Here is an old Facebook note, slightly revised. Live Culture, the coolest overall place in SB along with Blush, but more casual, went bankrupt, but I include the review as a sort of elegiac tribute to a place I had many good times.
Preface/Omissions
I have since been to Bouchon again–J took me there for Valentine’s day–and his venison was sublime. I have never had venison and he’s from Houston and tells me they eat a lot of it there. Still, it ranked in his top 5 ever consumed. I must say, rereading my not-so-nice comments about Bouchon, probably the most expensive (French) restaurant in Santa Barbara, I feel compelled to say that it is a stunningly elegant dining room with impeccable service and you can find things that are not rich, heavy, overblown.
My father will not go to restaurants he calls “NYC style,” by which he means loud with tables close together. He would never go to Bouchon, our less expensive answer to Melisse in Santa Monica. For one thing, like a lot of WWII vets, he’s not what one would call a fan of the French. Frankly, he dislikes everything about that culture. Second, Dad won’t spend that kind of money on a restaurant, other than Pacific Dining Car in Santa Monica on very special occasions. And still, PDC ends up when all is said and done (moderate drinking), 150 for two. You can easily drop 250 at Melisse. But Dad would adore the spread out tables at Bouchon, the great service and the quiet room. He hates SB anyway, has visited five times in 14 years (admittedly we weren’t speaking a lot of that time), and I do not ever expect to see my father at Bouchon, or any SB restaurant for that matter. He still remembers the wedding in 1982 when he could not find a bathroom and claims there were no streetlights. He never forgave what he refers to as a “dead and primitive” town.
Also omitted from the list is The Stonehouse in San Ysidro Ranch (the hotel where crazy brother of Dennis Quaid bailed on a 10K bill–not hard to rack this up in a week there) and it’s very pricey. You are looking, with moderate alcohol, and full entree/salad/dessert, at 250 for two. I have never been. And unless some miracle befalls me and Victorian Chick somehow makes money, I do not anticipate ever going there!
Since the time of writing, I have also had a simply spectacular lunch at the Montecito Cafe in the Montecito Inn, the hotel once owned by Charlie Chaplin, on the far end of Coast Village Road. (It’s a hop, skip and a jump from the legendary and old Biltmore, now of course owned for some time by the Four Seasons. When people think of Santa Barbara, well, people of a certain means, this is what they associate most with the sleepy, retirement/college town where as my father, in characteristic form, says “people go to die.” Let me say, while I think the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Rey, also a Four Seasons, has one of the most phenomenal restaurants in California, the FS up here is terribly overpriced and always mediocre and very disappointing. I have had three lunches there in the last few years, with others paying of course, and nothing justifies the price. However, the view is spectacular and the flowery prints everywhere, with the white rattan furniture is quite pleasant. The bar at the FS is very nice, though, and while its bar menu is steep, it’s well worth it.)
Let me just note two excellent dishes at Montecito Cafe: 1) Dungeness crab in a half papaya, with two unusual dressings over butter lettuce and shaved, toasted almonds, and 2) Grilled chicken on sourdough with sauteed onions and fried brie (I just had it melted as frying brie seems somewhat gratuitous). Both wonderful. Great bread and a nice half bottle of Qupe Chardonnay, not too offensively priced at 18 dollars.
Another glaring omission, now that I reread this, is the famous Brophy Brothers. It is both a locals hangout down by the harbor and a place for tourists armed with lists of SB must-see or must-do places. It’s seafood and it is very good. But it’s not elegant and it is always very loud and crowded. The baked claims, which really are fried, are definitely worth a try. The seafood pasta is also quite good, along with the chowder, cole slaw, and chicken/provolone sandwich. I went there for lunch with my boss last summer and it was very pleasant outside, looking at the boats. However, having grown up on a boat (on weekends) in Marina Del Rey on the main channel, I admit I am a harbor snob not easily impressed. It’s a dirty, faintly sad marina in my view. The selling point: views of the mountains. You don’t get that in MDR in LA.
I have, finally, also been back in the last six months to Jane, three doors down from Opal and next to Evolutions Medical Spa, where I get my Dysport. I also went back twice in the six months since writing the note to Jane. It’s a really cool, faintly East Coast kind of place, at least in decor and ambience. Of course, it would be three times the cost in Manhattan, with tables so far apart and a correspondingly lower turnover.
I have pictures but lost my USB cable, a fairly common occurrence of course, along with my key, though what is not known on FB as the Dad/J Victoria Key Rehabilitation Project (you know how Democrats are always inventing projects!) has been progressing quite nicely. Dad has a hook and if my key is not on it , I am not allowed in the house. This works moderately well, I must admit. The best pasta is the simple chicken fettucini with sundried tomatoes, mushroom and parmesan in a light basil tomato cream sauce. The portion is large and it’s only 14 at dinner. Everything is good there, except one appetizer with beef with the most repulsive and greasy, over-battered onion rings I have ever laid eyes on, much less put in my mouth.
With that by way of preface, here is my take on the SB restaurant scene, with restaurants divided into 9 categories.
1. Italian.
SB is am embarrassment of riches for Italian. I will add in some menu items later, but for now will simply list my favorites and the established ones in town: Via Vai, Pane e Vino, Palazzo, Ca’Dario, Trattoria Vittoria. In Montecito, kitty corner from Via Vai and in the next parking lot from Pane e Vino (tiny, authentic, excellent grilled artichoke, adorable wood-walled bistro with table cloths and Italian waitstaff), is the gorgeous, tiled Piatti. [Ed. note: Piatti closed a few months ago and Pierre La Fond opened a wine bistro I have yet to try.] My Malibu boyfriend in 1996 took me here for lunch when we came to look at the large but dumpy, loud, hot, evil apartment I lived in during grad school. It is the prettiest Italian in SB, but the food is at best mediocre. They have, however, great bread and an olive oil/balsamic/red pepper flake dipping sauce which is worth paying for drinks to taste. And they have a great Piatti house Cabernet for just 7 bucks.
One could do far worse than to go there for drinks, a cup of soup (a little bland but you can always add spices like the chili flakes), bread and two or so glasses of that house Cab. I had the orchiette once, just boring, though asparagas was passable. I haven’t had a good meal there since the late 90s, but it’s next to Pierre La Fond, a gorgeous little park, and it’s fun to drool over things you cannot ever afford at Wendy Foster. In 1998 I got a pair of woven sandals orig 400—in those days–for 125, Aquitalia, just gorgeous. But usually it’s just not within the realm of possibility.
Via Vai has great pastas, meat and vegetarian, and good prosciutto, carpaccio. I haven’t been there in a year but it’s a beautiful restaurant, tile and white, and very rustic. It has an outdoor patio with respectable but not outstanding views of the mountains behind Montecito’s East Village Road. It’s very good. All these places are about the same. Appetizers in the 9-10 range, entrees in the 15 to 25 range (for meat, pastas are in the teens, or they were when I went last). Of course the damage done in restaurants to bank statements isn’t the food; it’s the booze.
A friend of mine likes Bucatini, owned by Tre Lune and while the downtown location is less than ideal, it’s excellent. . Tre Lune is on Coast Village Road in Montecito and I adore breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The “sunrise special” features the most perfect single poached egg atop a decadent single slice of brioche French toast. They serve Peerless coffer, my hands down favorite coffee in the country, along with generous (but not cheap) Mimosas. The fresh grapefruit juice is not to be missed.
Tre Lune is apparently Rob Lowe’s hangout. Incidentally, Rob Lowe is trying to get in with major venture capitalists now, and is really trying to build a serious portfolio with some guy. (It was in Montecito Journal, and his legal troubles with evil nannies don’t seem to have aged him–he’s gorgeous still–and in 9th grade I did have a major crush from St Elmo’s Fire to, even more so, About Last Night, which embarrassingly, made it on my list of 30 favorite movies). Dennis Franz brings his family in on special occasions and holidays: his longtime wife Jeanie, his kids and his grandkids.
Trattoria Mollie is also on CVR in Montecito and I just hate it. Had a horrible meal and best friend had one or two horrible meals. It’s heavy, dull food. Ca Dario is my best friend’s very favorite Italian in SB. The spinach/pancetta/egg salad is a real bargain at 11 (lunch and dinner, though entrees spike at night) and it’s just wonderful. They have fish specials at lunch (I never go at dinner, too pricey) for 18 or 19, but you get this great garlic steamed spinach, roasted potatoes, and my favorite, roasted beets. It’s always a white fish of some sort for the special: whitefish, halibut, swordfish… They have salmon also but not, to my knowledge, as a lunch special. There are two rooms, both without air conditioning as I discovered a few weeks ago with best friend before Wall Street. Bread is not good, very dry and mediocre. (The best bread, brown, is at a chain I had never been to in 14 yrs but where I went with a friend as it is kid friendly: Outback Steakhouse in Goleta, which has an excellent burger for 9 bucks.)
For a more casual Italian, you cannot beat Fresco in Five Points. They also have salads and burgers, but have pastas and fish as well and nuclear-sized cupcakes, vanilla, chocolate, coconut and strawberry. I am not a dessert person but it requires the utmost discipline to forego. It is next to Blockbuster and there is just never anywhere to park. I dislike their pizza , but know others who disagree with me on this. They often have excellent homemade chowders and other soups as well. A major perk: Fresco has free corkage. This saves you at least 20 bucks on the total dinner tab. Now that Bevmo! is in SB, with the buy one wine get one for a nickel, you can get a 15 dollar Syrah (two, that is, for 15 dollars), and take one of them to Fresco and have them open it and drink till your heart’s content for free.
Of course, there is a little to be desired about the ambience, sort of loud music, very aged/middle-aged folk rock types or sort of blues/jazz and they’re not bad but I feel about them the way that the English female aristocrat felt about Charles Grodin during the shooting of a movie in an English estate she presumably lived or owned: “It would be so nice if you weren’t here.” That was my favorite quotation in high school and I even put it on my senior page.
2. Mexican. NB: this is not exhaustive, I never go to Milpas which has a ton of Mexican..
SB is a mecca for lovers of Mexican food. The hispanic population is very high, about a 30%, and you can find a one-dollar taco on Milpas or a 16-dollar carne asada burrito at Carlitos or Cava in Montecito, with a high level tequila for a 14 dollar margarita.
My favorite cheap Mexican is the 20-yr-old Little Alex’s, next to Vons at the beginning of Coast Village Road in Montecito. My best friend lives on their chicken soup, which is spicy, with fresh vegetables and enormous for 5 or 6 bucks. I am partial to the taco salad which is 8, and includes chips, rice, beans, cheese, beef/chicken/pork, ranch dressing and this very spicy green salsa which I just dump on top of the whole thing after the ranch dressing. I absolutely adore this and even drive 15 minutes for it, which in SB is a long commute, longer during rush hour of course.
Cava and Carlitos are sister restuarants, both lovely, but Cava is much nicer in terms of atmosphere, a little Spanish house on Coast Village Road versus a big patio/indoor room directly on busy State Street across from the historic Arlington theater. The patio is nice, and there are umbrellas to prevent heat and sunburn, as well as two rooms inside, but I never go to Carlitos unless getting a quick takeout burrito. Cava has beautiful booths, embroidered, with individual table lamps. There is a bar , as well, though not really a pick-up type of bar. There are also tables in the back, against a wall, with lovely elaborate throw pillows and it’s just very cozy. There is also outdoor seating , but I have never sat there as I love the booths.
Cava starts you off with both blue corn and white corn tortilla chips, a mild salsa to which you must add the hot sauce, and a black bean/corn/onion concoction that is sweet rather than spicy and quite good. Everything at Cava is perfect, but the carne asada burrito is my favorite, and you get a huge portion of moist Mexican rice on the side with queso fresco melted on top. It’s not cheap–16 dollars–but no one could eat this whole thing alone, so if you split it and just have one glass or wine or margarita and no appetizers it’s pretty reasonable. Appetizers include a special roasted yam on a tortilla with goat cheese and tomatillo salsa, just excellent. They have a good gazpacho and my best friend loves how they give you all these cute little pots of onions, croutons, bell peppers to sprinkle in. It’s a light and refreshing gazpacho.
Cava has a great brunch, with excellent potatoes, omelets (SB omelet is my favorite), and in place of chips, they give you homemade mini-banana muffins. The brunch also features salads and regular tacos and burritos. I have also enjoyed the tamales, but they’re a bit bland. If you are dieting, the chicken caesar is good. I also like the tostada salad, though I have had it only once. If I go alone, I bring 60% of the burrito home and eat it for the next two days which makes this not only reasonable but really, really cheap. They have Qupe Syrah , which is good. My best friend adores tequila and margaritas on the rocks and Cava offers a wide selection of tequilas and special tequila concoctions.
Los Gallos is by Mission and De La Vina by the Daily Grind (so there’s never any parking). It’s like Little Alex’s but about 20% more expensive and not even close to as good. Their soft beef tacos are okay, but the rice is not good at all, and the beans barely make up for it. They do, however, have this avocado salsa (not guacamole), pureed in the salsa bar and that’s kind of an interesting addition to a boring beef soft taco with nothing else on it. I have not been here for 9 months, since I found Alex’s, even though that’s far.
My ex-boss’s son likes El Sitio, a hole in the wall to-go place by Ralph’s near me. I had the burrito he raved about forever and ever and did not like it, did not finish it. The beef tastes funny and the texture is disturbing. It’s way too heavy and I feared that consuming it would force me to abstain from eating for a few days, which did not seem like an appetizing prospect.I am sorry to say this as the people there are very, very nice.
There is a place on Milpas featured (sorry Denis Leary, but in this context it’s not the goat cheese, it’s the entire meal/restaurant) at a friend of a friend’s 40th birthday party. I will find out the name because it’s dirt cheap and supposedly excellent.
Of course, like all places, we have a lot of Taco Bell. I had never been to one of these in my life. But I was saving for jewelry I had been dying for all my life and it was amazing as I could get 2 crunchy tacos for 3.50 or a burrito for 3.50. They have this Fresco menu–lower in calories. My two meals here are both in the 400 calorie range, which is very nice. Now that I have all the jewelry I need, and probably won’t get another article of jewelry till I marry, I eat here less frequently. [I am eyeing that Oasis eternity band for the fourth finger of the right hand, www.diamondnexuslabs.com, and in 2012 will start to save. This year I am going to England since I could go to NYC to dance due to my accident in San Diego, but will start to save for that perhaps, after Christmas.]
3.French.
I am not into French food, though my objection is not ideological like my father’s. I just don’t really eat a lot of cream-based things, though I will put butter on bread at a restaurant. It’s rich, creamy, and buttery. Not my thing. I also don’t eat fried food, and there are often fried things for appetizers at various French restaurants. I don’t eat French fries, onion rings, fried calamari etc….
But Bouchon is a Zagat-rated masterpiece of restaurant and the waiters know as much about the food as the chefs… It’s expensive. Someone took me there and we bought a 70-dollar bottle of wine (well, I am using the “royal we,” he bought it!). I had a lobster gnocci appetizer. I do not remember my entree, but know I had a good salad. He has some heavy duty meat–duck or lamb–it was when all was said in done 225, I believe. Even if I wanted to spend that on a meal rather than a dress , or two-third of a plane ticket to JFK from LAX, I would never spend it there.
4. Healthy/Vegetarian.
The best nice healthy restaurant is Spirit Land Bistro. I took someone there as a thanks for computer help and it was absolutely amazing. We shared the macadamia encrusted tiger shrimp, with a spicy yellow mustard, and as embarrassed as I was to be eating “encrusted” fish, after reading and writing about Denis Leary’s Why We Suck, I have to say it was excellent. The miso bisque was spicy and good. The roasted beet and butternut salad was also terrific, with a light but not boring vinaigrette, prodigious alfalfa sprouts and of course organic, Farmers Market teardrop tomatoes. (I do love it in The Kids are Alright when Bening says “If someone tells me one more thing about their fucking heirloom tomatoes, I’m going kill someone!” or something to that effect, when she’s liquored up and loses it at dinner with a couple they know. “Oh please,” she says, I believe in relation to recycling and composting.)
The entree was a chicken over wasabi mashed potatoes and if your sinuses are acting up or being uncooperative this is a good remedy and alternative to Nasonex or any of those sprays which hurt so badly as they enter the nasal canal.
Prices here vary. Pretty much any fish entree at dinner in SB is going to be 23-25, except at Opal, which still has a few things around 20. Spirit Land just raised prices a month or two ago. But the small salads are 9 and large are 14. The soup was 4 for a cup. The chicken was 18. You can rack up a 100 bill here if you have appetizer, salad, soup etc.. They are proud of their wine list and most are in the 8 to 12 range by the glass, but they must have been unloading a Grenache for 6, so I had two of those and enjoyed them very much. It’s also a quaint little room beyond the commercial part of State and Victoria. It’s on a corner, and the next structure across the street is an apartment complex. It’s just charming and I cannot wait to go back. It is all organic, and about 65% vegetarian, but they have seafood, chicken and the occasional beef dish. They also have vegan and raw food, including a lasagna which apparently sells well. They have also a Moussaka, but I don’t have any yearning to try food cooked below a certain temperature.
Spirit Land is the biggest bargain for lunch in town. They have Bento Boxes, about 9. Soup is 2 or 3 and small salads and appetizers are 5 or 6. The menu is not identical at lunch and dinner, but there are continuities and the people are so nice here , they might respond to gentle coaxing.
The Natural Cafe is a casual, order-at-the-front and wait for food to be brought to the table place with several restaraunts in SB and Goleta. I liked the veggie burger there in grad school but do not like it anymore. I would rather have a Gardenburger at SB Athletic Club cafe, which has excellent sandwiches and veggie burgers from 7 to 9. Soups are often good, vegan or not. It’s all right. I mean, everything is under 10, and the portions are large. The bread is a sweet wheat which with sweet butter is excellent. I like the split pea and occasionally there will be a fish special, salmon with cucumber dill yogurt sauce, over brown rice with steamed veggies for a remarkable 12 even at night. I never go there. I’d rather order takeout from there and eat it at home.
The Sojourner Cafe is a SB institution, though I have no idea why. It’s pricey, boring, pretentious and I haven’t been there in 12 yrs. Enough said. Oh–wait–I got a soup when I was training at Rape Crisis Center to sip on while I watched gory and brutally depressing videos about rape and incest (both are on Canon Perdido). I haven’t been there since.
4. Continental
My number one favorite standby is Opal, across from Carlitos, between Victoria and Sola. It has taken a hit due to Jane, a place my best friend does not like at all and where she took me for birthday a year ago, but I have liked my fettucine with sundried tomatoes, lots of cheese, and mushrooms over chicken.
Opal is fifteen or twenty years old and in an industry with high turnover and bankruptcy, this is a veritable eon. It’s well-decorated, with interesting lamps and it’s a beautiful space with nice artwork. The bar is lively and it’s a very nice place to drink and have an appetizer if you aren’t in the mood to spring for a full dinner out. Opal is famous for its ginger cosmo, which, if you can get past the Sex in the City stigma, is excellent and strong. The pizzas are the real bargain here: shrimp pesto pizza for 15 and a meat pizza for 14. If you split it with your dining companion, you have more food than you can possibly manage for only 7.50 plus booze. Opal has excellent brown bread with fluffy sweet butter, but you have to ask for the brown bread only, or you end up with this annoying rosemary bread which is just not worth the calories.
There is nothing on this menu that is not wonderful. My best friend is partial to the warm seafood salad (tons of seafood: scallops, shrimp, salmon, calamari) over spinach. This is the great bargain at 15. It’s huge and very good. It’s a bit bland, but if you like pepper or chili flakes you can dress it up. The chicken chipotle pasta in a light tomato cream is my favorite pasta on the menu and I met a woman of 50 whose teenage son begs her to go to Opal so he can have this dish.
There is a great Thai salmon yellow curry, with julienned carrots and zucchini and aromatic jasmine basmatic rice. I love this meal and it was, last time I was there, 19 or so at night. It’s available for much less at luch. Opal is not cheap but it’s not outrageous as long as you limit drinking. Corkage is 15 but it’s worth if if you go with someone and you each want two glasses of wine. The decent wines there start at 10, though occasionally you see a special for 9.
I rarely eat duck but their roast duck is huge, comes with this wild berry sauce, and is cooked to perfection. It comes with giant brocolli spears and wild rice. This is a filling and satisfying meal and once every couple months I crave it.
I have had other fish dishes there–the specials run between 20 and 25–and often include halibut and swordfish. I generally agree with Denis Leary about “encrusting” and I had only one bad meal ever in life at Opal, this breaded fish thing. If you buy a nice piece of fish, why on EARTH would you bread it? The waitress was not clear and I am a good tipper but this annoyed me and I did say something and got a free cappucino. Oh, they are good about their mistakes. I got for my birthday one year a lovely creme brulee with this design of fruit syrup on the plate after they said they would seat us after a drink at bar, and then when we did it took 40 minutes for the entree to come.
The salads are all excellent, lots of goat cheese , fruit inventions. I love Opal. It’s best to make reservation. I always go with best friend at 5, so we can get a window table of which there are only 4.
I have not been to Seagrass. It’s like Bouchon and I just cannot afford it, but like Spirit Land, it is all organic, with many vegan and vegetarian entrees. It is in a gorgeous dining room and space, and the pictures of their food in magazines around SB and elsewhere are extraordinary. I think this falls in the category of food too pretty to eat.
My new favorite place is Blush, which is sort of a pick-up place with a great bar, as well as outside large patio where there are frequently get-togethers/ bachelorette parties. (I have been there and seen two in two months, and the women are all in lingerie–some, quite frankly who should not be seen in public in such attire–and there is the obligatory cock on a cake at the end of the night). I have been to a wine tasting there as well. Aside from the stray cock, however, I love this place. Their signature dish is lobster mac and cheese (I love mac and cheese, both real mac and cheese at restaurants and Lean Cuisine for only 300 calories). I had the most delicious, spicy shrimp noodle salad.
Dinner is about normal. The mac and cheese is 19, a little high, the appetizer shrimp salad (enough for a meal, along with bread and booze) is 14. My friend had a hanger (hangar?) steak with mashed potatoes, a small plate for 15 or 16, while the regular entree steaks was mid-20s. They have very creative cocktails, pomegranate vodka and juice something or other which I very much enjoyed. Wine list is decent, normal. It can be loud, but I love the decor, very New York bar kind of wood booths, high ceilings. Just a nice place to hang out. One night they were doing 90s music and I heard the Cardigans (1997 album which I could never have named, but which my friend knew instantly), Madonna, Gin Blossoms etc..The patio is nice, with comfortable large white couches, and you can be served out there, both from the bar and regular menus.
Happy hour is excellent with 5 dollar appetizers, though the ones they have at happy hour are heavy on the calories/fat (fried stuff). The baby grilled artichoke, brushed with olive oil, is quite good. I was , however, quite irritated when my friend and I decided to move from the bar to the patio and I was holding my purse and smokes, and no one coordinated the transfer. I had not yet eaten the heart and they didn’t offer to replace, a bad decision as I am NOT a customer you want to annoy, with the amount I eat out.
Jade has a special place in my heart as I didn’t go out to eat for many years for various reasons and it was my first restaurant in 6 yrs. [Editor’s note: This has recently gone bankrupt.] It’s in San Roque on State, much lower rent than Opal or Blush downtown, which is a good thing because it is never very crowded and I would be devastated to lose this place. It’s a lovely, beautifully painted pink dining room, with quaint curtains and new art on the walls for sale every three months or so. It just raised everything 2 bucks on entrees but it still the best dinner bargain in town. They send out email specials often, but for 9 dollars , you get a chicken goat cheese ravioli to which I am addicted, with beurre blanc sauce. It’s enough for me for a meal, though I dislike the panini bread, too buttery, just not worth bread calories, especially if you prefer, as I do, to drink your calories (wine) than eat them.
All the salads are good and there is an appetizer sampler with crab tacos, postickers and two other popular dishes. My best friend likes the pork chop with mashed potatoes and she’s a gourmet cook so this is saying something. That, with a salad, is 20 on special many days. They have exquisite desserts but I don’t eat dessert unless it is my birthday, or Thanksgiving, when I consume ungodly amounts of pumpkin pie with schlag (sp?), Yiddish for fresh whipped cream (though I’ll take redi-whip too).
Jade used to have Asian sea scallops, but have recently changed all entrees (appetizers and salads remain the same), and it is no longer availalbe.The grilled vegetables with curry is vegan and very good, only 13 or 14. Dustin and his ex-sommelier picked wonderful wines and they are reasonable as well. Jade has huge wine dinners, multiple courses with wine pairing in the 50 to 60 range, but I have never been to one of these. I cannot say enough for this magical chicken and goat cheese ravioli, which used to be 2 more and bigger. It’s still big enough. Soups are 3 and 6, cup and bowl, and fresh, handmade. I had a fresh roasted eggplant soup there a few weeks ago, with a real kick to it. He often does the tomato basil with cream and I break my no-cream rule for a cup of this when he has it. He also makes a good carrot ginger but that is readily available both at Gelson’s and Whole Foods, so it’s not that exciting a discovery.
The Coast is the restaurant in the new Canary Hotel, gorgeously renovated and owned by the folks responsible for Shutters and Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica. They have a great happy hour, long , several hours, and the general manager used to own a restaurant in Pacific Palisades called Erika’s , where my parents and I ate about three times a month when I was in high school. The reason I learned this was I was there alone one Sunday night, all dressed up, with the perfect bun, waiting for Frost/Nixon play down the street. There was this very inebriated and chatty older gentleman who would not stop talking to me, just desperate to share his stories about the best avocadoes in America.
When I did not seem enthusiastic about this vegetable, despite my love of guacamole (by the way, excellent at all the Mexican places I wrote about above), he became borderline belligerent and the manager stepped in. So of course we talked and it turns out he lived with his wife and kids in the Palisades and was very sweet and offered to let me go up to the beautiful roof sometime. The fish tacos at happy hour are just excellent, and if you like fried calamari, I am told they are worth having after work with a nice vodka tonic with Ketel One or Belvedere.
I have never eaten dinner or lunch there. It is very expensive for dinner, though probably not as much as Bacara (certainly not Miro, the most expensive restaurant in SB, a Spanish/Continental fusion restaurant with the most stunning dining room I have ever seen, walls of windows overlooking the ocean, but probably not even as much as their other restaurant) or Four Seasons. I have had brunch and happy hour appetizers at FS, very good, but I have had two lunches there and I find it highly overrated, too expensive and only special because of the impeccable service for which Four Seasons are known, and the spectacular views. FS view cannot even hope to compare to Bacara views, however.
Marmalade is a chain, newly in SB. I had eaten at the Malibu and Westlake restaurants. It’s enormous and has the best French onion soup in history. All the soups are good, but my best friend despises this place, having had a bad steak salad, and an even worse eggs benedict. My position is that no matter how expertly prepared it is, hollandaise sauce is utterly repulsive, so I was unsympathetic. The breakfasts are good, about the same as Jeannine’s but a much nicer place to sit and read the paper. They always have a few free LA Times on the bar and if you are lucky you will get the sections you want. I love the salads there, which come in both half and full orders. The fajita filet mignon salad is utterly disgusting , with this goupy weird sauce and it was 17 so I was annoyed.
But I am a forgiving customer and if I have one bad meal at a place that has given me twenty good ones over the years, I will not complain. I particularly like the BBQ chicken salad, with corn, black beans, tortilla chips and tomatoes, the goat cheese/beet/candied walnut salad, and the Asian noodle salad. I never really forgave them for taking the balsamic glazed chicken off the menu, which was marinated in a complex sauce for many hours. The manager is nice to me and told me he’d do it, before learning this glaze was not merely a bunch of balsamic dressing poured atop grilled chicken. It also had generous portion of goat cheese , and I am almost over this disappointment.
Also, Marmalade has THE best happy hour in town. Filet mignon nachos that would feed three, with ample sour cream, salsa and guacamole. They have pesto clams with garlic bread (too buttery and cheesy for me, but fine if you like that sort of thing). They have about eight other selections and portions are huge. All run 6 bucks except the ahi, which is more. Bartenders are always cute and friendly and the servers are all professional and competent.
5. Japanese.
SB is full of Japanese restaurants and sushi bars, as you would expect from a coastal town. I go to Kyoto, not fancy or pretty, but old and established and kitty corner from Gelson’s on Las Positas. I adore their ginger dressing on the dinner salad (which my friend drizzles on her California rolls and nigiri). Lunch is a bargain. The sushi combination comes with miso and salad (or double salad without the miso), six pieces of a great California roll and seven pieces of Nigiri, all of which are tender and flavorful except this one bitter fish which is so awful you must immediately brush your teeth. I am not sure what it is. They all know me there and always comment if I am dressed up, rather than in sweats or jeans, or if I have a new hairdo or haircut.
Kyoto has much more than sushi (there are about 14 special rolls, including the traditional rainbow roll, the 911, and the Philadelphia roll, but I rarely eat these as I prefer variety). They have the best Sukiyaki in town, with a sweet and interesting broth, translucent noodles as well as soba noodles, lots of fresh vegetables and tofu. It’s very large, about 17 at dinner, and yields two servings. There is of course terikyaki chicken (only 6 or 7 at lunch), as well as steak, teriyaki beef, and other cooked dishes. I don’t drink beer but they have Asahi, Kirin and a few others to enjoy with your sushi if you so choose. The sake is fine, nothing special, and no fancy cold sake. Shintori Sushi is a tiny place up the street from me, more expensive (by a lot) than Kyoto for dinner and I never go there anymore. Also that play that heinous Asian rock, though Thai rock is by far the most offensive of the Asian rock genre, which is apparently quite popular (not surprising giving the population of Asia).
The most expensive, trendy sushi in SB is Arigato, now at a larger, upscale location on State Street. The crowds are impressive and it’s not a place to go for a one-hour or half-hour dinner. It’s a young upscale crowd, very popular for date nights. Their rolls are creative but I never go because you have to park in a public lot which is a pain in the ass.
Kai is still good, after all these years, but also inconvenient in terms of parking. There is very good place in Montecito, by Starbucks, but again, not worth the drive for me. Sushi Ahi is by Jeannine’s on Ontare and good, but much more expensive than Kyoto and honestly I have never had better sushi in LA or SB. Blue Fin Sushi in Manhattan on Broadway looks amazing, but I only drank there, as I was going to dinner several hours later. They have a watermelon salad I was dying to try and hope to sample next time in the city.
6. Thai.
I used to go to Your Choice on State by Gelson’s, which has excellent service and easy, free parking. But I recently tried Zen Yai and I will never eat anywhere else again for Thai. It’s on State by Cota, and you do have to park in a lot unless you are lucky on a side street, but it’s worth the trouble. The Thai beef salad–a staple of any Thai menu–is the best I have ever had, with plenty of tender grilled beef and a light, oil-less, very spicy sauce over mixed greens and lovely tomatoes. The spicy beef noodles (tell them one star, a bit more spicy than normal, because if you get it extra spicy you will lose all feeling in your tongue for several hours) are indescribably good. There is a bit of oil, but if that’s your only fat for the day, it’s fine. I have been back alone for takeout there three times in a month. There are lots of other vegetable, meat and noodle dishes and it’s all 10 to 12, even at night. I love Zen Yai and am not sure if this is the new incarnation of the old Zen Yai, which used to deliver to my hellhole on Hope Ave during grad school. It went out of business but perhaps this is a common Thai name.
Your Place on Milpas (dumpy not nice area) is cheaper than Your Choice (which has won best Thai in the Independent for 15 yrs or so) and has an excellent Tom Yum Goong (spicy clear soup with either shrimp or chicken). They have a calarmari/squid dish, not fried, extremely spicy, and it is very nice drowning the fresh lettuce in the dressing when you are finished with the squid.
There are three or four others I have not been to, including Bangkok Palace. In Goleta, Appethai is good, though I broke my ankle/foot there during my grad recruitment trip and had to go to the Goleta Valley Hospital, so I steer clear of that place.
7. Chinese
When I started grad school, the TA trainers and other orientation leaders made a packet about life in SB, including restaurants, though most grad students are broke and not getting significant assistance from parents on top of fellowships/ TAships and free tuition grants. I remember the packet said that SB is a great restaurant town, but severely deficient in good Chinese food. That was 1996. This is no longer the case.
My favorite is China Pavillion in Montecito, formerly China Castle, I believe, and not at all good. I adore this restaurant and unlike most Asian or ethnic restaurants, it’s actually pretty. Red walls, nice tables and chairs (black lacquer), tablecloths and nice artwork. There is outdoor seating but this part of Coast Village Road is quite near the freeway and I would never sit outside there. They have the best Kung Pao beef I have ever eaten, very spicy and tender beef. I like the curry shrimp as well, large tiger shrimp, with a kick to it. At lunch, it’s only 10 but they hike up prices by almost 50% at dinner and on weekends for lunch. It’s open until 3 for lunch which is nice.
Empress Palace is on Las Positas by the gas station and very large. It’s quite expensive at dinner and I prefer both the look and food at China Pavilion. They specialize in seafood, lots of lobster, crab, shrimp, scallops. It’s perfectly acceptable, though I haven’t been there since Valentine’s Day, when I ate there around 5 with best friend and then inadvertently blew up my car three hours later (cigarette butt in the overflowing ashtray, I know I’m terrible, caught on fire). It’s not their fault of course, but I prefer not to relive that moment in my life. The wor won ton soup is very good, though, tons of fresh bok choi, carrots, snap peas and bean sprouts.
8. Steakhouses.
In spite of the often annoying hippie/granola/vegan vibe of SB, we have four top-notch steakhouses, three in SB and one in Montecito, the famed Lucky.
We have a Chuck’s of Hawaii, a national chain, and my best friend’s favorite place, in part because of their fabulous happy hour from 5 to 6, where they have free steak bites, unlimited, as well as cheese (cheddar, dull) and wheat crackers. It’s dark, red, old, unglamorous and the clientele is old, or at least, over 50. There is a salad bar at dinner which is good and the people there are very nice. Stiff well drinks and decent wines too. The bar menu is reasonable and served past happy hour.
Lucky is a beautiful steak and seafood restaurant in the nicest part of Coast Village Road, next to the Charlie Chaplin hotel, Montecito Inn. (This used to be a real bargain but has newly remodeled and caught up in terms of price. It’s still far less than Four Seasons or Bacara (SO expensive) but if you like boutique hotels, you cannot do better than this.) The Montecito Cafe is also excellent Continental cuisine, packed always, and a bargain at lunch. I love Lucky. The plasma in the bar plays old movies (Turner Movie Classics kind of movies) with the sound muted. The bar is nice and fun, frequented by old Montecito regulars and visitors staying at MI or Four Seasons. I like it as I rarely pay for drinks there, due to the ubiquitous single, lonely traveling businessmen staying in town for conferences. Or married, but I never went to hook up there, just to talk to an interesting person which is not the easiest thing to come by in SB.
They have a pricey but wonderful shrimp cocktail, simple Caprese salad with Farmer’s Market tomatoes , but recently this has shrunk and you get half the cheese you used to. I tried the escargot on a dinner date and if you like escargot you will be happy. It is extremely expensive and I would never go there unless a guy were taking me out. Prime rib is in the upper 40s I believe, steaks start in the low 30s.
Lucky also has a wonderful brunch, with a salmon caper omelet for 16, with great potatoes. The Bloody Marys are spicy and strong, and it’s a lovely place to languish over vodka and eggs on a Sunday. They have huevos rancheros, like most breakfast places in SB, which look good though I didn’t have them (my date liked them).
9. Breakfast.
I have been told by more than one person that I am an omelet/egg/potates expert cum addict, so here’s my two cents.
I used to go to Jeannine’s every day. It is overpriced but they have mango iced tea to which I am addicted. The omelets are between 10 and 13, so when you get through with tip, tea, food, you are looking at 16 or 17. On the other hand, I often eat big breakfast and no lunch, so it evens out. I love their potatoes, not extremely oily, plenty of onions. I also like the scrambled eggs with goat cheese. The French toast is a speciality, challah for bread, plenty of powdered sugar, good syrup. I like this but at my age, this is simply not an option more than once a month. Pancakes are good too, though not creative like many places in town with bananas and berries and flavored syrups.
They used to serve Peet’s coffee, but switched to an Oregan brand, Stumptown which I do not like as much. You order and pay at the front and a food runner brings you your food, and refills your iced tea. Coffee is self serve. Jeannine’s has , hands down, the best poached eggs I have ever eaten and I have them at least three times a week. I don’t eat bacon but apprently it is very good, as is their sausage , which I also do not eat.
Jeannine’s is famous as a bakery, often winning best bakery of SB in the Independent, a highly coveted title. They specialize in cakes, beautiful , intricate chocolate cakes (Texas Heaven, bundt cake with chips), as well as carrot cake, coconut cake (my favorite), and various berry-laden white cakes with fabulous frosting. I don’t eat scones or muffins (see French toast explanation), but they are good, and their cinnamon roll, I am told, is quite addicting and probably 1000 calories.
Closer to me, walking distance, though I have only driven there (I also drive to CVS which is only 50 yards away), is Steve’s Patio Cafe, owned by a nice married man and father of a 5th-grader who dislikes homework. Lovely, sweet , prettly blonde waitress. It’s cheaper by about 25% than Jeannine’s though you have to tip more there since it is a real cafe. I love the veggie omelet with zucchini, onions, peppers and abundant cheese of your choice (I prefer the jack to the pepper jack or cheddar). Their orange juice is terrific, and Mimosa’s the cheapest in town, 4.50. The pancakes are good , but even better is the “old-fashioned waffle” with strawberry and whipped cream for only 6.95. Coffee is adequate, but on the weak side. They have creative omelets as well, the Momalette, which is feta and sundried tomatoes. My only complaint is the potatoes, which used to be flavored oddly, then switched to plain and require ketchup or abundant salt.
Whole Foods has a breakfast bar. I am very angry at WF at the moment as they quit serving my Denver eggs, scrambled eggs with touch of cream, cheese, onions and red peppers. Now I have to make do with the spinach eggs which are just dreadful. The potatoes are as good as Jeannine’s , just different. They also have a special French toast (extremely sweet and more like a dessert), and veggie frittata in the bar, as well as excellent bacon and sausage.
I saved tons of money by skipping Jeannine’s five days a week, but I miss my Denver eggs, and have now to eat the plain scrambled eggs, with cheddar cheese from the salad bar, which I bring home and nuke. WF has Allegro coffee, my favorite coffee in SB, with this coconut non-dairy creamer I like a lot. They do not, however, have Equal, Splenda or Sweet and Low, just this natural Truvia shit which is fine, but which you have to use triple the normal amount to achieve the desired effect. I thought , when I asked for Equal or the even more reviled Sweet and Low (saccharine, after all), I had asked them for an 8-ball. The look on the woman’s face was one of pure horror. So then I asked her if they had Marlboro Lights 100s (I knew WF doesn’t sell cigarettes like a normal market) just to get a rise out of her and it definitely worked.
Esau’s is downtown, next to Paseo Nuevo mall , but in the morning you can park on the street. It’s just excellent and has about 14 omelets to choose from including a Greek omelet with spinach, feta, mushrooms and onions. It’s comparable to Jeannine’s but the portions are bigger and when I eat there I don’t eat the rest of the day. The potatoes (home fries) are decadent and evil, much greasier than Jeannine’s or Steve’s, but very good and I don’t feel too guilty if I have them twice a month. They also have huevos rancheros, and all the normal meat dishes with bacon, sausage etc… Their menu is vast, including the lunch one, with assorted burgers, sandwiches and giant salads. The coffee is fine, but Mimosas and Bloody Marys 7 or 8, and I am not sure they use top-shelf vodka.
Both Jeannine’s and Esau’s have a lox plate, though Jeannine’s is 2 or 3 dollars more. Jeannine’s, however, gives you an enormous portion with good tomatoes, onions and lots of capers.
Jack’s Bagels on La Cumbre has a lox plate also, about the same as Esau’s. But you can order just one large piece of lox which covers both sides of a bagel for only 7.50 They also have these scrambled eggs on bagels-B-Eggls– with various additions like salmon, spinach, onions… They still serve Peet’s but there are no refills. All breakfast places in SB have bottomless coffee.
10. Cheap fare/burgers etc..
The Habit, a Southern California chain, is the best burger around, other than burgers at steakhouses which you can order medium rare or rare or however you like it. I love the Habit and go there once a week or once every ten days. I love the cheeseburger with grilled onions, lettuce, tomatoes, NO pickes NO mayo. I am virulently anti-pickle and repeat myself three times to make sure there is not even a pickle residue on my burger. It’s 3.75. I also adore the Cobb, which is the biggest bargain in SB at 6.95. Absolutely enormous, chicken, blue cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, egg, avocado with ranch and honey dijon dressing in equal parts. I have not eaten the tri-tip, chicken, or pastrami (dislike pastrama, not a very good Jew), but friends give these high praise.
I recently went to Kahuna Grill, a big college student/family hangout, with one restaurant in SB and one in Goleta. The teriyaki chicken sandwich with pineapple on wheat bun is fabulous, 6.50.They have kabobs which are very popular, with rice on the side and salad for under 10, but I will never try them.
11. Indian
I only go to one Indian restaurant, and while I like Indian food, I have not been there for 5 months or so. Flavor of India on Upper State by me (or San Roque) has been voted best Indian of SB by Independent for over fifteen years. It is famous for the all-you-can-eat lunch buffet, but you can’t guarantee they will serve your favorite things, so I order a la carte. It is an all-day menu, same price at lunch and dinner. (It closes , as do most restaurants other than Thai or Marmalade, between lunch and dinner.) My favorite dishes are tandoori chicken and chicken saag (spicy spinach sauce). The rice pilau is quite good and the portions are enormous. It’s about 15 for rice and chicken , but it yields three meals. The problem is, I am never in the mood for Indian on consecutive days.
Taj Palace and Spice Avenue downtown are popular as well, but again, with Flavor of India so close, with free and abundant parking, I have no incentive to go downtown.
12. Wine Bars
SB is a wine town, known for its wineries, vineyards, wine bars. This is not a list because I have been only to three, Carr’s, the one by Garden years ago, and Live Culture, a full restaurant (salads , sandwiches, cheese plates and soups), as well as a coffee and frozen yogurt bar with live music (often quite good acoustic indie folk) , great and revolving artwork. It is owned by Darin and his lovely redhead girlfriend Sierra, and I just love this. Darin knows his stuff when it comes to wine (and beer) and often give me and my best friend free tastings. I love it and usually stop in before or after movies at Paseo Nuevo.
They got rid of my favorite gorgonzola salad with warm artichoke hearts, but have a wide selection of panini. The cheese plates come in three sizes and are just wonderful with the wine. Wines range from 9 to 14, and the old winner, Tarantual 2007, a grenache/syrah blend is no longer available. Darin is a great guy, very good at schmoozing and encouraging you to drink more than you intended (i.e. two glasses rather than one).
I was a frozen yogurt addict, at least one a day, from 9th to 12th grade, but I have lost my taste for it. I did shortly after college, when I moved to SB and there was only TCBY, no Pinkberry or Yum Yogurt or whatever it’s called. I have, however, had the pistachio and Mounds bar and both are excellent either with chocolate sprinkles or the hot fudge. I’m glad I gave up yogurt; it’s very pricey.
