"We plate beautiful, bright delicious food with a strong Mediterranean influence, we call it Nomad Italian cuisine," said Chef Peter McNee.
A tireless pursuit of the bounty of seasonal ingredients, a new home rich in culture and community and a passion for Italian culinary traditions led to Santa Barbara with his wife Rachel and the opening of Convivo six years ago.
Chef McNee's partners on the project are legendary Restaurateur Larry Mandel and ops director Amy Svendberg who he worked with for eight years prior at famed POGGIO in Sausalito across San Francisco Bay.
Chef McNee describes the cooking at Convivo as "nomad Italian," sourcing inspiration from around the globe, melding other cultures’ cooking with coastal Italian cuisine. The menu is subject to the seasonality and the hyper local availability of ingredients from Santa Barbara County.
Simple ingredients shine in the hands of this chef and his culinary team.
The pandemic brought a multitude of challenges for the Convivo team but they rose to the occasion keeping the locals fed with delicious "food to go." Convivo is now back, full throttle serving locals and visitors the coastal cuisine they have come to love.
Convivo boasts one of the most breathtaking locations in town, with ocean views and blue skies for days. However, the real showstopper is the menu packed to the gills with coastal offerings and house made pastas for meat lovers and veggies to boot such as:
*Lemon Ricotta Cappellacci (SB rock crab, saffron shellfish brodo)
*Seaweed Mafaldine (broccoli di ciccio, garlic, furikake)
*Bucatina (pancetta, Chile, crushed tomato & pecorino)
And pizzas from the wood fire oven;
*Kind veggie (artichoke, broccoli, mushrooms)
*Summer Peach (Jamon, Gorgonzola, Brussel leaves)
I highly recommend a summer road trip down south to Santa Barbara, the American Riviera. Take the coastal roads and consider stops in Big Sur, San Luis Obispo or Pismo Beach along the way. CONVIVO is also located in the famed Santa Barbara Inn, so consider an overnight stay, you’ll be glad you did.
I caught up with my old pal Chef McNee during a recent road trip to Santa Barbara. Chef and his wife, Rachael, live there with their family.
Enjoy our tasty talk.
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