Dining in Santa Barbara? MUST EAT: INDUSTRIAL EATS!
Hello from Santa Barbara! This is a place near and dear to my heart as it’s just a stone’s throw from where my husband and I were married, and the perfect getaway from LA. I’ve spent the last two days as a guest of a fitness retreat, to entertain collaborating on the nutritional component of their menu of offerings. It’s been quite an enjoyable way to spend a ‘day at the office’, beginning with an epic 3 hour hike, a TRX class, a stretching session and just enough time for a half hour sauna session. Notice anything missing? I haven’t even begun to share the most important part. Let’s talk food! Once again, this has been the perfect opportunity to prove that it needn’t be a choice between food that tastes good and food that is good for you. Beginning with the welcome dinner last night, which was here at our host hotel, Bacara, we dined on wild caught salmon, served with sautéed garlic spinach, steamed broccoli (which I took the liberty of dousing in olive oil- a girl needs her good fat!), and a shared plate of grilled asparagus. Simple, perhaps, but fresh and beautifully prepared and presented. This morning, as is every morning, was simple: in room coffee with some coconut oil I’d brought along in the handy little single serving packets from Artisana, which I love! After the hike, we had the most incredible meal at Industrial Eats in Buelton. As their site suggests, “Quality, local food served here. Our restaurant and butcher shop feature food sourced from the Central Coast. Dine in or get your hands dirty carving up your own animal in one of our workshops.” It was, for lack of a better phrase, absolutely off the hook. There were six of us, all having worked up quite the appetite after the hike and we chose several menu items to share family style, which included, under the category of ‘not pizza’:
- little gems salad, anchovy, pancetta, farm egg
- arugula, bresaolo
- white shrimp, pancetta, chile, garlic
- mussels, saffron, fennel, tangerine
- chicken liver, guanciale, chile
- cauliflower, vadouvan, cashews, raisins
Yes, we ate all of it, and then we needed more. Everything was fresh. Everything was local. The flavor profile was outstanding. I cannot recommend it highly enough and the chef was even kind enough to share his recipe for chicken liver. An absolute must-do when in or near Santa Barbara. Fortunately, that meal occurred nearly seven hours ago, and I can’t wait to see what we experience at Lark!
