RIGHT AND OPPOSITE PAGE, Sly scoops a spoonful of his mother’s clam chowder (recipe at right).
BELOW, James, on Vespa, and Annie. A different Vespa is mounted on the wall behind the bar.
San Francisco Style Cioppino, and Chicken Pot Pie. Not everyone is a fan of the com- mitment to the classics, and there have been complaints, for example, about iceberg lettuce. “A Crab Louie is supposed to have
iceberg lettuce. I’m not opposed to iceberg lettuce,” explains Sly. “I don’t think of myself as creative. We’re doing food with the attention of a high-end restaurant ... but not with stacked food and dots of three sauces circling the plate ...” The commitment spills over into
the bar and dessert menu, too. Served “up” or “on the rocks,” cock- tails are made the same way as they were in the beginning of the last century or before. And, the simple syrup is made in Sly’s kitchen, as are the Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake, Fredy’s Créme Brulée, and the Warm Apple Crisp a la mode. Sly’s on Linden is not so much a culmination of the American dream, but rather the rolling up of sleeves and a Yankee can-do attitude. Re- turning from vacation in 2007, Sly unceremoniously received a voice- mail firing him as chef at Lucky’s in
My mother, Pat Sly, was a great cook. Soup was a favorite on the menu, and her clam chowder made my father especially happy. We experience the same result here at the restaurant!
Besides how to dice an onion (which I’ve done a few times since) and how to make clam chowder, the most important lesson mom (and dad) taught me was that you can do anything you set your mind to with hard work. I followed this rule on each new project I’ve embarked on—most certainly, when annie and I opened our neighborhood restaurant. So, on to clam chowder! —James Sly
Montecito. He had supervised the creation of the restaurant, includ- ing the one-year construction, and cooked there for seven years. After a brief stab at job hunting,
he and Annie decided to open their own restaurant in Carpinteria, where they have lived since 1989. Many Lucky’s employees made the move to Carpinteria to work with Sly.
98 carpinteriaMAGAZINE “Most of his kitchen employees
have worked with him for six or seven years. Some for twenty,” says Sly’s general manager Michael Bott, who also made the migration from Montecito. Customer and employee loyalty
comes not just from the delicious food, but serving it in a good place. “What a great business to make people happy,” says Sly. ¢
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