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?
The filling was fairly tender, not overly sweet, very classic seasoning. The regular bao was a bit too wet and doughy. The "Black Bao", obviously made with activated charcoal had an almost gritty-crunchy texture, though the flavor was less sweet, but not substantially different from the "regular" one.
The Peking Duck was "almost there". The fat had been nicely rendered, but the skin was still a bit rubbery. The flesh was very tender, the flavors spot on, good gamey-earthy notes, five spice, a hint of sweetness. The dan bing weren't up to the task and tore easily. Still, the duck was not bad at all.
My favorite of the two I ordered was the Cabeza. It was tender, beefy, with a side of "funk". Nicely seasoned and cooked, so very juicy. A squirt of lime to cut the richness, cilantro and onion to add pungency, and it was darn good. The tortillas were fine; they were doubled with some queso in between to hold it together.
The piece of battered and fried fish was quite large. But the batter was soggy and the flesh of the pescado was slimy-fishy-muddy, not my favorite flavors and textures when it comes to fish. Not even the lime and the salsas….I preferred the verde (green), which had a bit more acidity and herbaceousness, but I really didn't enjoy this.
This was quite the bowl! There was shimeji mushroom, quail eggs, fish balls (not my favorite thing), some ground pork, a couple of slices of char siu-ish pork, fairly tender shrimp (not deveined), and two, really tasty fried crab.
The skin hadn't been fried crisp and were rubbery. The "tomyum" was a a packaged powder that was overly salty. The wings were moist and tender, but the drumettes really dry and tough.
I like the folks working here, there is quite a variety of dishes on the menu so I will definitely return. They have some Com Tom dishes so I'll probably drag the Missus along. They have outdoor tables, so maybe JJ might join us. I know my friend "CY" said we'll grab lunch here in a couple of weeks. With Saigon Corner and 
Granted, there was a lot more veggies to shrimp than I recall. But the nice crunch, variety of flavors, with a dip in the wasabi and ginger enhanced Tsuyu, alternated with the perfectly cooked slightly stretchy soba was just what the doctor ordered on this day.
I prefer my cheesesteak to have thinly sliced beef, not chopped too finely like this was. One could not complain about the portion size nor price. Looks like a great neighborhood place to take the family for some slices and maybe enjoy the art, but perhaps not for a cheesesteak. Looks like I'll be headed to Evans or Wise Ox soon…..boy do I miss 
Soon enough my lomo saltado arrived. Quite a bit of onions and papas frita in this. The rice was fairly dry and chewy, but edible, and seemed to have been seasoned a bit.
The presentation was lovely; though the boiled egg was overcooked. The chicken was fairly bland, stringy, and there was a bit too much mayo. The potatoes were nicely done though.
Loved the crust of the empanadas. Even though it wasn't slightly flakey, it had a nice crunchy texture. I didn't care much for the dusting of sugar as I think it detracted from the overall flavor. Like I mentioned earlier, the sauce did well with the pastry, deflecting some of the sweetness and helping with the texture of the beef which was pretty chewy.
This was a lot less stuffed than the version at The Peruvian Spot. It had a drizzle of Mama G's sauce which did a pretty nice job of adding a creamy, mild spice to things. The ratio of camote and salsa criolla to meat was quite balanced.
The young lady working asked me if I wanted to try the spicy versions of Mama G's sauces and brought some over when I said yes. The verde was quite nice, not overly spicy to me. I added a tad more to the sandwich and used it to dip the very dry and limp fries.
