"santa barbara" news and stories

Looks like the entire staff of the Los Angeles Times food section went on a retreat over the long weekend to Santa Barbara, with the entire section dedicated to the "local" wine country.

• On the Santa Barbara restaurant scene, Square One's Jason Tuley makes the best use of local ingredients, SIV reviews the SB outpost of LA's The Hungry Cat, and the section provides a mini-guide of dining options in the area.
• Concord grapes make more than just jelly for your sandwiches. Recipes include: Concord Grape Granita, Pork Tenderloin with Concord Grape Sauce, and Concord Grape Flatbread.
• You can't be in Santa Barbara without talking about wine, particularly five wineries and the newly taken over Firestone. SIV reviews 2005 Passopisciaro Rosso Sicilia.

Summer is a good time for road trips and, to give a road trip a purpose, more people are looking for good eats while they're out. Alton Brown and Paula Deen's sons have shows about road tripping, last week we saw a Washington burger tour and we already love the pair behind Roadfood. This week, the New York Times shares a California taco hunt with us and with a car, a map and the motto "even a bad taco is better than no taco," the 380-mile trip began.

It started in Los Angeles, which yielded some deliciously authentic tacos (King Taco, El Taurino, El Parián) as well as tasty fish tacos (Tacos Baja Ensenada). Santa Barbara turned up Julia Child's favorite restaurant (La Super Rica Taqueria) and tacos made with cow eyes (Lilly's Taqueria). Further up the coast, stops are made in Morro Bay (Chapala), for oyster tacos at Cayucos Beach (Ruddell's Smokehouse), in Watsonville (Fiesta Tepa-Sahuayo), at a late-night hotspot in Santa Cruz (Taqueria Vallarta) and at a taqueria in a gas station in Pescadero (Taqueria y Mercado de Amigos) that turned out two perfect tacos. After taking in the fantastically beautiful California coast, the trip ended in San Francisco's Mission District, which is well-known for both tacos and burritos, where five restaurants managed to make it onto the tour (La Taqueria, Taqueria San José, El Taco Loco, an El Tonayense taco truck and La Palma Mexicatessen). .

And in the end? 5 days, 49 tacos and one excellent trip for a taco-lover.

Be sure to check out the full article for a detailed account of all the individual tacos.

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If you're ever in Santa Barbara, California, it is worth stopping in at the Santa Barbara Roasting Company. The roastery opened in 1989 as the only roaster in town and, as soon as they discovered how much better freshly roasted coffee tastes, it was not long before many locals and local restaurants were enjoying the coffee on a regular basis. The storefront is near the coast and isn't hard to find. They sell pastries, blended drinks and espresso drinks, in addition to straight coffees. My only complaint is that they don't seem to keep unsweetened iced coffee in the store. They'll make you an iced Americano instead, but it's not quite the same as having a coffee and, in a roastery, you would think that they might just tuck a pitcher in the fridge.

But the coffee is the main reason to go - and it is excellent. Half the store is dedicated to their whole bean choices and they have many different coffees out to sample everyday, which is very useful when trying to narrow down the bean options. They have a wide range of both light and dark roasts - most of which have a distinctive, smoky flavor. The Paradise blend is a lighter roast with smoked caramel note. The Colombian Supremo is a bit darker, but not overly so, and is a good everyday sort of coffee, while the State Street blend - one of their signatures - is full and dark.  

If you can't get to the store, you can order their beans online. They ship very quickly and the beans taste just as fresh (if not more so) than the ones you can pick up in person.

Santa Barbara Roasting Company
321 Motor Way
Santa Barbara, CA
805-962-0320

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