Tuttini’s Passing

Tuttini’s Cafe and Bakery, at 10 East Carrillo, will be closing this Sunday, February 21. Tuttini’s has been a breakfast and lunch restaurant for the last six years, the creation of Susan and Winston Sullivan who also created Tutti’s in Montecito some years ago.

Tuttini’s has been a cheery, comfortable and reliable place for excellence and good taste — in food, music and general ambience — for anyone with the good sense to recognize genuine quality.

The reason Tuttini’s is closing is because the landlord at 10 East Carrillo has evicted the Sullivans. They haven’t done anything wrong. The business has been very successful and has a large and loyal breakfast and lunch following. The landlord simply wants to open his own restaurant there.

I went to Tuttini’s for lunch, figuring it might be the last time to bathe in the pure pleasure of simply being there, and, I suppose, to document and pay my respects to this small treasure.

Property rights have to be respected, of course. But there is something amiss when the uniquely valuable life force inhabiting a location is squelched for (what I believe will undoubtedly be) lesser considerations.-Edward Bear