The Steward Hotel’s Terra Honors Goleta Tradition and Modern Terroir

Despite sitting at the bustling confluence of two highways and Old Town Goleta, and being home to one of the most legendary mansions in Goleta Valley history, the hotel known for decades as Pacifica Suites was never all that inviting to the neighboring community.

That mentality flipped this summer, after the property changed hands, renovated, and reopened as The Steward, the latest addition to Marriott’s creatively minded Tribute Portfolio. The star of the show — aside from the 87 suites that are popular with tourists, UCSB parents, and business travelers — is Terra, where Goleta-raised, Lompoc-residing Chef Augusto Caudillo is presenting the region’s agricultural roots with modernized, Cali-Mexi fare.

“We joke that there is no such thing as American food, except maybe barbecue or some Southern dishes, but I believe that the American culinary scene is having its moment,” said Caudillo, who sees the country undergoing an epicurean renaissance like Europe did a century ago. “We’re such a melting pot that we have truly ingested all the different cultures, and are now putting out our own versions. I am Mexican, but this is not Mexican food. It has Mexican influences, and I think that mix is the intention of American cuisine.”

Dish Dive

The dinner menu unfolds with spot prawn aguachile, the succulent, citrus-cured flesh popping with Fresno chiles, red onion, tomato, radishes, and micro-cilantro, leaving a slurpable brine in its wake. The roasted-’til-caramelized carrots are finished with their own tops ground into a pesto of toasted pistachio, shaved parmesan, and “backyard” olive oil, which exists on a textural plane somewhere between liquid and tapenade. Entrees dive into salmon amid spring peas and patty squash atop creamed corn rice, Caudillo’s own silky starch creation; double-cut pork chop with heirloom broccoli and roasted chicken with cauliflower purée; and the enlightening hibiscus tacos, which after rescuing the flowers post-juicing places them atop house-made tortillas with a pickled onion, caviar lime, and salsa morita.

As hotel guests appreciate most, breakfast is no longer a continental affair. Sweet corn/olive oil pancakes — inspired by Caudillo’s travels to La Cocina de Doña Esthela in Baja — support bountiful berry compote and top-shelf maple syrup, the chilaquiles crunch with chips and spice with guajillo salsa, and the house-cured salmon pastrami rides a charcoal flatbread with caper berries and quail egg, with pickled mustard seeds and onion shavings adding the piquant punch.

But the property is most proud of the Pampas Grass King avocado toast, a nod to Joseph Sexton. An exotic crop guru, the horticulturist built the property’s Italianate, Peter Barber–designed mansion from a fortune earned through establishing the region’s pampas grass, walnut, avocado, and lemon industries. The hotel cites archival documents that reveal avocado toast was a common treat for the Sexton family, suggesting that these grounds may be the place where this now-ubiquitous breakfast staple first appeared.

The presentation of every dish is clearly composed yet refreshingly unpretentious. “I just want food that feels like it’s real, but it’s pretty,” said Caudillo. “I want it to feel like I threw it down on the plate, and it worked out perfectly, but it’s still a little messy.”

Creative Freedom

Terra is the latest chapter in the cooking career of Caudillo, who was born in Guanajuato but grew up in Goleta from when he was 8 years old, attending El Rancho Elementary and Dos Pueblos High. “This is my hometown,” explained Caudillo, who worked as a technical director for Univision until about 2004, when weekend catering gigs lured him into the chef life. “Coming to this property, I took it personally.”

He’s best known for Lompoc’s Scratch Kitchen, which was that city’s best place to eat — by far, most would say — from its 2015 opening until closing in 2019. “I graduated from Scratch Kitchen” is how Caudillo puts it. “It taught me a lot. That’s where I developed my own style. Here, I’m just playing off of the mistakes I made and the lessons I learned.”

It took about six months of cajoling by the hotel to get Caudillo to commit to the job. He was wary of the constraints that can come in a conventional resort-chain formula and the connotations of being a “hotel restaurant,” where creativity often plays second banjo to the bottom line. But then he learned more about the Tribute Portfolio, the small line of fewer than six dozen properties where Marriott gives operators flexibility to adjust as much as needed to serve both guests and the surrounding community.

“They allow us so much creative freedom,” said Caudillo. “We don’t have to abide by serving the Marriott Burger or any of their standards.”

A similar tune was sung by the property’s sales director Jennifer Byerly, who toured me through the renovated suites — all basically identical, two-room setups, though the best ones face the pool courtyard. “We have the full capacity to do all we want,” she explained, noting that some of the outside spaces are still being conceived, as are plans for the Sexton House itself. “We get the opportunity to keep evolving.”

A brilliant initial step was sourcing Frinj Coffee, the Goleta-born company that’s planting coffee farms from Santa Barbara to San Diego. It’s high-dollar java, and really gets to shine in Terra’s espresso martini, which also features Funk Zone–made Cutler’s Spirits. Pair that with the Solvang-churned gelato or the Hummingbird Cake, bolstered by pineapple compote, plantain chips, and blood-orange olive oil from Los Olivos. 

“A lot of time people create a restaurant concept, but then don’t actually carry it out,” said Caudillo of the care and attention he’s taking to make Terra succeed. “We’re always so conscious of, ‘Does it feel like this place or not? Is this Terra? Is the identity there?’”

Right now, Terra feels a lot like the best parts of Goleta life, where orchards still thrive — across the street, even — and a warm, family-oriented atmosphere dominates. Caudillo plans to keep it that way, explaining, “It feels really good to come home.”

Terra, The Steward, 5490 Hollister Ave., Goleta; (805) 683-6722;  thestewardsb.com