Set in what was originally a farmhouse, Stella Mare’s over looks the Andree Clark Bird Refuge. A beautiful glass greenhouse encloses the outdoor room providing a magical ambience complete with sofas by the fire for sipping drinks. Enjoy classic French country bistro cooking with flair.
Le Cafe Stella features the intricacies of French cooking with an enjoyable and relaxed American twist serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. The menu includes tasty treats such as chicken carbonara and beef bourguignon to sliders, burgers, salads and sandwiches. They feature a full bar and a dog friendly outdoor patio.
Santa Barbara has no shortage of Mexican restaurants. But since 1999, nobody has done it better than Tony Arroyo, who serves some of the freshest, healthiest, best-tasting Mexican food in town at his two eponymous restaurants, Los Arroyos Mexican Restaurant & Take Out. And he has another in Camarillo.
Since opening in 1999, Tony has expanded the tiny (less than 600 square feet) original Figueroa Street location and added another in Montecito. The original has counter service and table delivery; the Montecito site offers table service, plus a full bar with more than one hundred tequilas.
Several things unite the restaurants: the always-warm welcome, a dedicated staff (some of whom have been there since the beginning and now work alongside their teenaged children), Tony’s attention to detail and his dedication to healthy, high-quality ingredients.
Everything is made on the premises the day it’s served. The kitchen turns out ten homemade salsas each morning and rice is cooked up to five times a day to ensure freshness. Tortillas are handmade and tortilla chips cooked to order. Black Angus beef and free-range chicken are hand trimmed, cooked and shredded (or grilled) in the kitchen, where pasilla chilies are also carefully cooked, seeded and sliced. The staff roast and peel their own tomatoes. There are no shortcuts, and nothing is ever reheated.
“It’s like my mother’s cooking, but from my hands,” says Tony, who grew up in the Mexican state of Michoacán, came to the U.S. by bus in 1984 and has spent the past thirty years perfecting his trade.
“Our signature dish is quality,” Tony says. It shows up in his enchiladas, pozole, tacos, fajitas, chile rellenos, salads — everything. Wednesdays and Fridays are tamale days, but get there early because the eighty or so handmade tamales are gone by about 6 pm. On Christmas Eve last year, they set a record by preparing 1,700 special-order tamales for holiday celebrations at the homes of loyal customers.
They say you can’t go home again. Los Arroyos may convince you otherwise.
We may not be able to travel to Italy, but Tre Lune in Montecito is a close second for anyone craving the flavor and ambiance of the Italian Riviera. Chic, yet warm and inviting, Tre Lune is Santa Barbara County’s most beloved Italian restaurant.
Al Fresco Dining: As if it could possibly be more inviting, Tre Lune has turned its parking lot into a charming dining enclave with a privacy-enhancing barrier of lush planter boxes, twinkle lights, music, umbrellas, heaters and socially distanced tables adorned with blush linen tablecloths and potted herbs.
Aperitivo: Known to the Italians as aperitivo, happy hour at Tre Lune is Montecito’s newest best kept secret. From 3-5 p.m. weekdays, Tre Lune offers libations in addition to dishes such as tender, flavorful polpette piccolo (meatballs), light, delicious fiori di zoccolina (fried zucchini blossoms) and classic pizza such as the Napoli, with prosciutto, arugula and burrata.
Signature House Wines: In addition to Tre Lune’s extensive wine list, the restaurant is featuring some incredible house wines including brand new signature wines from local winemaker Doug Margerum. Look out for the Pinot Grigio and rosé, both vintage 2019 and bottled under the Tre Lune label, starting in September.
New Menu Items: Just in time for summer, the 17 year-old restaurant has recently added a few new dishes including the simple, classic Roman cacio e pepe and the Maria Lasagna, a special twist on the traditional Italian dish made from a recipe by owner Gene Montesano’s own sister.
Toma Restaurant & Bar owners Tom and Vicki Dolan know that Santa Barbara locals probably won’t go out of their way for a restaurant with an ocean view.
“They can see the ocean any time,” Tom says. Which makes it all the more notable that so many local have become regulars at the Dolans’ bright, welcoming year-old restaurant located across the street from the harbor. The draw for them, as for the many well-traveled European visitors who have also discovered Toma, is an appealing ambience, great service (Tom and Vicki have 60-plus years of hospitality experience between them), and excellent food at reasonable prices. “We don’t think of ourselves as formal, but rather as an upscale place with great food,” says Tom. Serving dinner-only seven nights, Toma gets the details right. Desserts, bread, pizza dough and pasta are all made in-house. The Mediterranean-inspired menu reflects the purity of excellent ingredients – think organic, local, farm to table – but has allegiance only to what’s good. That could be the popular appetizer of ahi sashimi with ginger, sesame, soy, chile and chives in a crisp sesame cone; ricotta ravioli with heirloom-tomato sauce; roasted-beet salad with grapefruit, lemon stilton and a pomegranate citronette; steamed clams with chorizo, butter beans, black kale, harissa aioli and crostini; a guanciale pizza with caramelized onions, arugula and a soft egg, or braised short ribs with garlic mashed potatoes, onion confit, arugula and lemon oil. Wines from Italy and the Central Coast and an array of dessert cocktails and liqueurs complete the picture. By the way, even if you didn’t come for it, the view of the harbor through the palm trees is pretty great.
There is no one, single way to enjoy the Garden Market. This warm and welcoming spot, designed by Tammy DeMatteo and located steps from the beach on Carpinteria’s Santa Claus Lane, invites spontaneity. It’s a place to wander, indulge, and escape. Here, you can buy something wonderful, while being somewhere memorable. A lot of travelers stop in for a short break from Highway 101 and end up spending an hour or more in the garden – warmed by the sun, refreshed by a sea breeze and transported by the gentle sounds of the fountains burbling among artfully arranged succulents and natives. (Small wonder that it’s a local favorite for weddings and parties – with catering on the premises.) Others come looking for a fast snack and get waylaid by the freshest local organic ingredients presented in carefully prepared dishes that reflect Southern California’s farm-to-table sensibility. Early in the day, you might have a cup of organic coffee or a latté and a homemade blueberry muffin or a breakfast quiche. Later, it could be a glass of fine wine from the extensive collection to go with the daily cream-free soup, a seasonal salad inspired by farmers market produce, a creatively composed sandwich, or the locally famous Friday special – homemade posole verde. You can also eat inside, surrounded by appealing displays of jewelry, table linens, small sculptures, lamps, candles and other garden-related objects – think owls and butterflies – that share a homespun feel derived from wood, stone and other natural elements. It’s the perfect setup for wherever a post-prandial peregrination may lead.
The world needs more places like The Black Sheep, the colorful, friendly, innovative restaurant that opened in spring 2015. Convivial owner, Ruben Perez, loves to share and talk about good food and wine, and in the kitchen, his father, Chef Robert, brings passion and decades of haute cuisine experience to a menu of shareable plates featuring Latin and Asian accents. The thinly sliced scallop crudo comes with a candied carrot purée, frisée, scallions, ginger-chili mirin and “white” soy vinaigrette, while the beef bone- marrow bruschetta features the rich marrow balanced with a parsley-shallot salad, whole-grain mustard and a red wine sauce. Tender meat slides effortlessly from wild-boar ribs to combine with Asian cabbage and a unique blend of Asian fish sauce with ginger and sriracha. The buratta salad is a benchmark of its kind that also includes fresh in-season fruit, and the daily-changing risotto makes a great shared dish. The shoyu ramen with slow-roasted pork belly and roasted shiitake mushrooms provides a tantalizing surprise for noodle lovers. Larger dishes include sea bass with chorizo and a braised New Zealand lamb shank with Indian spices. Nearly forty microbrew beers are available by the bottle, as is a well-considered list of primarily California wines.
Hungry patrons crowd the casual and eventful restaurant where hefty crab and lobster are dropped into boiling cauldrons while award-winning chefs frantically work the open kitchen serving up signature dishes that rival any four star restaurant. The postcard views of the glistening Pacific and nearby Channel Islands are equally intoxicating. The Shellfish Company’s extraordinary menu includes luscious crab cakes – one of their specialties that has been sought after and until now a well kept family secret; New England style clam chowder and a hearty Italian Cioppino served in fresh bread bowls; jumbo shrimp, mussels, scallops and market squid sautéed in white wine, garlic and herbs; marvelous lobster tacos served with homemade salsa; and a kaleidoscope of spectacular oyster dishes from the best cold water oysters served on the half shell, to Oyster Luckyfeller (their version of the timeless favorite Oyster Rockefeller) and mouth watering colossal-size Oyster Poor Boys.
On the Alley began as an overflow place for Brophy Brothers. Locals especially like its casual feel, the reliability of its “simple, honest food” and the ease of grabbing something good to eat at the beach, on a bench by the sea wall or at the wood picnic table right in front.
“We like to think we offer a classic steakhouse experience,” says Leonard Schwartz, executive chef and general manager of Lucky’s in Montecito. “What that means for us is that we want you to be very happy from the time you arrive until you’re ready to leave.” Here’s how that happens. Whether you’re a Montecito regular, a local out for a special occasion, or a visitor on vacation, you arrive at Lucky’s with high expectations. The staff appreciates that, and they work to make sure you have a warm, full experience. However you are dressed, you’re greeted warmly at the door and made to feel comfortable. You’re then shown to a table, where an attentive server takes care of you. You can order wine from an extensive list, with great choices at all prices, or a perfectly crafted cocktail, the kind befitting a fine steakhouse. Once you’ve settled in, you’re presented with a menu that “doesn’t have a lot of surprises on it and isn’t meant to,” says Schwartz. “It’s intended to satisfy the cravings people have at a steakhouse.” That includes ten cuts of prime corn-fed Midwestern beef, plus a daily grass-fed selection. Of course, you want it cooked exactly how you order it. Surprising to some are the several simply but carefully prepared fresh-fish selections: salmon, sand dabs, Dover sole, tuna, a daily special and fresh Maine lobster. You can choose from an assortment of best-in-category steakhouse sides, such as superb creamed spinach or delectable onion rings. From steaks to sides to an after-dinner Cognac, says Schwartz, “It’s important our guests have a good time. They’re making memories, and we want them to be good.”
Louie’s has one of the best recommendations a restaurant can have: The fine-dining establishment in the 130-year-old Upham Hotel is a favorite among savvy locals, who return again and again for great food in an altogether pleasant setting. Anne Rizzoli and Trey Brooks own and operate Louie’s; both worked there for years before buying it six years ago. They updated the interior and turned the thirty-year-old restaurant room into the perfect blend of refinement and comfort, indoors and outdoors. “It’s both elegant and casual,” says Rizzoli. “Guests might come for appetizers and a glass of wine or a filet and a hundred-dollar bottle of wine for an anniversary dinner.” Seated for lunch or dinner in the welcoming dining room or on the heated veranda, diners enjoy Tony Manzaneras’s delicious appetizers the freshest and best fish and shellfish, and prime steaks, pork chops and rack of lamb. Only the bread comes from a non-local purveyor, arriving fresh daily from renowned La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles. Two banquet rooms provide intimate dining for large groups. Wine is a specialty here, and as the evening sommelier, Trey guides guests through an extensive list of mostly Santa Barbara County wines, including a number of rare boutique bottlings. No wonder locals keep bringing out-of-town visitors, or just themselves, to Louie’s.
Shortly after the first Los Agaves opened on Milpas Street in 2008, customers began lining up out the front door of the casual, comfortable, family-friendly restaurant, hungry for its terrific, beautifully presented regional Mexican food made with super-fresh, high-quality ingredients and no compromises. Think New York Prime beef and organic free-range chicken. And think efficient, friendly service, too. Since then, three more Los Agaves have opened - off Upper State Street, in Goleta, and the newest, in Westlake Village. That, says Carlos Luna, one of the brothers who own Los Agaves, will end the expansion for some time in order to maintain standards. “We prefer to stay small and reliable,” he says. “We want to continue to surpass expectations for many years to come.” The restaurant has a regular menu of favorites, plus a revolving list of regional daily specials. Some of them - salmon tropical, cochinita pibil, salmon tacos, and chile en nogada - are so popular that they rarely come off the menu.The new vegan menu includes enchiladas in a mushroom-based mole sauce; meatless plantain-filled taquitos; and vegetarian enchiladas.” Everything is made on site, and at the new Westlake location, customers can watch the tortillas being made by hand. A similar display is coming soon to Milpas. You should, too.
Grab a booth on Saturday morning, and you’ll see a multi-generational parade of loyal locals arriving for generous, value-priced plates of eggs benedict, huevos la Mexicana, corned-beef hash, omelets and pancakes. The orange juice is freshly squeezed, the coffee is a house blend, the hash browns come straight from the spud. Lunchtime favorites include tri-tip and French dip sandwiches, grilled pastrami on rye; classic crab and Cobb salads, fish and chips, pot roast and lasagna. At supper time, Joe’s turns out a trio of steaks – New York, top sirloin and filet mignon – plus prime rib, meatloaf, short ribs, pork chops, chicken, halibut, salmon, broiled Pacific lobster, and much more. Prices are fair to a fault.
Diners entering Jill’s Place for the first time might wonder why a track with meat hooks runs along the ceiling or why an array of sharpening steels hangs in a boxed display. Talk to Jill Shalhoob though - easy enough, since she’s always here checking on her loyal, mainly local, customers - and cast your eyes on the neon sign that reads “The Butcher’s Daughter,” and it all adds up. Those things are here because this unpretentious restaurant used to be her fathers’ butcher shop, and Jill essentially grew up here. After her dad expanded and moved, she opened a deli, then the restaurant. It’s all about roots, tradition and family, the kind of place visitors want to find - and sometimes do. Open from morning ’til night, Jill’s Place offers great values on perfectly cooked steaks, a sensational open-face meatloaf sandwich and plenty of burgers and other sandwiches, salads and comfort-food favorites like split pea soup and spaghetti Bolognese made according to Jill’s grandmother’s recipe. Jill’s dad taught her how to season and cut meat, and she still does. The coffee’s good, and the bar offers Happy Hour Cosmos and Martinis for $7. Order a mixed appetizer plate of steak, chicken and sausage bites, and settle in.
Big booths line a brick wall on one side, a line of tables runs down the middle, and a long, hundred-year-old mahogany bar scarred by cigar burns from the days before ashtrays holds down the other wall. Here, the martinis are big, the bartenders are friendly and knowledgeable, and digging into a steak just feels right. A grilled artichoke or the spicy ahi tuna tartar are both popular warm-ups to the array of mesquite-grilled fresh seafood and corn-fed prime steaks ranging from a 6-ounce filet mignon to the house specialty, a 24 and 30-ounce bone-in cowboy-cut ribeye – not to mention, lobster, baby back ribs, and the servers’ favorite, a pork chop crusted with jalapeño-pepper jack cheese. Oh, and these aren’t a la carte entrées either or, as owner Clay Holdren says, “just meat on a plate; we want to give our customers value.” That means your steak or fish comes with soup or salad and sides. You will not leave hungry. There are more values among the 300 plus California wines, as well as some rare cult favorites, in the cellar that has earned a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence. And when it’s time to sweeten up the night, don’t miss the s’mores, prepared by you with the help of a tabletop Hibachi “campfire.”
Jane is a family affair in the best sense. Jane Chapman runs the friendly, comfortable dining room with her parents, Mark and Margaret Huston, who have operated the Montecito Café together for 28 years. Open for lunch and dinner, it simply provides - an inviting atmosphere, carefully prepared food and genuinely friendly service. Upstairs are interior balcony tables and a popular private-party room. Next to the fireplace below, a communal table that seats 18 occupies the center of the room, with its warm-yellow walls, dark hardwood floors and open-beam ceilings. Jane is ideal for a pre-theatre bite, and you can practically step from your chair onto the red carpet for Santa Barbara film festival events at the Arlington Theatre, next door. And they like that everything at Jane is made from scratch daily on the premises. Stocks for sauces are cooked down from bones. Hamburger buns and sausage are made in-house. Specialties reflect the focus on ingredients, including the big “salad bowls” and “pasta bowls,” fabulous burgers, and wild-caught local fish, with seafood specials appearing twice daily, depending on what’s good at the harbor. To finish, don’t miss the Jane sundae — vanilla soft-serve ice cream with homemade toffee and caramel sauce. The prices are right, and the vibe is pure feel-good Santa Barbara.
FisHouse has built a huge following by offering ultra-fresh seafood, good drinks, an excellent happy hour, great prices and exactly the kind of friendly, casual atmosphere that beach volleyball players, fishermen, families, locals and visitors love. It’s an everyman sort of place where everyone feels welcome. “People use the bar as their office and their living room to watch every big game,” says owner Adam White, – and customer service is more than a motto: “If someone has something wrong, we apologize and fix it.” The FisHouse is also the only restaurant in town that has a fish receiver’s license from the California Department of Fish & Game, allowing Adam to buy crab, lobster, fish and shellfish right off the boat – no middleman. “It removes a step and means that you can be eating seabass that was swimming that morning,” Adam says. “When black cod, local king salmon and seabass are running, we keep a couple of fishermen going full time just for us.” Popular dishes include fresh-fish tacos; the fish and chips and fried calamari are standard bearers, and the steamed shellfish are first-rate. The macadamia nut–crusted seabass is a top seller, and look for vermillion snapper. “When we get them from the islands,” says Adam, “we serve then as a whole roasted fish.”
If you grew up in Santa Barbara’s San Roque neighborhood, you know Farmer Boy restaurant. It’s the classic American diner with all the standards. John Bennett, whose family’s restaurant group includes Brophy’s , Benchmark eatery, O.T.A and Arch Rock, has partnered with childhood friends - the Borgatellos and Boeddekers - to re-launch the upper State Street classic. “Not only did we grow up two blocks away from Farmer Boy, we all went to elementary school together,” Bennett says. Bennett describes the new Farmer Boy as “a fresh take on a classic diner,” but it was vital to the partners to maintain the bones and essence of the original. Ralph Karleskint [the original owner] is a close family friend, and the new ownership is honored to continue his legacy. The operation will be similar to Bennett’s other locations - casual, local, genuine and timeless. The operating partner is Danny Quinn, who runs several Bennett restaurants and understands the culture and the family’s commitment to service. “This is a romantic endeavor,” Bennett says. “Danny’s mom even waited tables here for over a decade.” There isn’t a restaurant operation in town more local than this new partnership.
August will mark the five-year anniversary of Casa Blanca Restaurant & Cantina and its unique mix of fresh Mexican food, cool décor, expansive patios, big-screen TVs, and good-time vibe. And with 140 brands of tequila in stock, the sipping’s outstanding, too, whether it’s a classic Margarita, an inventive specialty cocktail or a connoisseur’s super-premium añejo. In the past year, Casa Blanca has raised its already top-shelf tequila game, introducing a house tequila from the venerable Herradura tequila distillery. A Casa Blanca crew traveled to Herradura’s historic hacienda in Jalisco, the heart of tequila country, and spent the day with the master distiller, walking the agave fields, and watching the harvest and the distillation process. They sipped from several barrels and purchased their favorite, a reposado blend aged a year in American oak. The tequila was bottled and labeled at the hacienda, and Casa Blanca Herradura Reposado tequila was born. Since then, six staff have made three more trips to Herradura to purchase three more barrels. And recently Casa Blanca started a similar program with Patron, buying a barrel of extra añejo (aged 34 months) at a price that allows them to pour what could be a $50 shot for $15. The bar crew is inspired and ready to share stories - and new tequilas - to inspire you. Salud!
Ca’Dario chef-owner Dario Furlati jokes that if he changed his menu, he might get in trouble with his customers. “They come in for certain favorite dishes,” he says, some of which he’s been serving since the restaurant opened in 1997. Of course, who can blame the chef’s regulars for holding him hostage to his own cooking? He’s from Lake Como, and his menu reflects his northern roots in classic dishes like homemade ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta and drizzled with sage butter; whole oven-baked branzino, an identity element of Italian cooking; and a 24-ounce bone-in rib-eye steak that’s a $36 bargain. “Authentic,” Furlati says, describing his food in a word - which is why it never gets old. But while the regulars might own the main menu, Furlati uses the daily specials to introduce rare regional dishes. From Rome, there’s baked gnocchi topped with butter, sage and Parmesan, and from Trentino, he might serve canerderli, a kind of dumpling made with bread, eggs and speck (smoked prosciutto). He also taps local sources for spot prawns, halibut, duck, quail and even venison - maybe grilled and finished in the oven with shallots, garlic and rosemary. Add wines from California, Italy, Chile, France and Argentina, and a dessert list of carefully made classics, and you’ll defending the menu against change, too.
