Exploring the Funk Zone (Santa Barbara) - Part One (Food)

Due to work, I have had the opportunity to visit Santa Barbara on five different occasions during the past month.  Now, having attended UCSB, and having lived in Santa Barbara for those four years of college, I am quite familiar with the city and its many offerings.  However, I had recently read a few articles about an emerging area in Downtown Santa Barbara which has been given the moniker of the "Funk Zone."  The Funk Zone is in a formerly industrial, newly revitalized neighborhood of downtown, in the blocks located between Yanonali St. and E. Cabrillo, and Garden and State St.  The Funk Zone is now home to a new crop of restaurants and a number of tasting rooms, most of which make up the Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail.  After reading a lot about the Funk Zone, I decided to use my multiple trips up to Santa Barbara as a way to explore some of what this area has to offer.

Since I was able to try a number of places on my visits, I decided to divide my post about the Funk Zone into two parts, food and drink.  First, I'll start with the food:

Restaurants/Food:


The Lark, 131 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara

At the center of the Funk Zone is a brand new restaurant called The Lark that just opened its doors at the beginning of August, and has already become a serious dining destination in Santa Barbara.  The Lark is offering what it calls "New American" cuisine, and focuses on using locally sourced ingredients from the Santa Barbara County area.  It is located in a transformed 1920s fish packing plant, in what used to be the old Santa Barbara Fish Market.  The name "The Lark" pays homage to the history of train travel within California.  The Southern Pacific Railway first launched a luxury train called The Lark in 1910, and it ran between Los Angeles and San Francisco.  The Lark would stop in Santa Barbara, and seafood from the fish market would be transported throughout the state by this train.

When you enter The Lark, the main focal points are the large, inviting bar, as well as, a massive communal table, which was constructed from a single slab of solid wood from a 226 year old Douglas fir tree that stood dead in the forest for 40 years before being salvaged.  There are also three enclosed dining booths, and a number of other free-standing tables. Additionally, there is seating on the outdoor patio, which has a couple of fire pits for some nice ambiance.

Since The Lark has only been open for a few weeks, and has already gained a reputation for great food and good atmosphere, it's almost always packed and reservations are definitely recommended.  As I was by myself, I was lucky enough to grab a solo seat at the communal table.  They have a fairly small, seasonal menu, with items consisting of interesting combinations of ingredients and flavors.

I decided to start with a couple of items from the "Snacks" part of the menu which caught my eye.  First, I ordered the Deviled Eggs with crispy pancetta, jalapeno, smoked paprika, and chives.  The eggs were creamy, but not overly sweet, with just the right amount of spice.  The crispy pancetta on top gave the eggs some texture and an added salty crunch.  They were quite tasty.

Second, I had to try the Fried Castelvetrano Olives stuffed with goat cheese and rosemary, which were nestled in a chorizo aioli.  I am a huge olive lover, but I have never had them fried, so I was definitely intrigued.  The combination of the briny olives, with the warm goat cheese, and the spice of the chorizo aioli, made each olive into an explosion of textures and flavors.  I thought they were very unique and delicious.

After my snacks, I decided to just go for a salad instead of one of the larger entrees.

I selected the Summer Garden Panzanella Salad, with marinated burrata cheese, heirloom tomatoes, squash blossoms, thai basil, and a smoked tomato vinaigrette.

The burrata cheese and heirloom tomatoes were delicious, but I actually found the intense smokiness of the vinaigrette to be a bit overpowering for such a light summer salad.  Also, for being a panzanella salad, it barely had any bread, which is supposed to be the main ingredient.  I think a little more bread would have made it that much better.

I thought that sitting at the communal table might be awkward at first, but actually, it was fun to make friends with some of the other solo diners.  I could also watch what they were all ordering and get their reviews.  The woman on my left ordered the whole grilled branzino, which she said was one of the best fish dishes she had ever had.  The man on my right ordered the grilled peach glazed pork belly sliders, which looked amazing.  He said they were fantastic.  (I put both of those items on my mental checklist for my next visit.)

Finally, I decided to check out the dessert menu.

I chose the Milk Chocolate Pot De Creme, with smoked almond brittle and a caramel chantilly cream.

It was a super rich chocolate pudding, however, the chantilly cream helped balance out the sweetness of the pudding.  The almond brittle was both chewy and crunchy, which gave the dish some texture.  It was the perfect size dessert to finish off a great meal.

Overall, I really enjoyed my dinner at The Lark, and can't wait to go back and try more items from their menu.

Lucky Penny, 137 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara

The owners of The Lark have also opened another restaurant, which is a take-out place, called Lucky Penny, which is located in the same parking lot as The Lark.   Lucky Penny is a small, boxy building, which glimmers in the Santa Barbara sun because the entire exterior is tiled in real copper pennies.  I read that it took the design team six months to hand glue each penny on to woven mat backing before the tiles could be affixed to the building.   Lucky Penny is offering artisan, wood-fired pizzas, salads, fresh baked goods, and various coffee drinks.  They also have a couple microbrews and Lucky Penny white and red house wines.

I haven't tried the pizza at Lucky Penny yet, but word on the street is that it's good.  The only food I've tried here thus far were a couple of fresh baked madelines, which were quite tasty.   As far as their coffee, I have had a cappucino, as well as, an iced latte, both of which were well made and  strong.  I would recommend Lucky Penny as a good stop for a pick me up between tasting room visits.

 

 L's Kitchen, 121 East Yanonali, Santa Barbara

So I was looking for a place to go for lunch in the Funk Zone, and after doing a little internet research and checking out yelp, I decided to check out a place that had a lot of great reviews, called L's Kitchen.  Basically, L's Kitchen is an industrial kitchen that is used for a successful catering business.  However, they also serve up some great food for breakfast and lunch.  In addition, they have a bakery counter full of various pastries and some amazing looking cupcakes.  It is primarily a take-out place, however, they do have a small outdoor patio with a few tables around back.



Their breakfast menu consists primarily of different types of breakfast burritos, and their lunch menu specializes in Mexican take-out, as well as, a variety of different sandwiches and quesadillas.   The breakfast menu:

And the lunch menu:

I got there around 1:00 pm, so I ordered the Chicken Mozzarella sandwich, which consisted of grilled chicken, fresh mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, bell peppers and a sun-dried tomato spread.  The sandwich was heated up and delivered to me outside on the patio on a picture perfect Santa Barbara afternoon. 

The sandwich was absolutely delicious.  It was served on a fresh ciabatta roll, which was toasted and crunchy.  It was loaded up with freshly sliced pieces of roasted chicken, along with several slices of fresh mozzarella cheese.  The roasted red bell peppers and sun-dried tomato spread added more layers of flavor.  For $6.25, it was one of the best sandwiches I've had in a long time.  It was so big that I could not even finish the entire sandwich.  I would definitely recommend L's Kitchen for a great lunch.   It was the perfect sandwich to have for lunch before hitting a few of the local tasting rooms.

Metropulos, 216 E. Yanonali St., Santa Barbara
Another great lunch spot that I discovered is Metropulos Fine Foods.

Metropulos is both a deli, as well as, a small gourmet market filled with artisan products, some local and some imported.  At lunch, they prepare fresh sandwiches, and have a number of different types of salads in a large deli case.  You can also pick up some bread, meats, and cheeses, and create your own little picnic.  However, what I discovered quite by accident, is that on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, they have gyros as their lunch special, and their gyro meat is made entirely from scratch in house.  As I wandered in, it smelled wonderful inside, and I saw several people eating the gyros.  I bought the gyro lunch special, which came with a small side of Greek salad, and ate my lunch on the front patio, on another perfect Santa Barbara day.

The gyro was fantastic!  It came on freshly grilled, warm pita bread, with onions and tomatoes, and was slathered in their house made tzatziki sauce.  It was probably the best gyro I've ever had.  I was there on a Thursday afternoon, so they still had plenty of gyros left, however, I heard that on Saturdays the line is usually out the door, and they almost always sell out.  I would definitely recommend trying the gyros at Metropulos if you have a chance.

So these are all of the food places I've tried so far in the Funk Zone.  I would recommend any or all of them on your next visit to Santa Barbara.  There are still several food places I have yet to try, but they are on my list for my next visit, so keep an eye out for future posts.

Along with all the eating, there are a multitude of places to do some drinking in the Funk Zone.  There is the newly opened Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co., Cutler's Artisan Spirits, and a wide array of wine tasting rooms.  I've now had a chance to visit a number of these places, and will discuss them in Part Two of my Exploring the Funk Zone post . (Coming Soon)