Travel Guide: Santa Barbara
Last weekend, we traveled to sunny Santa Barbara. Graham is working on a cool new design project with a bakery in town. He wanted to see the space and meet with the co-owners in person. Arthur and I got to tag along for fun. We had the best time and ate really well, and I’d love to share a few of our favorite spots.
Friday
We packed up the car at home in Berkeley and swung by Standard Fare for a couple of sandwiches to go. Their menu changes weekly with the seasons, but you can’t go wrong splitting a vegetarian sandwich, which comes with a side of the very best house-made pickles. And a little bag of bite-size coconut macaroon cookies is ideal for a road-trip snack.
When we arrived in Santa Barbara, it was bath time for the baby. While G put him to bed, I picked up dinner from Bettina. (I was hoping to hug our friends Rachel and Brendan, who co-own the restaurant, but they were home with their baby boy, Benji. I was, however, able to snag one of the cozy Bettina sweatshirts that have an illustration of the pizza goddess that Graham drew!) We shared a pepperoni pizza and a Caesar salad made with pretty pink Rosalba radicchio that we ate quietly while watching “Yellowjackets” with closed captioning. A perfect evening, if you ask me.
Saturday
Breakfast at the bakery, of course! Graham’s mom met us at Bree’Osh and we all sat at a table in the parklet, sipping coffee in the California sunshine. Arthur had his first ever taste of a croissant—he devoured it—and we also tried their petite kouign-amann and perfectly flaky morning bun.
For lunch, we stopped at La Super-Rica Taqueria and picked up tacos de bistec, brothy pinto beans, guacamole, roasted chile pasilla, and an extra stack of still-warm tortillas, all of which we ate at the garden table of the Airbnb where we were staying.
We took Arthur to Hendry’s Beach and dipped his toes in the Pacific. He made sandcastles with his grandmother and pushed his new toy trucks around on our blanket.
On our way back, we ordered a whole rotisserie chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, plus a kale-apple-almond salad, romaine Caesar, and a bright citrus and chicories salad from Bossie’s Kitchen. Wife-and-wife duo Christina and Lauren are the two geniuses behind Bossie’s. I adore their food—and them! When you go, do not miss out on their matcha snickerdoodle cookies. One of the best sweets I’ve eaten in a while.
Sunday
Before driving home, we made our way again to Bree’Osh for more coffee and laminated pastries. Then we crossed our fingers and prayed that Arturito would nap in the car en route to our lunch destination: Bell’s. You know all about my love for Bell’s and Bar Le Côte. This visit, I was especially excited because it would be the baby’s first restaurant meal. He sat in a highchair and ate six sardines in quick succession, followed by other delicious bites. While Arthur practiced his new skill of walking—around to the other diners to show them his trucks, to the fountain to splash in the icy cold water—Graham and I traded off sitting at the table, wine glass in hand and a plate of steak frites to share. It was glorious.
A little farther north on our drive, we stopped for gas and lime paletas. Arthur cried a bit when we were stuck in traffic in the South Bay (can’t blame him), and before we knew it, we were back home.
