Mollie Does Deli

Chef Mollie Ahlstrand has been a local icon for three decades. Her treasured Trattoria Mollie on Coast Village Road set the bar for Italian cuisine in the region, and welcomed patrons like Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, and Ahlstrand’s personal favorite customer ever, Kirk Douglas. In 2018, she moved from Montecito to Santa Barbara proper, opening Mollie’s on State Street next to The Granada Theater. But, as she pointed out in a recent interview, “There was the mudslide and the Thomas Fire and COVID … and the rent and the taxes.” Ahlstrand closed the spot in 2021.

So it might seem surprising she’s back with Mollie’s Italian Deli in the Shepard Place Shops in Carpinteria. The strip mall storefront has seating for a dozen people, plus a few more outside, and is squeezed between the Culture Skate Factory and an animal medical clinic. Coast Village Road the location decidedly is not, despite the attractive white tile walls inside and the homey copper pots, clearly functional and not just decorative, along the walls.

“The only thing we don’t have is silverware and white tablecloths,” she says about the new, humble location. “But it’s the same pasta. With my ego, I have to provide the same quality.” Of course, she makes the pasta fresh, and it comes with classics like carbonara, all’arrabbiata, bolognese, or chicken vodka sauce.

After her State Street location closed, a visit to her beloved Italy — she’s renowned for her cooking/white truffle tours to Alba — provided the inspiration for the deli concept. “A friend took me to a spot that had just three pastas and three sauces,” she recalls. “If a customer came in and asked for fish, they would say, ‘If you want a fish, leave,’ and point across the street to a restaurant that served fish. ‘You come here just to have fresh pasta.’”

That focus made opening the deli a relief. “Going from 4,000 square feet to 1,000, only needing one or two employees — I am so happy,” she gushed. “No longer do I have the headache of too much rent, the headache of too many employees.” It helps that she has no problem working 12-14 hours a day, doing most of the cooking, as well as answering the phone about the day’s soup special, greeting customers, and getting them their orders. Much of the food is sold to-go or to be reheated at home. Pointing out the meticulousness of the cheery shop, she asserts, “Everything I see — I have ten eyes.”

Fresh ingredients are key are Mollie’s Italian Deli | Credit: Ingrid Bostrom

A dynamo in conversation, she riffs on phrases like a jazz singer, saying things like, “They love minestrone, minestrone, minestrone,” and after claiming she eats the food she serves, she insists, “If it wasn’t good food, the way I eat, they couldn’t carry me,” throwing her arms out wide to suggest her size in alternate-Ahlstrand world. Her mantra in the kitchen is fresh and simple, and indeed her plates bring the essence of great tomatoes, vivid garlic, and lots of extra virgin olive oil. “Even bread,” she adds, “you eat the fresh bread, and it doesn’t rot,” and she holds her stomach to mime a tummy ache.

What does sicken Ahlstrand is the state of State Street. She half-joked that she rang the mayor’s office so often they would answer the phone, “Is this Mollie again?” when she called. “People need to figure out their town,” she said. “We have to help each other.” She decried the unhoused situation, wondering why we don’t provide shelter. She bemoaned landlords and their ridiculous rents. She sighed about “these rascals on their motorbikes.” Add it all up, and she’s happy to land in Carpinteria, even if she says friends have told her, “Why not give up cooking and run the city?”

Mollie’s Italian Deli is a simple set-up with the focus on the food | Credit: Ingrid Bostrom

Luckily for us, she’s content to remain a chef and not a candidate. The deli is just about to get its beer and wine license, she keeps expanding evening hours, and that lasagna that was a special on weekends is now available every day due to high demand. It’s also hard for her to leave her huge fan base in Montecito, so she’ll be doing pop ups that she hopes might lead to more at LOCAL. The next one is December 17. 

“I am very blessed everywhere I go,” she sums up. “I’m looking forward to seeing my old customers from Montecito. I hear from them, ‘We are all excited and miss you,’ — I get so many text messages you wouldn’t believe.” And she punctuates that feeling by holding her head as if it’s all too much.

Mollie’s Italian Deli, 1039 Casitas Pass Road, Carpinteria, (805) 452-2692, chefmollie.com.