gutfud - the food, es ist gut

Bringing someone new here rejuvenates my own fondness for the restaurant. Tonight’s newbie was Alyssa. I sense that she gets down on living in Santa Barbara. By that, I mean *living*, finding vibrancy and all that. Anytime I bump into her around town, she’s flying off to somewhere else the next day.
But tonight was the […]

This is the best restaurant in town for diners with any multitude of dietary restrictions. But that does not mean the menu is drab and limited. And that does not mean you must have a multitude of dietary restrictions in order to eat here happily.
The menu identifies which items are vegetarian, vegan, egg free, […]

On Fridays, Whole Foods in Santa Barbara has a pizza deal.
Buy 2 pizzas at regular price, and a third pizza of equal or lesser value is free.

We were hungry, and planned a quiet night in watching videos. What better meal to hunker down on the sofa with than some yummy pizza.
The pizzas ordered were ham […]

It’s Brad’s leaving-do, he’s off to live in Hong Kong.
As one of his last adventures, a bunch of us met up at the Marquee for some happy hour drinks. I won’t get into the details.

Kevin made a dealer’s choice request and was served a sweet cocktail called the Marquita. It involved cinnamon, pineapple and lime, […]

This is a place I tried to eat at last year, but we couldn’t get our acts together Sunday morning, and by the time we did the queue for dining was too long. This year we were better prepared.
The queue this time was only 20 minutes, but also, we arrived with adequate time for […]

I had an appointment elsewhere in the Funkzone that afternoon and rather than schlepp myself all the way back to Ellwood for the last half hour of the workday, I hunkered down at Reds with their free wifi and finished up my work there. Turns out they have happy hour from 3-7 pm during the […]

Opal has been around for a long time, although not always known by this name, but definitely in the same location.
I was here for a business lunch, and one diner and his family have been longtime patrons of the restaurant. He provided some good recommendations.
To start, the group shared the crab cakes, and the seared […]

It’s First Thursday! That means browsing the galleries and studios downtown, checking out the art, listening to some music, catching up with friends, and grabbing a bite to eat at Square One.
Pink recommended the grilled apricot salad, mizuna, manchego crisp, champagne vinaigrette.

This was followed by:
Smooth duck pate and crostini,
Fettucini, quail, avocado blossom honey, […]

Lunch downtown during the workweek is now a rare occurrence. But given the opportunity, I’ll take it! This time we went to Elements, a restaurant and bar I have little experience with. The last time I dined at that location, it was a little bakery, and a chocolate croissant was a real treat after spending […]

Check out these awesome blistered almonds, from the Saturday farmers market.
What was nice touch, wrapping them in little wax paper bags and tying them up with brown string.
They come in a variety of flavors, and the Chinese 5 Spice is nice, but I like the plain salted ones the best.
Just $5 for a big scoop.
Fat […]