Santa Barbara Fish Market Goes to the Good Land

Brian Colgate fulfilled two dreams when he expanded the Santa Barbara Fish Market from its harbor headquarters to a market and café in western Goleta, tucked between the old Albertsons and newer IHOP behind the Camino Real Marketplace.

“It’s always been a vision to have a restaurant and to have a place to offer retail fish in Goleta,” explained Colgate, the son of a commercial fisherman who founded the Fish Market more than 20 years ago. “It’s been not an ‘if’ but a ‘when.’”

What was a surprise was how much this 1970s strip mall, “The Plaza,” felt like home to Colgate, who attended the nearby Ellwood, Isla Vista, and Dos Pueblos High schools. “I didn’t even realize the connections to my upbringing,” said Colgate. “I grew up in this center. I played Little League where Costco is now. This place is so deep in who I am. All day long, I’m seeing old friends.”

He’s probably making new friends by now too, as the lunch crowd doesn’t relent at this café, which opened in mid-October. Dinner is growing, thanks to the alcohol license coming through last month, as is the retail, which features a traditional display case of fresh seafood as well as shelves of frozen, dry, and prepared items, from jarred kimchi and cuttlefish to house-made dressings and stocks.

I’m fast becoming one such friend, having been there a half-dozen times since it opened, easily my most frequented restaurant of late. Not that Goleta is starving for eateries — reliable options abound from Calle Real to Old Town to Camino Real — but there’s nothing quite like the Santa Barbara Fish Market Café: insanely fresh seafood (sometimes just hours from the sea), made to shine through creative-yet-casual dishes, served with a smile by engaged employees who seem genuinely concerned about how your day is going.

That happy hospitality is the domain of Laszlo Nemeth, a native of Hungary who came to Santa Barbara hoping to become a winemaker before learning that entry-level internships were unpaid. He happened to be Colgate’s roommate, so he instead started modernizing the Fish Market’s books around 2010. “He took over my mom’s job,” confirmed Colgate.

Fourteen years later, Nemeth is the CEO as well as the friendly face that many meet when first coming to the Goleta café, as he tries to chat with each guest. “I have visited the tables and asked about the experience a million times,” he said, and the feedback is good. “There’s a depth of sincerity and joy you get from people who say, ‘Thank you for being here.’ Nobody ever says this kind of stuff to me. It’s an energy boost to come to work.”

Such customer appreciation would be harder to come by if the food wasn’t so good, which is Chef Paul Osborne’s department. “This is the old neighborhood,” said Osborne, echoing Colgate, of school days spent at Isla Vista and Dos Pueblos before attending SBCC’s culinary school in the late 2000s. The son of academics, Osborne lived all over the place before settling here, explaining, “I went to seven different schools in three different countries by 6th grade.”

During and after SBCC, Osborne made the Santa Barbara restaurant and catering company rounds, opening the kitchen at Arch Rock Fish, among other gigs. Then he spent a few years in Portland, Oregon, serving as chef du cuisine during the Bamboo Sushi restaurant group’s “explosive” growth. “That gave me my multi-outlet experience,” said Osborne.

He came back this way in 2016 with his Ventura-raised wife and bounced between Caruso’s at the Miramar and Blackbird at the Hotel Californian. When he called the Fish Market last April with a seafood question, Nemeth invited him to coffee to pick his brain about the café concept, which had been in the works for more than a year. 

“I always had a real good feeling about Paul,” said Nemeth, who was planning to ask if he’d be a consultant. “But two minutes into it, I asked him if he wanted to take the chef job.” 

Osborne was instantly interested. “Being from here, this sense of locavorism is very important to me,” said Osborne, who goes fishing on his boat whenever he gets a chance. “I could have lived the life of a hotel chef, chasing jobs around the world. But I own a house in Ventura, and my family is here. I see a lot of hotel people come and go and never get to see the real Santa Barbara. I love the real Santa Barbara. The opportunity really spoke to me as a fisherman and as a steward of the ocean.”

They take the stewardship role seriously — aside from the napkins and to-go boxes, there’s nothing disposable at the café — but their respect for the sea shows most strikingly in Osborne’s menu. Seemingly simple items like sandwiches, fish and chips, poke bowls, tacos, and tostadas showcase his cheffy side in subtle ways that don’t overshadow the seafood’s starring role. “It’s classic fish preparation with a little twist,” said Osborne. “But still serving people in our tax bracket.”

Crispy Petrale sole, for instance, is set on chewy ciabatta with celery root slaw, pickled peppers, and lemon aioli, enhancing the soft and crunchy parts of the fish. The grilled mahi mahi’s rich texture embraces Japanese BBQ sauce and pineapple, squished between brioche. The traditional sourdough melt goes deeper with confit tuna, Fiscalini cheddar, and jalapeño, while beer-steamed mussels are boosted by mustardy crème fraîche. The fish and chips often arrives as one delicate slab of rockfish — the definition of minimal processing — smoked black cod cuts add a super-savory option, and the raw bar strives on how recently items were plucked from the ocean. 

That proximity to the dock is what’s driven Colgate’s entire vision for the Fish Market, which grew out of his job cutting fish down at the harbor in a 75-square-foot space when he was just 15 years old. When a manager abruptly bailed, Colgate took over that little stall, then expanded in 2005 to the still-bustling location a few doors down. A few years later, he developed a processing facility on Bond Avenue. 

“We chose that location because it’s less than two miles from the harbor, so that when fish is landed locally, we can get it to customers right away,” said Colgate, whose drivers do three deliveries a day. If a fisherman drops his catch on the dock at 1 p.m., you’re gonna be able to buy it for dinner.”

Now you can do that in Goleta, in a dish designed to reflect that specific seafood. “Everyone is thanking us,” said Osborne. “It feels good just talking to average people who are stoked we’re here.” 

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Santa Barbara Fish Market, 7127 Hollister Ave., Ste. 18, Goleta; (805) 966-1000; sbfish.com