We had driven up to Santa Barbara to relax and enjoy ourselves. It was a bit on the warm side when we visited, but we had really enjoyed the previous afternoon and especially dinner at Yoichi's. On this day; well, I made dinner reservations, but not much else. We woke and decided to drive down to Stearns Wharf; tourist central. But during this time of the morning, it was so peaceful.
Looking around; it's obvious why visitors love the wharf; built in 1872, it was at that time the longest wharf south of San Francisco and North of San Pedro. And the views are lovely.
And on this bright and sunny day, sans the crowds, we got a chance to notice things.....
As we were leaving a vintage car club drove up to the wharf and parked. I loved the license plate on this one......
A lovely visit on a relaxed morning......
We decided to drive around a bit and visited the Santa Barbara Public Market, Gelsons, and Whole Foods. Not very inspiring, but it was a nice way to kill time.
When lunch came around, we parked at where we were staying and decided to walk down to a place on my list, Barbareño. Which was a rather hot and sweaty one mile walk down De La Vina Street. The place only served lunch in the outdoor area, with a limited menu.
Our Server, who was obviously a college student was very friendly, efficient, and really knew the menu. I'm not sure if it's because of the clientele, but the staff at restaurants in SB, really knew their stuff.
I ordered a Tri-Tip sandwich, Brussel sprouts, and "Animal Potatoes" for the Missus and I. I happened to mention that we'd be sharing the sandwich. And when it arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to see that they had split it for us!
This was a perfectly serviceable tri-tip, moist and decently tender, good smokiness, with a pico de gallo type relish and good amount of cilantro. A nice yeasty roll and this was quite good. Don't get me wrong, this ain't Firestone Grill, but it was enough.
It came with a arugula salad.
The Brussel sprouts looked good, but were on the mushy side and a bit too sweet for us. The Missus really enjoyed the Animal Potatoes, the cheddar cheese added a nice saltiness, the caramelized onions a decent sweetness, and the Thousand Island Dressing......not the Missus's favorite, but I enjoyed the creamy-richness it added. The potatoes were nicely crisp on the exterior; though a bit hard in texture.
I don't think Barbareño is serving lunch anymore....too bad, because this was rather nice.
Barbareño
205 W Canon Perdido St
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
What wasn't nice was wanting a nap and having to walk that mile back to where we were staying.....though we did eventually get that nap.
Thanks for stopping by!
That is a cool looking wharf!
Posted by: Soo | Saturday, 17 March 2018 at 08:26 AM
It was a bright and sunny morning Soo. Everything looked so perfect.
Posted by: Kirk | Sunday, 18 March 2018 at 08:58 AM
Those are amazing sand sculptures. The wharf itself is kind of...boring, but does have a lot of history to it. For me, I like when hardly anyone is there too (early morning).
Posted by: caninecologne | Sunday, 18 March 2018 at 09:30 PM
It was such a nice morning CC!
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 19 March 2018 at 06:51 AM
I visited at night and the sand sculptures freaked me out for a second. I though they were real people.
Posted by: Junichi | Monday, 19 March 2018 at 10:05 AM
Lol Junichi.....that would be kinda scary.
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 19 March 2018 at 05:27 PM
nice lunch!
Posted by: kat | Monday, 19 March 2018 at 11:38 PM
Hi KAt - It was a nice lunch.
Posted by: Kirk | Tuesday, 20 March 2018 at 06:40 AM