In late August, my wife and I had a chance to visit the Central Coast and spectacular Santa Barbara County. When opportunity presented, using a home exchange, we jumped at it. An exchange meant that our accommodations wouldn’t cost us anything, other than a nice gift for the host homeowner. That would leave extra funds for restaurant research, an opportunity to do some fly fishing in the surf, and a chance to check out water conditions and opportunities for a 2016 spring fly-rod bass-fishing sortie. I was also hoping to pick up access to vineyard bass ponds. We found several possibilities for next spring, one in a vineyard setting and another at a guest ranch that will also host a barbecue boot camp in May, a perfect time for fly-rod bassing. Abysmal water levels in Central Coast reservoirs will make us do rain dances for the promised mega El Niño that is projected to favor areas south of San Francisco. There is a plethora of grass and brush on exposed lake bottoms that haven’t seen water in several years. Historically, these fertile areas fish well when the water rises. Let’s hope that there hasn’t been excessive fish mortality due to low water levels and high temperatures. On the Central and South Coasts,
there are always opportunities for fly fishing the surf and inshore areas, and the southern beaches lend themselves to more comfortable and safer fly fishing that those farther north. Tidal activity has a major impact on fishing success, with prime angling occurring around high and low tides. That leaves time during a visit for foraging of all types, particularly when you are traveling with a spouse, partner, or friend who doesn’t fish.
I made foraging among Santa Barbara’s taquerias a prime objective. Mexican food in my Sierra fotthill community is indifferent at best. Our host had left a Santa Barbara Independent article on taco restaurants. We read it and highlighted three that we would sample, along with other culinary adventures.
Our first taco excursion came after an hour and a half spent walking Santa Barbara’s State Street Certified Farmer’s Market, one of the great ones. This outdoor market, which features vendors from all over the Southland and even the southern San Joaquin Valley, left us salivating over late summer’s bounty. Every imaginable food item that could be grown in California was there. I stopped counting the luscious varieties of berries that were offered and marveled at the fresh lettuces, colorful radicchio, and melons. My wife found vibrant gladiolas, zinnias, red, white, and pink roses, and nasturtiums, as well as fruit pies made that same day. Fujitsu, padron, passilla, poblano, Fresno, Anaheim, jalapeno, habañero, serrano, and fiery red Thai chili peppers made me wish that I could cook on this trip. Shiny dark green, light green, yellow, purple, red, and orange skins reflected light from a late afternoon sun and made the peppers even more appetizing. If you love fresh food, this was heaven. Vendors also offered grass-fed beef, lamb, and fresh fish. Roasted sunflower seeds, flax seeds, pepitas, pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts begged to be taken home. We bought berries and small one-person pies for our breakfast.
Our stroll through two long blocks of bounty worked up an appetite. We continued up State Street, past the architecturally exquisite buildings that make this town so appealing, and turned into La Arcada. A courtyard with colorful draped flags, fine shops, art galleries, and the soft sounds of a Spanish guitarist led to a fountain and a restaurant called Celieto. We were there for their tapas and their gourmet tacos.
With few exceptions, Northern California does not lead the state in high-quality Mexican food. We’ve found a few food trucks in unlikely places that offer decent meals, but have been disappointed in our search for nouvelle Mexican cuisine in better restaurants. We have had decent luck in San Francisco with Latin-themed restaurants (La Mar) and Spanish tapas (Zarzuella).
My wife ducked into a shop in the arcade. I went ahead, was seated by our restaurant hostess, and ordered two house margaritas. My drink was there in no time, and one sip told me that we were in the right place. A look at the menu only confirmed that thought. I have to admit to being a bit jaded about restaurants, and I am easily disappointed. There is lots of poorly cooked food, and ordinary, same-old, same-old menus abound in America. Celieto was what I was looking for.
The first menu item that caught my eye was a duck confit carnitas taco, garnished with cabbage, a red onion jam, and shaved Manchego cheese. Karen arrived a few minutes later with a package in hand. We toasted our good luck with the margaritas. First impressions set the tone of a meal, whether it’s restaurant cleanliness, the bread offering, or the décor. We were doing well. I had ordered “on the rocks” when I asked of the margarita makings. Our waitress said, “We don’t do any blender drinks. It lessens the flavors of high-quality tequila.”
In addition to the duck tacos, we ordered Dungeness crab and shrimp enchiladas, classic al pastor tacos, and a tapas offering of grilled Spanish octopus with potato. The duck carnitas, which we suspected had tiny bits of jicama and cilantro, were memorable. Duck always works with fruity flavors, and this was a perfect marriage. It was topped with shaved Spanish Manchego cheese and a drizzle of crema sauce. It lit up our taste buds. There was no fall-off in the enchilada and its creamy white sauce, and the al pastor taco served with two small corn tortillas had the perfect char and marinade flavor in its spit-roasted pork. Octopus is gaining favor in this country, and this tapas preparation served tender grilled tentacle segments with crusty herbed mashed potato. It’s a great way to get your omega-3s. I ordered a glass of Spanish albariño white wine. The bright acidity and citrus flavor accentuated the flavors and held up nicely to the mildly spicy food.
We took a break from the taco trail the next day with a visit at dinnertime to one of our old favorites, Brophy Brothers Restaurant and Clam Bar at the harbor. I had fished the gentle Goleta beach surf on an afternoon incoming tide, and the casualness of this restaurant allowed me to dine without changing. We were early enough to get an outside table. Screeching gulls and the slap of halyard ropes on sailboat masts added to the ambiance. I tried counting the boats that I could see in the harbor, but gave up as row after row meshed into visual complexity. This restaurant and a companion in Ventura harbor feature fresh fish. We kept it simple, with two orders of fish and chips, but added an ahi poke salad. That ahi salad with a hint of wasabi flavor countered the fish and chips in the best way. Lightly battered halibut and fries came directly from the fryer to our table. Afterward, we walked the Fleishman breakwater to the sand spit at the eastern tip. I caught my first fly-rod halibut there twenty or so years earlier. I stopped to ask several Hispanic fishermen if they were having any luck. I got toothy smiles and a solid nada. Everybody was having a good time, regardless of the bite.
On the next day, we headed over San Marcos Pass to Lake Cachuma and the Santa Ynez Valley. We had an afternoon appointment at a winery with John and Steve Dragonette, sons of my college roommate, who are making noise in the wine community with their stellar pinots, sauvignon blancs, and a new grenache rosé. Along the way, we stopped at Lake Cachuma. When I was at U.C. Santa Barbara doing research on the wild boar population of Santa Barbara County, I would camp on the east side on Star Lane Ranch to save money. Sometimes a bass or two and bluegills made it back to Isla Vista and a frying pan. On our foraging expedition, we were dismayed by the low water levels, as was the case around Paso Robles. It painted a frightening picture and reinforced the need for water conservation. I had no desire to fish, even if I could have gotten to the lakeside.
Steve had suggested a restaurant in Buellton favored by locals, many in the agriculture and wine industries, not far from their winery. It was located in the industrial western part of town and was aptly named Industrial Eats. Every once in awhile you get lucky and find a place with fresh ideas about food. A red neon “Eat” sign on the side of a steel building pointed to the front door. One step inside tells that you are in the right place. Everybody in the funky, high-ceilinged room was having a great time. Immediately I noticed an order counter on one side and long, family-style tables. A barrier separated the eating area from two large, wood-burning pizza ovens. It was a natural to order a pizza when I saw one coming out of one of the ovens. It was their version of the classic Margherita, but used fresh seeded and skinned tomatoes instead of a sauce. Thin bits of buffalo mozzarella complemented huge leaves of fresh basil. After several bites, I asked my neighbor at our table if I was delusional in thinking that this thin-crust European-style pizza was the best of my life, including pizza I’d had in Europe. He said, as he passed a sample bite from his plate, “You’re right on!” It worked nicely with a glass of a local dry grenache rosé.
From there, we drove a short distance to the Dragonette winery in a commercial section of Buellton and spent a pleasant hour catching up and tasting two of their pinots and a sauvignon blanc. Put these on your list for special occasions. Next, two miles into Solvang, a stop at an interesting baker provided the next morning’s breakfast. Nearby was Mission Santa Ines and a road that led to Alisal Guest Ranch and Resort. We stopped to talk about their 100-acre bass lake, which was at 65 percent of storage capacity, and to get information on the barbeque boot camps they were scheduling. We took the long way back to Santa Barbara. John Dragonette suggested a drive down Santa Rosa Road toward Lompoc and the Santa Rita Hills. This inviting rural back road led past the famous Radian vineyard, which produces stunning pinots from chalky soil laced with diatomaceous earth and wind-stressed vines.
Our circuitous route led us back to Santa Barbara along the beautiful coast. After a nap and a walk, we headed for our second taqueria, Mony’s, on Anacapa Street, located in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone. For some reason, it was closed. We reversed direction and jumped two blocks over to Milpas Street and East Beach Taco. Owner Mike Anderson, who is half Korean, serves “gourmet-style beach tacos” in a covered, open-air setting next to a batting-cage venue. It’s close to East Beach and several miles of palm-lined walking and biking pathway that parallels the water and leads past East Beach Café and on to the popular beach volleyball area. Mike opened the place in March 2015 and prospers by word of mouth. His talented cooks are Hispanic. Their food culture, combined with Mike’s Korean influences and Asian restaurant experience, plus high-quality ingredients, together produce world-class tacos.
Since it was our first visit, our cute and pleasant order girl suggested we order baseball-themed “Triple Plays.” We sampled a “Batter Up,” a stellar fried-fish offering. Also on the sampler were grilled fish, grilled shrimp, banh mi with pulled pork, chicken, and my favorite, ahi poke tacos. I’ve already tried making this last one at home. Mike’s sauces may be what take these tacos to another level. He has an East Beach aioli, a lime vinaigrette, chipotle aioli, hoisin aioli, and a wasabi aioli. He has ten taco choices, as well as other offerings that he calls “Local Favorites,” one being fish and chips and another the ceviche of the day. We had three glasses of decent wine at $6 per glass. Two Triple Plays and three glasses of wine came to $36. On our next visit, we will bring a bottle of spicy zinfandel.
On another day, we tried Cuernavaca Taqueria for lunch — better tacos that we find at home, but not in the league of Celieto and East Beach. The pork in their al pastor was dry and lacked flavor.
We dined on our last night at the Stonehouse restaurant at the San Ysidro Ranch to celebrate a combined special birthday and anniversary. An 8:00 p.m. reservation made a month in advance was a necessity. This restaurant and the experience it offers rival a trip to Provence. In the glow of the outdoor lighting, we reflected on the wonderful discoveries that we had made and the dining opportunities that we had found at all price points. In the first hour of our eight-hour drive back north, we stopped in Los Alamos for breakfast at Bob’s Well Bread Bakery. Steamy, freshly baked loaves were coming out of their ovens. The comforting aromas told you that Bob’s is another special place. A blueberry scone and a breakfast peach tart, along with some high-octane coffee, sent us down the road. As we were walking out, we saw sandwiches made with hour-old bread. They sure beat the choices ahead of us on Interstate 5. Let’s hope the rains come and that we can return next spring. Those bass will be hungry.
If You Go . . .
Celieto: 1114 State Street, Santa Barbara, (805) 965-4770, www.cielitorestaurant.com
Brophy Brothers Restaurant and Clam Bar: 119 Harbor Way, Santa Barbara, (805) 966-4418, www.brophybros.com
Industrial Eats: 181 Industrial Way, Buellton, (805) 688-8807, www.industrialeats.com
East Beach Taco: 226 South Milpas Street, Santa Barbara, (805) 770-2761, www.eastbeachtacos.com
San Ysidro Ranch: 900 San Ysidro Lane, Santa Barbara, (805) 565-1770, www.sanysidroranch.com
Bob’s Well Bread Bakery: 550 Bell Street, Los Alamos, (805) 344-3000, www.bobswellbread.com
Book: California Mushrooms
By Dennis E. Desjardin, Michael G. Wood, and Frederick A. Stevens
Given that misidentification of wild mushrooms can lead to serious illness, even death, foragers must be able to accurately identify the fungi they come across. California Mushrooms helps one to do so with sharp color photos and extremely detailed profiles. (It’s astonishing how many species have unknown edibility.) Sixty bucks for 500-plus indispensable pages.
— Richard Anderson
