After nearly six years in business, the Olio Crudo Bar was finally becoming a regular stop for Santa Barbarans interested in raw Italian dishes of “finesse and quality,” explains co-owner Alberto Morello, a veteran of downtown’s restaurant scene.

After years of cooking around Southern California, the Sicilian chef first broke into Santa Barbara with his wife, UCSB alum Elaine Morello, by opening the still-thriving white-tablecloth restaurant Olio e Limone in 1999. They doubled down with Olio Pizzeria next door a decade later, and then creatively remodeled the slim, adjacent storefront on West Victoria Street into Crudo in 2014.