The Cool Cats Keep Coming for Good Lion Hospitality

If you consider a visit to a haberdasher prior to bar-hopping, you’d want a top hat before sashaying into The Lion’s Tale, and a pith helmet before slinking into Jaguar Moon. That’s relevant sartorial information as both establishments just celebrated their first-year anniversaries. The former, gracing Coast Village Road in Montecito since October 2024, offers a swellegant hotel bar experience akin to the finest one at The Connaught in London. The latter, livening up downtown Ventura since November of the same year, takes you to the tropical Yucatán. The two join the other seven establishments that comprise the ever-growing Good Lion Hospitality (GLH) group headed by couple in business and marriage Misty Orman and Brandon Ristaino. 

Given Ristaino insists it “takes a year to take a first breath” when opening a spot, it seemed a good time to check in on all things lion to see if everything was good.

Not to give the game away one-sixth of the way through the article, but the answer is complex. Crowds have been great and locals supportive, so much so that Orman and Ristaino couldn’t even get IN to their own Lion’s Tale over the holidays. “It was so crowded,” Orman explains, “that we didn’t want to come in and stress the staff having to figure out where to put us.” 

But then there’s the world to deal with; fill in whatever the daily outrage is by the time this story runs (perhaps we’ll be at war with Freedonia because someone in D.C. has confused Groucho Marx with Karl). Not only are international tourism numbers down locally, but also “the bifurcation in the market is real,” Ristaino admits, alluding to the richest scooping up more and willing to pay for luxury while everyone else worries. Still, he adds, “People are getting pinched, but we know it’s not forever. So, we’re freezing pricing — we don’t try to squeeze our guests.” 

They do keep squeezing great cocktails into the menus at all their very varied bars. Of course, at the Lion’s Tale, you can have a superb martini, among its drinks that tend to be stirred and boozy. But then there’s the English garden side, too, such as a lilting gimlet that doesn’t shy away from its gin base but also features fennel, honeydew, caraway spirit, lime, and almond. And then at Jaguar Moon, mezcal stars, given its Mexican soul, but then there’s the stunning, unique Vampiro — gin, Vampiro aqua fresca, apple brandy, Curacao, caraway, ginger, lemon, and absinthe. 

From left: Bitter Cantarito, Tamarindo Sling, and The Watermelon Fix at Jaguar Moon | Photo: B Studios

Of course, the potent potables are just one part of a Good Lion Hospitality experience. 

“We have so many different visions,” Orman explains, “so it’s fun to stretch another creative limb, from the drinks to the design to the operations.” Lion’s Tale and Jaguar Moon both offer significant food offerings — the latter even has its own name, Cocina Jaguar. Originally, both spots were collabs with noted chefs — Lion’s Tale with Ryan Simorangkir and Tyler Peek of Sama Sama, Cocina Jaguar with Ramón Velázquez of all the Corazóns.

Admitting he’s a bit of a fanboy, Ristaino relates that when a new restaurant opens, he reads about it and checks it out. “It’s super-compelling to talk to these chefs about flavors and learn from their vast and deep skill sets,” he says. Even better, he thinks, “I get to put a cocktail around this food? That’s really cool.”

Enter the symbiosis between the Lion’s Tale’s namesake drink (a Lion’s Tail cocktail goes back to at least 1937) and the most popular food menu item, steak and frites. Ristaino points out that they wanted a whisper of London’s “national dish” curry in the mix. The kitchen whipped up a vadouvan (French curry) for the sauce for the steak, and that, with a visit to the Flavor Bible, got to the cocktail — yes, starting with Scotch, but then adding more unusual chai, mango, aged rum, lemon, allspice, Averna, pineapple, and curry.

The interior and bar of the Lion’s Tale | Photo: Blake Bronstad

That said, the big news is the Sama Sama team has recently left the Lion’s Tale kitchen. “All of us are working in high-pressure-cooker businesses in a traditionally challenging place to conduct business,” Ristaino spells out. Simply put, it’s tough for everyone to find the hours for all the jobs they need to do. Good Lion Hospitality has hired Adam Abrams to be their executive chef for the entire company. He’s a familiar face in numerous local kitchens, from Arigato to Lucky’s. “We needed someone with a sensibility who could do more than one cuisine,” Orman says. “He’s excited about new projects and dishes.”

That will start soon when Lion’s Tale begins offering weekend brunch. The couple refused to spill any details, but they promised fun things. And one thing they have learned a year in on Coast Village Road is people want more food. So, the evening menu is sure to grow soon, too.

Overall, they seemed relieved that no immediate openings loomed and they could focus on dialing in all their properties. “After three openings in six months, it’s nice not to be in a build-out,” is how Ristaino puts it. The nature of build-outs is highly unpredictable — while Lion’s Tale, with lots of support and collaboration from the Montecito Inn owners, was finished in a “for this region” expeditious four-and-a-half months, Jaguar Moon took 39 months. Turns out that gutting and rebuilding an old pawn shop and making it a vibrant bar takes time. Especially when pandemic-caused supply-chain snafus meant an electrical panel took 18 months to arrive.

Still, that doesn’t mean there won’t be growth; after all, the team has a file with close to 100 projects that could have been. Some possibilities are merely a few exploratory emails, some fall apart after due diligence, and some get close but not quite — GLH was in on the Palms in Carp for some time before Rincon Hill Farm wound up with it. “We’re lucky to get offered a lot of cool things these days,” Ristaino says, but he also makes clear these projects could be wide-ranging, from more hotels like the Petit Soleil in S.L.O. to food trucks, pop-ups, dive bars, events, coffeehouses, and Michelin-rated restaurants. They are acutely aware of the danger of cannibalizing their own businesses but also want to offer employees new opportunities and room for growth. At the least, Orman offers, “We are so excited to have parties and events at each different bar to keep it fun and fresh.” Live jazz has been popular at Lion’s Tale; Jaguar Moon, with its extensive patio, seems like a perfect site for a bacchanal or two.

“People aren’t interacting at third places as much after COVID,” Ristaino says. “We want to nudge that idea forward.” Orman adds, “People have to get out of the house and off their phones.” The couple, who likes to socialize themselves, urges people to support their local favorites. “It doesn’t even have to be us,” Ristaino says. “Santa Barbara food and drink is only at its best.” That’s certainly true at the always merry many moods of Good Lion Hospitality.

Visit The Lion’s Tale (1295 Coast Village Rd.; lionstalebar.com) and Jaguar Moon (79 S. Oak Street, Ventura; jaguarmoonbar.com)