After updating to Ventura, area around the notch is blacked out

Wait... your application is in full screen. The default is to hide the menu bar when in full screen.

You can change that in System Settings->Desktop & Dock.

You may want to change "Automatically hide and show the menu bar" from "In Full Screen Only" to "Never".

(or not use full screen).

I forgot to add: most of these are now set in System Settings->Control Center:

It is unclear what is happening. Are you missing some of the menu items?

Is this on the left or right side of the notch? What items are missing?

You may need to go into System Settings and activate showing some of these items, if they are turned off - like the icons for volume, time machine, etc. Maybe they were just turned off after the upgrade?

Thank your for clarifying.

I think that this may help:

https://www.macworld.com/article/546104/how-to-macbook-pro-macos-monterey-block-notch-menu-bar.html