A TASTE OF SANTA BARBARA

From the seafood served across the city to the wine produced in the shadows of the Santa Ynez Mountains, Santa Barbara offers a true taste of California

- NICOLA TRUP

THE FOOD TOUR

EAT THIS, SHOOT THAT

“Santa Barbara doesn’t do chain restaurants — that’s not our jam,” says Tara Jones Haaf. “Downtown has about 400 restaurants, and pretty much all of them are family-owned.”

The establishment we’re hovering outside isn’t open yet, but Tara has connections. On her Eat This, Shoot That tour she shows guests her favourite places to eat, offering food photography tips and samples along the way. All our stops are in the Funk Zone, a district squeezed between the ocean and Highway 101, where once-derelict warehouses have evolved into restaurants, bars, boutiques and flats. Many of these former industrial buildings initially sprang up to serve the nearby train station, but as transporting goods by rail became less common, they fell out of use and artists moved in, attracted by cheap rents.

A few decades ago, says Tara, the neighbourhood was considered “sketchy”, and the air was filled with the odour of the local fish market, putting the ‘funk’ into the Funk Zone. The market has since moved, but Santa Barbara’s strong seafood culture remains. The waters of California’s Central Coast are rich in everything from salmon and rockfish to abalone and sea urchins, dished up in harbourside seafood shacks as well as fine dining restaurants.

Tyger Tyger, which shares its pink paper lantern-bedecked space with an ice cream on anything else,” she tells us as we all wait for our smartphones to self-adjust.

Pictures snapped, I tuck into a summer roll stuffed with soft, fat prawns, shredded carrot, noodles, lotus root and a generous amount of herbs. It’s served with a deliciously mild, homemade fish sauce, and washed down with sweet, earthy Thai iced tea.