JJ had done so well on our road trip to Morro Bay and Cambria that when the Missus had another string of days off, we decided to try it again. This time, we'd head to Santa Barbara. Granted, we have kind of mixed feelings about the city; it's kind of touristy, we hadn't always enjoyed our stays too much, but I had an idea. This time we'd stay in the Funk Zone…..at the Moxy Hotel and just kind of see how we like it this time around.
As with our previous road trip; JJ was a champ and we made it to our destination in no time. We even managed an early check in! Our room was interesting, but comfortable; I'll go into a bit more detail a bit later.
The Funk Zone is located across the 101 from the busy portion of State Street. It was a nice short walk to Stearns Wharf.
This was a Sunday and we were shocked at how "quiet" things were….more on that later.
We enjoyed the walk as did JJ who got a lot of "pets" from folks.
We even had a photo-op or two…..
What I had found interesting was that there weren't reservations available for many places or various restaurants were closed. We looked for a place to grab lunch and I had noticed this food truck just around the corner from the hotel.
And we thought "what the heck"? We weren't too hungry, so this sounded good. We got a Pork Katsu (that's what it is on the menu…I guess folks wouldn't know tonkatsu???) Sando – 3 piece (which I think is one sando) $11 and an order of Potato Salad ($5). The guy working was very nice; he pointed us to a table we could use.
We liked that shokupan was used for the sandwich and yes, the crust was trimmed off!
The "sizing" was a bit off as the tonkatsu was significantly smaller than the bread and had been over-fried a bit. The pork was toothsome and not tough; a bit too much katsu sauce as well. Overall, an ok sando…..in Santa Barbara!
The Potato Salad was actually quite good.
At first glance we thought it might have a bit too much mayo; but this was nice and refreshing. The potatoes nicely mashed, a good amount of egg in this, but our favorite ingredient was that instead of just plain cucumber, kyuri asazuke, pickled cucumbers were used. This added a nice sour-acidity which helped to balance out the mayo.
This was pretty filling and a nice start to our stay in Santa Barbara.
The Sando Truck
210 State St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
We decided to take a stroll after our meal. We headed under the 101 and over to the main part of State Street…..usually busy with tourists, today it was totally empty.
We actually enjoyed this…..
Many of the businesses were closed as were the restaurants I'd tried to reservations at. What was going on?
Well, I guess that many places don't open on Super Bowl Sunday? The bars were open, but there didn't seem very full. I guess this is what SBS is like in downtown Santa Barbara?
nice and chill 🙂
Huh. You’d think at least the bars would be busy on Super Bowl Sunday. Maybe SB folks like to watch the game at home. Or maybe they all flock to sports bars.
It was Kat!
Kinda strange Junichi! I have a photo of the inside of Figueroa Mountain Brewing with the Super Bowl on and there’s only two tables occupied!
Very odd for a touristy city! Surprised that even the restaurants on the wharf were closed.
Genuinely curious, what is it about Santa Barbara that you don’t care for? Did you find it too sleepy or overpriced? Last time I went I enjoyed it, but I was specifically looking to relax for a few days as I was burned out from work. The lack of crowds, good food and wine, and nice beaches in SB worked for me at that time.
We didn’t care for the State Street area last time Mar….too many tourists, seemed like the Gaslamp or like many places in LA. A bit hyped up and such. This time was different though.
My gf’s brother and family live in SB. I LOVE the pedestrianization of State Street. It was terrible when cars were there, but it feels like a real place now.
It can be a little touristy, but we usually find something fun to do there.
We really enjoyed the Funk Zone Dereck. I think that’s the area we’ll stay at in the future!