EATING HEALTH FOOD STORE GOURMET FOOD SHOP
Lazy Acres Market 302 Meigs Rd., 564-4410 In our brave new world, there are numerous stores where the feckless health pilgrim can score some spirulina, dandelion kale smoothies, and gluten-free pasta dishes. Likewise, the ardent gourmand might in any town you name be able to purchase quail eggs, truffle oil, or even a bottle of Grand Cru burgundy on a sudden whim. But not many stores offer both in a seamless and ultimately forgiving package like Lazy Acres does. (The clerks won’t laugh at either the vegan or the carnivore.) Since 1992, the gigantic Mesa hangout and emporium has been a one-stop shop for people who want exotic flavors mixed with holistic dreams, a place where açaí and asparagus breathe the same sea air. FINALIST
Whole Foods Market
FRESH FISH MARKET
Santa Barbara Fish Market 117 Harbor Wy., 965-9564 “I would say that people vote for us primarily because of the connection we have with the fishing community,” said S.B. Fish Market owner Brian Colgate, who always hopes that people realize that even though they are in the harbor, his small busy store is not synonymous with the Santa Barbara Fisherman’s Market, which takes place every Saturday morning. They do offer a lot of the same catch, as well as fresh fish from outside these waters, too. “I would say that most people don’t know that we deliver fresh fish overnight; it’s just a click away. You can have seafood that was swimming in the ocean just 36 hours ago delivered to any doorstep.” FINALIST
Kanaloa Seafood
PRODUCE/ GREENGROCER
Tri-County Produce 335 S. Milpas St., 965-4558
ICE CREAM SHOP
McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams Two locations Growing up Santa Barbaran means a lot of seemingly incidental magical things: the Zoo train, the Kernohan’s bear, and, especially, McConnell’s Ice Cream. Of course, now the old State Street store with its sticky round of fine-art postcards is forgotten, and the Mission Street big-windowed room (no-nonsense but still full of the sugary smell of ice cream and chocolate sprinkles) is more likely the stuff that ice-cream dreams and headaches are made of. A new shop on lower on State Street will probably create a new source of Santa Barbara iconic pleasure. FINALIST
Rori’s Artisanal Creamery
FROZEN YOGURT SHOP
Yogurtland Two locations Maybe it’s a franchise, but who wouldn’t want to wake up in Yogurtland? It has definite advantages over that hipster fro-yo place that started in Los Angeles, including better pricing and the clear superiority of self-serve on the toppings. It’s real yogurt, it’s real clean and nice inside, and it’s won this category since the year it opened across the street and down from the hipster place. FINALIST
McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams
CHOCOLATE COMPANY
Chocolate Maya 15 W. Gutierrez St., 965-5956 “I think it’s because we are authentic. We’re not just selling chocolate foo-foo,” giggled Maya Schoop-Rutten, who was the on the phone from Hawai‘i, where she swears she was giving a class on chocolate making. “We’re very educational. We talk about the farmers and the process and also walk people into the store while I’m actually making chocolate. They love that, and they know this is my passion.” FINALIST
See’s Candies
Jack’s Bistro & Famous Bagels Many locations This being California, the toasted bagel with cream cheese and a regular-coffee diet peculiar to urban East Coasters was soon and widely found inadequate. Somehow, the schmears became more elaborate — jalapeño migrated onto the mix — but more importantly, the bagel itself became a platform instead of an end product. There are bagel pizzas and bagel sandwiches and even bagel Benedict. This small chain restaurant offers a perfect California adaptation of the boiled and then baked chewy delight, featuring elaborate omelettes with bagels in lieu of English muffins. Yet with all of this distraction, the voters still eye the basics and approve — voted best bagel plain and simple for over 12 years. If you want they should add Benedict, it’s a free country.
Renaud’s Patisserie & Bistro
FINALIST
FINALIST
Many locations This was just a little storefront next door to Harry’s Plaza Café in the Loreto Plaza. (Which, by the way is a magical address for winning Best Of awards — four firsts and a second within an easy walk.) Today, the French patisserie begun by Renaud and Nicole Gonthier is in three locations, including the corner of the fancy Gelson’s (also in Loreto Plaza, naturally.) “I think people like us because they like anyone who is committed to doing something well, and we are committed to this,” said Gonthier.
ISLA VISTA RESTAURANT
Freebirds World Burrito 879 Embarcadero del Norte, Isla Vista, 968-0123 Say what you will about the burrito bar in Isla Vista, but there is no other restaurant in the county that has half-block-long lines at 2 a.m. Spending its days silently feeding the supercasual I.V. student in between classes or waves, the versatile Mexican fast-food stand becomes a center of the community, a rallying point, and a late-night provision to the equally studied and partied-out crowds who turn to it in hours of need. It’s not particularly cheap fast food, but it is hearty, delicious, and surprisingly authentic. FINALIST
Silvergreens
FINALIST
Bagel Café
MONTECITO RESTAURANT
JUICE/SMOOTHIE BAR
Lucky’s
Blenders in the Grass It took us years to realize that the name of this place was a Wordsworth reference and not a drug joke. This reflects badly on us, we know, though the sense of the work alluded to (“Intimations of Immortality”) initially threw us since that poem mainly complains about losing “the hour / Of splendor in the Grass.” This Santa Barbara–bred chain of healthy liquid-refreshment stands can never be lost: There are 12 locations between Orcutt and Santa Maria, and half of them are in S.B. So we get hours of splendor (8am-9pm), full of fruits, vegetables, supplements, and even coffee and ice cream blended to splendid flavor, anytime and almost everywhere. So sing ye birds, sing, sing a joyous song.
Since it first opened, Lucky’s has held its place at the pinnacle for restaurants in which to be seen and to see are as important as the fine eating. There are movie stars and otherwise famous people often, there are circles of attainment like the old Casa Sevilla, and to be seated next to the fireplace in the inner room is an unstated indicator of arrival. General manager and executive chef Leonard Schwartz believes it’s much simpler than that, though. “It’s very flattering we won this award, and I think the reason we did is that we’ve tried very hard to make sure that people are happy here.” People don’t know that Lucky’s has as great a selection of fresh fish and seafood as they do famous steaks, he said. But the crucial part is the overall experience. “My goal is that when people leave here, they leave happy,” he said.
FINALIST
FINALIST
Juice Ranch
Montecito Café
GOLETA RESTAURANT
SANTA YNEZ VALLEY RESTAURANT
Many locations
Beachside Bar-Café 5905 Sandspit Rd., Goleta, 964-7881
BAKERY
There’s a great paradox that haunts this 60-yearold, open-to-the-elements store — like the smell of fresh-squeezed orange juice that floats around the cashiers in front. Nothing seems to have changed here in the last half century when hippie kids and other health-food nuts mixed with the likes of Julia Child, shopping for food as the store motto says, any fresher and it would still be in the fields. But obviously, if the freshness part is true — and nobody doubts that — nearly every item in the store bins has to change nearly every day. It’s big, friendly, and much cheaper than the boutique health markets in town — with fresh juice, bulk staples, and a whole lot more: a sweet permanence of variety. Santa Barbara Farmers Market
BAGELS
Real ocean-view dining is a lot more scarce than most of us want to admit. This is seafood with a sunset over the ocean from a heated patio with a couple of very convincing side dishes. For starters, there’s a great happy hour. For more of a main reason, consider this: It’s off the beaten track, so even when tourists are around, they aren’t usually there. And best of all, it’s the perfect place to enjoy nice food just before a UCSB show or if you have to wait for Uncle Fred’s flight in from Des Moines. Just don’t take him there, so we can keep having the Beachside to ourselves.
1279 Coast Village Rd., 565-7540
Trattoria Grappolo 3687 Sagunto St., Santa Ynez, 688-6899
FINALIST
“People are always surprised to find such authentic Italian cooking in such a small town,” explained Grappolo’s event coordinator and manager, Elisa Arriaga. Maybe it’s true, but the Santa Ynez Valley in the last 10 years has evolved rapidly from wine-and-cow town to gourmet central with restaurants, tasting rooms, and boutiques that almost shame the bigger beach city to the south. Even in those circumstances, Grappolo keeps winning this honor. “It’s probably the exceptional food and personal service. When people come in here, they feel like they are at home,” said Arriaga.
Hollister Brewing Co.
FINALIST
Los Olivos Café
Jeannine’s
october 17, 2013
THE INDEPENDENt
49