and handbuilding classes, open-studio memberships, firing services and a small gallery selling handmade ceramics and supplies. Memberships and classes bring the same people back on a regular schedule, which is the kind of repeat traffic Moore's math depends on. The studio has not announced an opening date.
What's leaving with Clementine's
Clementine's is not the only long-running business closing this fall. Casitas Cleaners in Casitas Plaza, run by Sunny and Jun Han since 1989, is scheduled to close Oct. 30 and has already stopped taking new cleaning orders. If you still have clothes there, the deadline is close.
What happens to the Clementine's building is still unknown. Coastal View News confirmed the sale but did not report a new use. Carpinteria Valley Radio said there was speculation that some of the buildings on the block could be torn down, and it labeled that speculation, not a plan.
The newcomers reflect what the street's own merchants have said they need. Field + Fort brought a Summerland following and a larger kitchen. Ojai Rôtie built a garden that seats twice as many as its dining room. Rincon General plans to turn its room over from counter service to table service each evening. The Palms is stacking three uses on three floors. The Moores went back to the surf shop Ryan grew up in, now with Channel Islands Surfboards' flagship shop nearly across the street in Linden Square, a pairing Ryan described as "apples and oranges." If you want to try the new Carpinteria Avenue this month, The Larder is the one place open now. Go Wednesday through Sunday before 3 p.m.
At Andrea O'Loughlin, we follow every storefront change on Carpinteria Avenue as closely as we follow sales, because both shape what daily life near downtown feels like. If you'd like to talk about what the corridor's next year could mean for your own plans, schedule a 15-minute consultation.
