The wave of European influenced restaurants seems to only be gathering momentum as celebrated Canadian chef Sean MacDonald is about to open his restaurant in Santa Monica.
Called Bar Monette, it will fill the space formerly occupied by Little Ruby, at the prime location of 109 Santa Monica Blvd. The intimate 900 square-foot eatery will open on Friday April 7 and offer around 26 covers inside, including standing room and 12 outside on a patio area that benefits from the beautiful ocean view.
Not only is this venture the first for MacDonald in the US, it’s his first outside of his home country of Canada. Originally hailing from Calgary, he was named Canada’s best young chef in 2016 by San Pellegrino.
"I was getting a number of offers for different things and I thought this was my chance to expand, but I felt like Calgary was a little too small to open up a business. So I thought why don’t I go to the biggest place in Canada, which is Toronto," MacDonald says.
That restaurant, called ēst, earned recognition for its wine bar atmosphere and six-course menu, but it changed management during the pandemic. At roughly the same time, MacDonald met his now-wife, Monette Moio, who works in the film and television industry as an actress and stunt double.
"I started making trips to California and we knew, we knew right away. It was an easy decision. And I was like, ‘God, this is the place I should have been my whole life,’" MacDonald laughs.
The new eatery will offer refined bar snacks, high-end touches like caviar and truffles, plus blistered Neapolitan-style pizzas, combining both Spanish and Italian-themed ingredients. However, MacDonald says that he doesn’t want to call it Mediterranean, per sé.
"I feel like as soon as you use the term Mediterranean, most people assume that includes the other culinary heavy hitter in the region, Greece, as well, but I didn’t want to do that, I wanted to focus purely on Spanish and Italian. I’m basically combining two of my favorite cuisines."
The aesthetic of Bar Monette will incorporate lots of marble and shades of green accompanied by old-school china plates and vintage silverware. The menu is made up mostly of a mixture of snack-style foods that pair well with an appropriate wine. Neapolitan pizzas, with the puffy crust for example, Margherita pizzas, plus offerings like cheesy Comte and raclette pie with truffle honey, together with jamon, Manchego cheese and peppers, plus charred carrots with horseradish and celeriac gastrique.
Nestled in-between Stout and the BOA Steakhouse in the bustling epicenter of the city’s Downtown district, Bar Monette is more or less right in the middle of Santa Monica’s tourist quarter, just a stone’s throw from the Third Street Promenade and the Pier.
"It was like, right-place right-time. As soon as I saw this space, I thought, this is perfect. I already had the concept worked out so I was looking at other sites too," MacDonald says. "We were looking at Beverly Hills and West Hollywood for the original launch and the plan is to eventually open up additional locations, but this seemed like a better plan, to start off smaller and then open bigger sites later on down the road."
According to MacDonald, he was originally intending to just have walk-ins, without offering reservations and open slowly and quietly while the restaurant finds its footing. However, that plan seems to have been abandoned.
"We started to get so many inquiries that I decided to make a reservation system because so many people were asking how they could book and I didn’t want to turn anyone away. So, er, yeah, we’re booked solid now for the next three weeks," laughs MacDonald. "It’s amazing, it’s honestly one of the biggest blessings ever. It’s everything that any chef could ever want."
