TJ Culp and Esther Noh, the restaurateurs behind Restaurant Progress, Sottise and The Montecito Bottle Shop, have recently made a few changes to their successful lineup. Restaurant Progress has been rebranded as “Progress,” and the restaurant will be connected to The Montecito Bottle Shop, providing diners with a more seamless experience. Culp is also dropping the tasting menu in favor of more informal fare that includes small plates and a handful of entrees. To administer the changes, Culp and Noh have formed The Progress Collective, a hospitality group that will oversee all three brands and develop new concepts. We recently chatted with Culp about the changes.
What prompted the rebrand?
The Progress and Montecito – we always wanted to combine them, but we could never really figure out how to do it during COVID with the (liquor) licensing and packaging rules. So we combined the restaurant and wine shop to make the two spaces co-exist. It just made so much sense to wrap it all under the name Progress. We took out the tasting menu and then doubled the size of the menu. Now we’re doing small plates that we can create on a whim and have a super fun time with because we have no more tasting menu guidelines. The team is much more inspired by the food because it’s just more casual.
Who are you trying to appeal to?
We appeal to everyone. That’s really our goal, even at Sottise. If you’re 22 years old and want to have a first date, we have (food and drinks) in your price range and if you’re retired and looking for some beautiful food and want to beat the crowd, you can show up at 5 p.m. and have Chablis and a steak or champagne and caviar. Both spots are very versatile.
Do you have any new favorite dishes?
I’m pretty inspired by the fun cold dishes that we do. We have ceviche, crudo, oysters and a cool beef tartare, and a smoked trout and onion dip with roe. The carrot tostada is the number one dish that we sell. It’s a fan favorite. The menu is super fun and you can take it any direction that you want.
What’s the ideal experience now that the bottle shop and restaurant are combined?
It’s really on the guest. You can walk through the wine shop now and grab a bottle before dinner and then go sit at the table and have a couple of small plates. Or you can be seated, and then get up and shop in the wine shop. We also have two sommeliers that are always on the floor. They’re fun, young and energetic and will be able to talk about $500 cabernet or a $30 (bottle).
What is your role now?
I still do a lot of cooking, but at the same time, I run a pretty big business now. I have trust in the two to three guys that run everything for me. I give them inspiration and they run with it and then we’ll do some tweaks. It’s hands-on, but hands-off at the same time. I’m not necessarily in the kitchen all the time. Sometimes I’ll help the front-of-the-house or I’ll bus tables. It really just depends. I still work the line on Friday and Saturday nights.
What’s next?
Right now, there’s not a lot in the works. We’re really going to focus on organizing the business and make sure that all the employees have what they need. But a deal is a phone call away, you know? The COVID spike has kind of settled down as far as economics go, so we’ll see what the coming months bring.
