Full Belly Files | First and Fave Tastes, from Goleta to the Funk Zone

This edition of Full Belly Files was originally emailed to subscribers on August 11, 2023. To receive Matt Kettmann’s food newsletter in your inbox each Friday, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

If all is progressing as planned, I’m actually in Hawaii as you read this. We are finishing up a week on Kauai and flying to Maui this afternoon for a couple of days on the Hana coast and then two days up in Makawao to visit my cousin’s agave farm, like we did last year. (Check out my Instagram story for a sneak peek here, though next week’s Full Belly Files will most likely give a detailed rundown.)

But I didn’t want to leave you hanging, so thought I’d share some of my recent restaurant highlights from dining around town in between this summer’s numerous trips for work, weddings, and, finally this week, some actual responsibility-free relaxation.

Rare Society’s GM Alberto Castillo and the wedge salad (left) plus Rare Society’s charbroiled oysters | Credit: Matt Kettmann

Last week, I experienced back-to-back days of eye-opening eats. On Monday afternoon, prior to the Indy Hops passport drop party, I joined marketing pro Dawn Seymour — who I met via our service on the Botanic Garden Beer Garden subcommittee — at Rare Society in the Funk Zone.

I’ve yet to eat a proper dinner at Rare Society, but was intrigued by the innovative steakhouse concept of sharing a range of cuts with the table rather than being forced to eat a massive chunk all alone. (George Yatchisin wrote about that when the spot opened last year.) I like meat, but at this point in my life, a couple of choice bites get the point across much more effectively than forkful after forkful of flesh.

That option is understandably not part of Rare Society’s happy hour menu, which is what Dawn wanted me to see. But the 3 to 5 p.m. choices are rather extensive and impressive, and offered at really fair prices, at least compared to the usual cost at this high-end spot.

Over wood-fired pineapple margaritas and daiquiris that Hemingway would dig, Dawn and I enjoyed the wedge salad, pungent in Danish bleu cheese, smoky-crunchy in bacon; ahi tartare with jalapeno ponzu, taro root, and sea beans; charbroiled oysters with espelette butter and more bacon; and dry-aged meatballs in a sharp marinara atop silky polenta.

On Tuesday, just a mile or so from my home, I walked into the totally refurbished property formerly known as Pacifica Suites, right where Hollister Avenue hits the 217. After a 2021 sale and head-to-toe renovation that is mostly complete, the hotel is now called The Steward and features, for the first time, a public-serving restaurant called Terra.

When the early press releases announced as much, I was pessimistic, as I’ve seen hotels open in recent years proclaiming a great restaurant only to then phone it in and treat the food & drink experience as an afterthought. But when I learned that the chef of Terra was Augusto Caudillo, whose Scratch Kitchen in Lompoc ruled that town’s culinary scene from 2015 to 2019, and read some menu descriptions, I got fired up that inventive, farm-focused cuisine was going to be served so close to my home.

The lobby at Terra (left) and its Sexton Margarita | Credit: Matt Kettmann

My afternoon of talking and eating food with Augusto, which I’ll write more about in a forthcoming feature, confirmed all my hopes. He learned a lot from his Scratch days, and is bringing all that — plus a love for Goleta, which is where he grew up — to Terra, where the food is coastal Californian to the core. That means plenty of produce — roasted carrots in a carrot-top pesto and crushed olive tapenade were delicious — and lots of seafood with Mexican influences, like the fiery shrimp aguachile whose serrano-spiked pickling sauce I slurped down. (It should be in a michelada, I told Augusto, and he agreed.)

The restaurant, which includes a full bar (try the hibiscus-kissed Sexton Margarita), serves breakfast as well in another room, so Augusto showed me his corn pancakes, inspired by a trip to La Cocina de Doña Esthela in Valle de Guadalupe. Hearty, creamy, and tanged by a berry sauce atop, they were even more of a hit with my kids when I brought the leftovers home.

But the avocado toast with salmon lox pastrami — served on a charcoal-marbled flatbread — was even more revelatory about what Augusto is trying to do. That salmon, which takes about two weeks to prepare, will soon be part of a charcuterie board that features house-cured duck prosciutto and housemade mortadella, although the latter remains in R&D. There’s a lot more to say here on all fronts, but I’ll save that for the article.

A mixed spread at Terra, including sweet corn-olive oil pancakes (right) | Credit: Matt Kettmann

Moving to more direct Mexican cuisine, I dined at Taqueria La Unica on Upper State Street near Whole Foods a few weeks back. (We just ran a feature on that here.) The latest eatery by Los Agaves founder Carlos Luna, who was working behind the registers the evening I visited, the taqueria serves those classic fast-casual dishes that we all know from menus around California and beyond.

Amidst shared nachos, a friend’s torta, his son’s burrito, and my son’s lengua taco, my favorite item was the al pastor concha, which adds a cheesy crust to the soft tortilla that encases the meat. The flavors were bold and familiar, although I found most of it a touch greasier than expected, at least based on the cleaner style of Los Agaves and Santo Mezcal.

I’ve been more impressed by Maiz Picante Taqueria, which opened without the marketing fanfare that surrounded La Unica on De la Vina Street earlier this year. During a quick lunch there, I loved every bite of my costra al pastor (basically that same formula as the concha above), chamorro (pork shank braised in adobo), and the special chopped chile verde, plus the agua fresca and salsas I used to wash them down.

The word is out with Santa Barbara taco enthusiasts that this is today’s under-the-radar spot to hunker down and scarf tortilla-wrapped fillings, so I hope this doesn’t ruin that. I’d like to write a longer story one day when I have some time, because I’m not even sure what the background story is at all.

Full Belly Files Comes to Life: Dinner Series with Me

There are still some seats left for the series of dinners I am doing with the Apples to Zucchini School this fall in which I will be raiding my cellar to share special wines that I’ve collected over the years. The 10 or so wines of each evening will be paired with a multi-course meal served in the picturesque surroundings of the old St. Anthony’s Seminary, and each evening will be a truly one-of-a-kind affair.  

The dinners are on September 13, October 25, November 15, and December 13, and cost $200 each, or $700 for all four. If that sounds pricey, consider that I’ll be pouring nearly $1,000 worth of wine each evening and will be discussing the regions, winemakers, and so forth to add an educational kick to the night.  

We’re limiting attendance to eight people per evening, so buyouts are possible depending on the dates. Get your tickets here.