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Lower State Street in Santa Barbara continues to come alive.

The Project: Corazon Cocina & Taproom opened a week ago at 214 State St., at the site of the former Union Ale.

The restaurant provides high-quality, "elevated" Mexican food, with a focus on tacos, mescal tequila and beer.

"The beauty is that people can drink together and eat together," said Chef Ramón Velazquez. "We just want to be a place where people can have fun."

Velasquez, originally from Mexico, worked as a chef at Arigato. He also owns a restaurant called Corazon Cocina inside Santa Barbara's Public Market.

He partnered with Paul Kurth on the new venture. The new restaurant is two blocks from the beach, and he hopes people will eat and drink and then take a stroll to the shoreline.

Velazquez said his restaurant prides itself on using local, natural ingredients that he purchases from area Farmer's Markets. Some other Mexican restaurants, he said, don't buy local food.

His portions are appropriately sized, he said, and not "huge burritos."

"I would rather focus on each bite," Velazquez said.

Several businesses at the spot have failed in recent years, but Velazquez said he has confidence that his concept will succeed.

"I just have a lot of faith that what I am producing and what I am doing is a good thing," Velazquez said.

Shalhoob Beer Company Launches

Shalhoob Beer is here.

“The one thing more satisfying than a fresh bag of jerky or a delicious sandwich on a nice Santa Barbara day is a cold beer to go along," said L.J. Shalhoob in a statement. "It seemed like a natural step to create a drink to accompany the delicious food Santa Barbara knows us for.”

John and L.J. Shalhoob, father and son, a few years ago contacted top brewers across California, and began experimenting with hops and local fruits using a small artisan-batch brewing system.



“Brewing right inside our butcher shop gives us a chance to perfectly pair our beer with the flavors of our jerky and patio kitchen,” L.J. Shalhoob said. “We worked to create recipes that are drinkable all day, yet full of exciting flavor that speaks to the Santa Barbara locals’ inherent palate.

"We spent countless hours tweaking them until they met the same Shalhoob standard that’s been at the heart of our success.”

The beer will be available at 7-Eleven on the Mesa, 1909 Cliff Drive, or on tap at the Shalhoob Funk Zone patio, 220 Gray Avenue.

More local stories in the Tri-Counties will begin offering the beer on Aug. 1.

The company will hold a can-cracking celebration, with live music and free tri-trip sandwiches, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the 7-11 on the Mesa on July 30.

Shalhoob’s is also holding an Instagram scavenger hunt promotion. Just snap a photo of the Shalhoob Beer Co. can at any store (look for the classic white Shalhoob longhorn label). Add the hashtag #ShalhoobBeerCo and tag five friends.

Show your post at the counter of Shalhoob’s Funk Zone Patio for a $1 draught beer from their tap.

Montecito Trunk Show

Poppy Marche will hold a trunk show featuring Heather Taylor Home from 1 to 5 p.m. Friday at the Montecito Country Mart, 1016 Coast Village Road.

The show will spotlight table settings and home goods "perfect for summer entertaining." The show also will feature light bites and rosé.

— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) . Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.