If you have a passion for pinot and bling is your thing, or enjoy both boating and boot scootin’, then a Santa Barbara sojourn could well prove love at first sight.
You’d expect a place that’s packed with Hollywood hot shots to be on the pretentious side, but Santa Barbara is a bit of a sleeper in that respect. Sure, you’ll see peroxide locks and Chanel frocks, and the odd lipstick-red convertible – it is California, after all – but this celluloid beauty is decidedly down to earth.
It certainly lives up to its billing as the American Riviera, sprawling from the rugged Santa Ynez Mountains to the Pacific with a palm tree-lined beach that faces south (like the French Riviera) and a Mediterranean-like climate. And, yes, it does have wildly luxurious hotels, ritzy restaurants and swanky boutiques, but you’ll see as many surfers in boardies and thongs strolling down leafy State Street – the main drag – as the strut-your-stuff types.
Americans on the east coast shoot across the country like heat-seeking missiles, eager to get a taste of Santa Barbara’s unbuttoned lifestyle and 300 days of sunshine each year. As do Hollywood’s elite: Oprah Winfrey, Rob Lowe, Kevin Costner and Steve Martin all have multimillion-dollar lairs in the hillside suburb of Montecito (or Moneycito as it’s known). That’s no surprise to long-time local Mitchell Sjerven, owner of Bouchon, regarded by many as the best restaurant in town. “The stars come for the same reason as everyone else – the lifestyle and slow pace,” he says. “Whether you like the beach, art, food or wine, we’ve got it and nothing’s over the top – it’s all in balance. Ron Howard, John Cleese and Rob Lowe have all dined at Bouchon, but it gets to the point where it’s not even notable any more. Mind you, we had Paula Abdul in recently and I went to take her clutch and it moved – she had her pocketbook pooch with her!”
For those hoping to do some celebrity spotting, keep in mind that the locals are protective of their famous flock and autograph hunters are actively discouraged. That said, Lucky’s Steakhouse in Montecito is popular with the film crowd and sunset cocktails on the terrace of the super-luxe Four Seasons Biltmore overlooking Butterfly Beach are de rigueur. The Spanish colonial-style hotel was built in 1927 for the high rollers of the roaring twenties and today the clientele is still high end, but the atmosphere very low-key.
Just like Santa Barbara’s architecture. The city was founded by the Spanish in the late 18th century and rebuilt, after an earthquake in 1925, in the Spanish colonial style, with a three-storey limit. No high-rises here – instead you’ll find white adobe buildings with red-tiled roofs and a blaze of trailing bougainvillea. One of the exceptions is the beautiful Moorish-style courthouse, with its 24m clock tower offering 360-degree views of the city.
You can discover it and some of the city’s other most historical buildings on the self-guided Red Tile walking tour, which takes in the Lobero Theater, California’s oldest continuously operating theatre, the impressive Santa Barbara Museum of Art and El Paseo, one of California’s first shopping malls.
But Santa Barbara is as much about food and wine as it is about architecture and natural beauty. Make no mistake, the locals take food seriously. You’ll see them rifling through boxes of sweet-smelling peaches and ripe figs while they chat each Saturday at the downtown farmers’ market. And if they can’t make it to Saturday’s market? No worries, there’s a farmers’ market somewhere in town six days a week. Along with one of the largest farmers’ markets in California there’s also an impressive line-up of restaurants serving local sustainable fare.
For a quintessential Santa Barbara dining experience, head to Bouchon. Owner Sjerven and chef Brandon Hughes are passionate about their wine country cuisine – locally grown Californian ingredients paired with the best of the region’s wines.
Bouchon uses top-notch local produce to create signature dishes such as bourbon-and-maple-glazed Californian duck breast confit and an outstanding warm chocolate “molten lava” cake with coffee ice-cream. It also has one of the best wine lists in town.
Just a few doors down is Olio e Limone, known for its home-style Italian cooking. Friendly service, fresh pasta and a solid wine selection from California and Italy keep locals coming back.
Two of the newer restaurants include Square One and Julienne. Square One chef and co-owner Jason Tuley is known for his inventive cuisine – for example, goat cheesecake with a pine-nut crust, and foie gras profiteroles. Julienne owner-chef Justin West is making a name for progressive European-style dishes such as oxtail-stuffed squid.
Then there’s Brophy Bros on the harbour. It’s not fine dining, but sitting on the verandah of this clam bar, enjoying the briny air and a glass of local pinot while gazing over the marina to the mountains, it’s easy to see why it’s a favoured spot for locals.
While on the subject of wine, there is an urban wine trail downtown with several tasting rooms open to the public, including the oldest – Santa Barbara Winery. But to make the most of your Santa Barbara wine experience, take the road trip 40 minutes north over parched hills dotted with giant prickly pears and horse ranches to the wine country made famous in the Oscar-winning film Sideways. In the film, Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church) take a wine-fuelled road trip through the vineyards and die-hard movie fans can retrace their steps with the special Sideways touring map.
The Santa Barbara region is home to more than 70 wineries and deservedly famous for its pinots, but you’ll also find that chardonnay, syrah, sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc and even the variety much-maligned by Miles – merlot – thrive.
“We have a unique mountain range that acts as a scoop, funnelling in cool air directly from the Pacific,” says Jim Foliek, executive director of the Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Association. “We also have a wide diversity of microclimates and 300-plus days of sunshine each year, which means a surprising number of varieties do well.”
Most of the wineries are boutique operations without the snob factor found in other more well-known wine areas. In fact, many are downright rustic. Foxen Winery produces what some regard as the region’s finest chardonnay and pinot, but you’ll taste them in a roadside timber barn that is – let’s be kind – “well-worn”. They are building a bigger facility up the road, but the old cellar door will remain open so those on the Sideways tour can still sip and swirl right where the actors did.
Just down the road is Fess Parker Winery and if it looks familiar that’s because it was Frass Canyon Winery in the movie. You can sample the wines and buy souvenir T-shirts and racoon skin caps (Fess Parker, of course, starred in the Daniel Boone TV series).
At Kalyra Winery you can get a taste of Australia with a typically bold Barossa Valley shiraz holding pride of place on an otherwise Californian list. Australian winemaker Mike Brown also sources fruit from Australia for several other wines under his own M Brown label. And did I mention this was where Miles and Jack met Stephanie?
But there’s no sense restricting yourself to the wineries featured in the film; take the time to visit some of the other acclaimed wineries including Alma Rosa, Babcock, Melville, Firestone and Gainey Vineyard, which is one of the few wineries to offer winery tours.
A good base from which to tour the area is Hadsten House Inn & Spa in the Danish-themed town of Solvang. The town itself is a bit kitsch – there’s a windmill in the main street – but it does have a handful of tasting rooms and bars, including the Wandering Dog Wine Bar.
There are several critically acclaimed restaurants in wine country, including the quaint Ballard Inn. Owned by executive chef Budi Kazali, who grew up in Indonesia and moved to the US as a teenager, the restaurant has just 12 tables, so it’s an excellent choice for an intimate dinner. The menu reflects Kazali’s background – dishes fusing local ingredients with Asian accents, such as grilled filet mignon with wasabi spätzle, bacon brussels sprouts and caramelised shallot glaze.
The Los Olivos Cafe & Wine Merchant is another highly regarded restaurant and then there’s the Hitching Post at Buellton. Don’t let the drab-brown, box-like exterior put you off. On Friday nights the parking lot is bumper-to-bumper with Mustangs and super-size pick-up trucks as the crowds roll up for what some say is the best steak in California and a chinwag with winemakers at the bar. It’s noisy, family friendly and a lot of fun. So, too, is Maverick Saloon in Santa Ynez – the locals’ late-night watering hole. This Western-style tavern is a hoot, with live bands belting out dance tunes and Bud-toting locals doing the boot-scootin’ boogie.
Jim Foliek sums up the vibe nicely. “We’re very casual around here,” he says. “It’s a ‘do I have mud from the vineyards or dust from the corral on my shoes’ sort of place’.” Mud and dust? No problem, this is California at its finest.
Stay
Four Seasons Resort
The Biltmore Santa Barbara 1260 Channel Drive.
Luxe lodgings in a movie-star setting.
Inn of the Spanish Garden
915 Garden Street.
Mid-range colonial Spanish-style hotel within walking distance of State Street.
Hadsten House Inn & Spa
1450 Mission Drive, Solvang.
Upmarket motel-style accommodation in the heart of Solvang.
Eat
Bouchon
9 West Victoria Street.
+1 805 730 1160
Olio e Limone
17 West Victoria Street.
+1 805 899 2699.
Square One
14 East Cota Street.
+1 805 965 4565.
Julienne
138 East Canon Perdido.
+1 805 845 6488.
Brophy Bros
119 Harbor Way.
+1 805 966 4418.
Lucky’s
1279 Coast Village Road, Montecito.
+1 805 565 7540.
Ballard Inn Restaurant
2436 Baseline Avenue, Ballard.
+1 800 638 2466 (Toll free, USA only).
The Hitching Post
406 East Highway, Buellton.
+1 805 688 0676.
Los Olivos Cafe & Wine Merchant
2879 Grand Avenue, Los Olivos.
+1 805 688 7265.
For a guide and map to all the wineries visit: website
Source: Qantas The Australian Way July 2009